Psalm 139.... this is my favourite Psalm. When I was first coming out, and having trouble reconciling my faith and my identity as a lesbian and a Christian, this Psalm was very meaningful to me. So I was pretty jazzed to see it come up in the lectionary.

Because I’ve gotta tell you, that was just a really horrible time in my life. I had just finished law school, I had a job but it wasn’t exactly paying the bills, and suddenly I had to deal with this ISSUE I thought I’d nicely sidestepped for a lot of years. And it was horrible because I believed a load of crap – can I say crap from the pulpit? Because that’s what it was – that told me I was a horrible person, that God didn’t make me this way. And that’s wrong. Because as I learned when I read this Psalm, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. What I learned from this Psalm is that God is always with us, and God is always for us. AND.... there’s a purpose to all this; God is with us and for us to LEAD us in God’s ways. That’s what I learned from this Psalm.

Now, quick change of subject.... You’ve heard the old saying, what you see is what you get. Well, it ain’t necessarily so. You can’t judge a book by its cover. You can’t tell what’s in a container just by looking at the packaging. Have you checked the labels on your groceries lately? You may be getting less than you thought. Some manufacturers are selling us the same size packages we’re used to, but they’re putting less in the box. For example, a box of well-known detergent that once held 61 ounces now contains only 55. Same box, less soap. How something’s wrapped doesn’t always show us what’s on the inside.

That’s true with people as well. We can wrap ourselves up in the same packaging every day -- nice clothes, big smile, friendly demeanor -- and still be less than what we appear to be. Case in point. Have you have ever chatted online, like in a chat room? How many of you have dated people you met online? Did they all turn out to be exactly the way they presented themselves online? Or were there some discrepancies? Maybe they were older, shorter, balder, or not nearly as scintillating a conversationalist when they weren’t typing.... To be fair, I have met, and even dated, some really fabulous women online. I also met the odd psychopath or two, and lived to tell the tale.

Reality can be a bit of a jolt. Now, why is that? IRT, those of us who are sighted make split second judgments upon meeting other people. We notice their gender, ethnicity, age, size, all the perceived similarities and dissimilarities. Sometimes we have instant opinions about whether the other person is attractive/unattractive, good/bad, interesting/boring, and so on. We use our senses of sight, smell, hearing, and of course then we filter it through the psychological baggage we all carry around. And then we think we know them. But do we really?

This isn’t necessarily a great system, but it's what most of us use for starters. The wisest among us reserve judgment until something more illuminating comes out of real-life human interaction -- say, kindness, or intelligence, or character. But in the most benevolent psychological sense, getting to know people online is like a gold mine. Because, to be able to be who you are without worrying that someone will like or dislike you because you are too fat or thin, too old or young, too tall or short, is something most of us value, right? Of course, there are some folks who use the opportunity, not to be who they are, but who they have always wanted to be, and this can be a problem when the person you meet online tells you she looks like Jodi Foster and has two Ph.D’s. What you see is not always what you get.

Being able to be who you really are. Does that sound good to you? Or is it perhaps a little scary? I’m not looking for a show of hands here, but how many of us have felt, once in a while, that if people REALLY knew us, knew everything about us, they might not like us as much?

Now, I don’t know if this is going to be good news or bad news to you, but God REALLY knows us. Knows everything about us. Knows us inside and out. Knows the good, the bad and the ugly. God knows what you did last summer.

The Psalm says God knew us before we were born and formed us in God's image. God knows us better than anyone else in the world, including ourselves. There's something awesome, and wonderful and challenging about being known so well. That level of intimacy for some is very frightening. For some, it’s very comforting. For me, it’s both. And it’s Good News.

Because the one who knows us so well; the one who knows our foibles and our failures, our sins and our corruption still loves us. Will always love us. Knows us and loves us anyway.

So just how well DOES God know us? Well, the Psalmist says that O God, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O God, you know it completely.

In other words, fairly well. God has searched you and known you. God knows your comings and your goings - your ups and downs. God knows when we’re playing games. God’s intimately acquainted with our way of thinking. God even knows what we’re going to say BEFORE we say it.

Anne and I have been together for about 3 ½ years now. I probably know her better than I know anyone else. But I still can't read her mind. And Anne knows me better than any one else. She knows by the subtle changes in my voice and expressions when I’m angry or upset about something. Sometimes I think she almost CAN read my mind. But the Psalmist declares that God knows what we’re going to say even before the words are formed. So God knows us better than a lover.

God’s knowledge isn’t limited by space. "Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in hell, you are there also. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me." Up. Down. East. West. Everywhere. Even into the hells of our own making, God follows us.

And God's knowledge of us isn’t even limited by time, either. Even before we existed God knew us. When we were being formed in our mother's womb God knew us entirely. God knew us because God was the one knitting us together as a Mother lovingly knits booties for a baby. God's knowledge of us is so awesome that we mere humans are unable to fathom it.

Now why is this? Why does God go to the trouble of getting to know us? Why does God love us? Why does God pursue us everywhere we go? Well, I think there’s a clue at the end of the Psalm. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in your everlasting way. God knows us in order to lead us. There’s a PURPOSE to God’s relationship with us. God is with us, so that we may go with confidence in God’s way.

Case in point. This weekend, folks all over the United States will celebrate the birthday of the late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King loved to tell how he never wanted to be a civil rights leader. Indeed, the first 24 years of his life were quite fulfilling without that. He’d sailed through college, grad school, theological school without a glitch. He went into the ministry mostly because his father was a pastor and he always did what Daddy King wanted him to do. Martin wanted a quiet life as a professor, maybe be President of Morehouse College someday.

But things don’t always turn out the way we hope or think, and as a young minister, he was thrust into the forefront of the civil rights movement. He came home late one night, tired, frightened and discouraged, and then the phone rang. A voice on the other end said, "We're gonna get you.....!" And he just stood there in his kitchen, frozen in fear. He wrote later that he wanted to call Daddy King for comfort and advice. But his Daddy wasn't there.

Then he said it was like a voice. "Martin, you just do what's right. You stand up for justice. You be my drum major for righteousness. And I WILL be with you."

Almost at once, as he was to later say in a sermon, "my fears began to pass from me. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything. The outer situation remained the same, but God had given me an inner calm." For Martin Luther King, it was an encounter with the God who knew him and was with him. When his home was firebombed three nights later, he was still at peace, and later he wrote: "My experience with God had given me a new strength and trust. I knew now that God is able to give us the interior resources to face the storms and problems of life."

Knowing that God was with him changed Martin Luther King's life forever. And through his life, used and led so well by God, the world was changed.

Do you think that God was with Martin? Do you think that God knew him? Do you think he was fearfully and wonderfully made? I do. I think you were too. I think he was wonderful. I think you’re wonderful. I even think I am.

How many times have you gotten an envelopes with big letters on the outside saying something like "You’re guaranteed to win 10 million dollars!" And then inside, in the fine print "if your lucky numbers are chosen at random from 17 billion others." And you realize that the main purpose of the letter is not to tell you that you’re rich, but to get you to buy magazines or some other dumb thing you don’t want. Did you ever notice the only time the world tells us we’re something special, is when they’re trying to sell us something?

Well, this Psalm isn’t trying to sell you anything. I’m not trying to sell you anything. And the Psalm tells us that we’re pretty special. That we matter to God. That we are fearfully and wonderfully made. That we have a purpose.

Have you ever thought about how amazing the human body is? These days we’re often amazed by the power of computers. I’m actually less impressed with computers and more impressed with the people who invented them. Because there’s no computer in the world that can do a fraction of the things our bodies can do. For example, computers can’t make judgment calls. If you make the slightest spelling mistake, the computer doesn’t understand you. But a human being can read letters with terrible spelling and grammar errors and still understand what’s being said. Computers can’t.

Another thing our bodies can do that no human invention has ever done: We heal. Mind and body. We heal. If I cut my finger, my body rushes resources to the rescue: clotting agents to stop the bleeding, white cells to fight infection. And my body actually begins the process of weaving together what was torn, knitting together what God knit together in my mother’s womb. The smartest computer in the world can’t do that. Only God’s wonderful creation can do that. The Psalmist likens God’s work to that of a weaver, who picks the exact color and thickness of every strand, and then carefully puts them together to create a unique and beautiful creation.

You’re unique and beautiful because you uniquely reflect the character of the beautiful one who created you in God’s own image. You’re wonderful because you are fearfully and wonderfully made. And wonderful because your life has a purpose. That purpose is to live in relationship with God. That purpose is no less than God’s purpose for Martin Luther King, Jr., – to change the world in whatever way God leads you. There is nothing that can make life more meaningful than discovering that purpose and –– with God’’s power –– fulfilling it. There is nothing that will transform your life like knowing that you’re known and loved by God, that you’re fearfully and wonderfully made, and that you’re making an eternal difference in the world.

References gratefully acknowledged:  Our Daily Bread, June 22, 1992; "Cyberpals/Cyberlove : What Does it All Mean for Lesbians?" by Martha Pearse, Ph.D.; Wayne Hilliker, "God is Not Forever Silent."; Martin Luther King, Jr., "A Knock at Midnight."; Mary Lewis, First Baptist Church of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.