By Ariel Merivil
When I started high school, the dress code required uniforms: khakis and a polo every day but Friday. By my junior year, the rules relaxed, and students could wear whatever they wanted, within reason.
The first time my brother and I tried to leave the house in jeans, my dad stopped us on the stairs. A Haitian immigrant and men’s tailor, he had never worn jeans casually; to him, they were work clothes, field clothes. He looked at us and said, “I don’t care what anyone else is wearing. Whenever you leave this house, you represent the Merivil family name.” It was the first time I understood that my identity wasn’t just my own. I carried something with me.
Our Lenten theme this season is Rooted: Remembering Who and Whose You Are. The invitation is to spend these weeks reflecting on who God is, because when we know that, we know who we are.
We are people of love, first and foremost. People of hope and peace. Justice-seekers. People clothed in healing, who even in our doubt are living grace-filled lives committed to restoring others to wholeness, because that is what Christ did for us.
In Wilshire youth ministry, we have a saying: You are uniquely created in the image of God and worthy of love. You are loved, you are loved, you are really, really, really loved.
All year long, in Watershed on Wednesday nights, in Youth Choir rehearsal, on tour and at camp, our work is to help young people carry that truth with them wherever they go.
Today, the Youth Choir will sing a text in Swahili that translates: “Build your faith, brethren, as our ancestors did; by diligently staying strong and praying, you will build your faith.” After worship, please join us in Community Hall for the annual Spaghetti Lunch and Silent Auction, which funds over a third of the Youth Choir tour budget. Come hungry, come generous.
You represent something when you walk out of this place. May you leave today knowing exactly who and whose you are.