Over-Identification
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It isn’t very often that I go to church, but the last couple times that I attended mass at the church I grew up with I actually enjoyed the sermon. The mass I attended was the funeral for my great grandmother who passed away on August 22, 2010. She married twice during her lifetime; the second time after her first husband had past on. The priest started by asking whose wife she would be in Heaven. He then moved on to what families and nationalities we belong to, and how they affect our interactions with others. This was referred to as over-identification. We refer to ourselves as coming from different nationalities: Irish, Italian, Japanese, as well as from different religions: Catholic, Islamic, Jewish, and even our skin colors: black, white, etc. His main point was that we are all brothers and sisters in the eyes of God and all come together in Heaven. I can kind of agree with being brothers and sisters and being one with each other, but the God and Heaven part is a bit of a stretch for me.
I do believe that we over-identify ourselves to feel more like individuals and stand out in the crowd to feel special. Growing up, I was a white, American of Irish and Italian decent and a Catholic who lived in Braidwood, Illinois. I’m sure there are many other ways to distinguish myself from others, such as the schools I attended and so forth. The point is, we feel so inclined to make ourselves different somehow from others to feel special, and also use that to think that we are superior to others somehow.
Our individualism has lead to countless wars and bloodshed in the name of ethnicity, currency, civics, geographic location, and religion. We need to see each other as fellow human beings who may be in need of something instead of a stranger who may have something that we want.
I feel bad that I didn’t give enough time to learn very much from my great grandma, but I feel very fortunate that I was able to hear and be moved by such a profound sermon at her funeral. Thank you, Grandma Berg for that and for the many pudding pops and milkshakes you made for us kids.
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nutinfancy said:
My condolences with your loss. I would be remiss for not taking the time to answer the priest’s question as to who’s wife your great grandma will be with in heaven. You will find that answer in Matthew 22:25-33. Let me set this up for you. The sadducees (sadg-U-sees) approached Jesus with the same question. See they were jews followed the law of moses knew all the pentateuch and the prophets writing but did not believe in a “resurrection”. Jesus stated “you do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God for in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but they are as the Angels of God in Heaven. The impact of what Jesus said is the modern day equivalent of saying to Bill Gates “you don’t know how to make money” For the sadducees from 8 years old and on read the Scriptures. Secondly, It makes more sense for a God to be in heaven with his followers, than to think that somehow randomly there existed matter and it exploded and now we have a universe. Or we decended from monkeys? Outlandish. Naw, every human is created with body and soul and spirit. body well that the fleshy part. soul is your congnative part(personality) and the spirit well that belongs to God. The spirit, when separated from the body, means death.
The beauty of it all is God built man and woman with free will. And God will protect your free will unto your eternal damnation. And he sent Jesus to redeem the world for those who will just believe on the right Jesus. You cant have a denomination/cult/sect/religion find Jesus for you. It is a ‘one at a time’ personal Jesus that lines up with the Scripture.
Love the post. Anticipating the youtube channel
September 3rd, 2010 at 8:59 pm