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Dear Friends,
We are experiencing unique opportunity for thought and reflection with a key concept in our Sunday readings. The concept is both a social science and a theological term: identity. Identity is a concept familiar to us from the way back with pioneering theory of Erik Erikson. James Marcia through empirical research added greatly to understanding the journey of identity development. Our key words showing identity development happening are questions which we hear from Jesus and from Moses. We heard last week from Jesus, “Who do people say that I am?” and this Sunday we will hear Moses respond to God and say, “Who am I?” Other key questions of identity development are: Where am I going? And how do I get there?
We can see how these are overlapping with the concept of identity for us as Christians. For us in our faith identity is rooted in our life in Christ - union with God. Our Christian identity is expressed in our lives as a growth towards others, personal integration, and societal contribution (Bryant, Howard). This growth is marked by moving through ongoing answering of the questions above and supplementally in our faith the additional question: What is the problem that I may engage in to bring “good news”?
Marcia (1980) asserts that identity development hinges on our engagement in exploration and commitment. Exploration involves the search for choice and meaning and commitment, for Marcia, refers to an individual’s investment in each of the areas: occupational, religious, social, and political (Marcia, 1989). Further Marcia articulately discovered a semantic to help us know how we are approaching exploration and commitment – so important in faith development. These are called Identity Statuses. These can serve us in reflection and spur us to action. There are four. They are foreclosure, moratorium, identity achievement, and identity diffusion (Marcia, 2002). The four statuses can be described as: foreclosure is when people are committed without exploring; moratorium is when one explores but with vague commitments; identity achievers have experienced exploration and commitment; and in identity diffusion there is neither exploration nor commitment happening. We continue over the course of our lives to experience identity development and journey through these statuses – not a linear journey. We humans twist and turn and develop and stall over and over.
May we lean into our identity development and grow in union with God, one another, and in our contribution of taking the good news to those around us.
Peace,
Lisa+
Prayer of Self-Dedication, Book of Common Prayer p. 832
A Prayer of Self-Dedication
Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of all people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
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