“Pressing Ahead” by the Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, October 4^th, 2026, Year A / Proper 22  –  Psalm 19:1-11  ¨  Philippians 3:3b-14

THEME:  Embrace our identity in Christ and serve others as he did, refusing to let status markers get in the way.

The other day I was looking through some old photos. It was a wonderful trip down memory lane, a reminder of the people and places that are significant parts of my past. It made me stop and consider how my past has led me to become who, what, and where I am today. No question: the past is a powerful thing. Our past shapes our present, and there is no getting away from it. In the words of William Faulkner, the great southern author, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past. All of us labor in webs spun long before we were born.” William Faulkner is suggesting that you and I are like flies caught in a spider’s web. No matter how hard we struggle, we can never escape our past.

He has a point, don’t you agree? The past is always with us, whether we recognize it or not. One of the hardest things in life is to move away from our past. You may have heard the old joke. The past, the present and the future walked into a bar. It was tense.” It’s funny, especially if you are an English-major like me. But it also makes a subtle, and powerful point. Our present is often in tension with our past, and never more so than when we work toward a future that breaks away from both.

 That is exactly what Paul is telling the Philippians to do. Paul begins by recounting his own past.  He lays claim to what any observant Jew would regard as reason to be proud. He starts with his birth. As an infant, Paul says, he was circumcised on the eighth day, in strict accordance with the law. He was born into the tribe of Benjamin. This is the tribe that produced Israel's first king, Saul – the one for whom Paul is named. When Paul says he is a Hebrew born of Hebrews, that is code for his lineage. He is letting us know that his genealogy is pure. In other words, he is not descended from any of those sad Jews who lost their genealogy during the Babylonian exile.  In Harry Potter terms, Paul is telling us that he is a pure-blood, not a muggle.

Paul also highlights his expertise in the law. He is a Pharisee. We know from Acts, that Paul studied under Rabbi Gamaliel, a leading member of the Jewish high council, and a highly respected master of Jewish law. Not only did he learn the law from the foremost expert of his day, he applied it with an unmatched rigor. Paul was famous for his zealous persecution of Christians. Finally, lest he be accused of hypocrisy, Paul claims that his own observance of the law is without blemish or error. The point of all this is that he has every reason to be confident in his own righteousness.

To put this into perspective, Paul’s personal resume is the equivalent of one of us bragging that we are descended from Mayflower pilgrims - on both sides of the family, that we graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard, interned for a Supreme Court judge, and became Attorney General, while simultaneously serving as Clerk of Session. All of these are status markers. Paul is laying claim to elite status. There was a time that these accomplishments meant everything to Paul. But then he encountered Christ on the Damascus Road.  And it changed his life. In the light of Christ, his rigid, self-righteous zeal for the Mosaic Law melted away. His self-satisfaction in past achievements became a source of shame instead.  

Because of knowing Christ, his pride was replaced by humility. Jesus showed him that true righteousness does not come from the law. It comes only from God, and only through faith in Christ. Coming to know Christ has rocked Paul’s world.  It reoriented his life.  Above all, he wants to know Christ better, and the new life he makes possible – both now and in the Kingdom to come. This is what Paul means when he tells the Philippians, “I press on to lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me.” 

That is the power of coming to know Jesus Christ. He takes hold of us, and does not let go. He changes our priorities and redirects our lives, so that our future is no longer dictated by our past. He wants us to break with our past so we can follow him into the future God wants for us. There is just one problem. We have trouble with change.  

There is an old joke about that. How many people does it take to change a lightbulb? None – we would rather sit in the dark and complain about how much better the candle was. It’s funny, but there is some truth in it. For most of us, change is downright scary. We fear the unknown. We fear losing control. We fear that change will be painful. Social scientists and management gurus know all about this. They tell us why we are reluctant to change.  We know very well what we are giving up; but we do not know what we are gaining. For some of us, the reluctance to change is different.  These folks are already in a dark place. They are like addicts or alcoholics who have finally reached rock bottom.  The pain of their past is so poignant in the present that they desperately want to change. The problem is they lack the confidence to do it. This is fear of failure, fear that real change will not actually be possible.

For all of us, the fear of change is rooted in something even deeper. Deep down inside us, what we really fear is losing our identity. Whether our identity is wrapped up in past achievements or present suffering, we cling to it it like a castaway clutching a life preserver. That is because losing our identity is a kind of psychic death. And yet that death is exactly what Paul says he wants. He wants to share Christ’s suffering, to become like him in death, because the reward is new life. 

Friends, that is the choice that Jesus offers us. He asks us to consider three questions. Are we willing to embrace the new identity we have in him? Are we willing to forego living for ourselves, and all those status markers we fight so hard to acquire?  Are we willing to live for others, as he did? Never before in our history have these questions been so urgent. 

In an age when movie stars and corporate moguls compete with one another to flaunt their riches, it is refreshing and inspiring that there are still some who do not allow their wealth and fame to define them.

How many of you are Dolly Parton fans? Whether you are or not, we were all sad when she died back in August.  Dolly’s rise to fame and riches began with her musical career.  It carried on in Television and then Hollywood. The world knew her as a star, but Dolly never turned her back on her identity as a servant of Jesus Christ. During her lifetime, she gave away the majority of her fortune. Through her foundation, she provided over 200 million books to help children learn to read, and financial incentives to stay in school. She funded hospitals and medical research.  It would have been easy for Dolly to let her past define her. She grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee. Like everyone she knew, her family was dirt poor. She was one of 12 children, one of whom died at birth. The family home had no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and no running water. Her father struggled to make a living as a tobacco farmer. When Dolly was born, he had to pay the doctor with a bag of cornmeal. As a child, when Dolly badly cut her toes, her mother treated it at home with kerosene and a sewing kit.

Dolly did not let the pain and poverty of her upbringing define her. When she acquired fame and wealth, she refused to let those status markers define her, either. Throughout her life, what defined Dolly Parton was her relationship with Jesus Christ. She learned that as a child. She never forgot it. That was her true identity. Like Paul, knowing Jesus better and serving others as he did, was the true goal of her life.

So how about you, friends? What is your true identity? What is the true goal of your life? What status markers are standing in your way?

Let’s be like Dolly. Let’s make sure that our identity is Christ and our goal is to serve others in his name. I can’t guarantee that you’ll become a star like Dolly, but I can guarantee that you will find the new life Christ promises.

May it be so.