This is an excerpt from the beginning of Rev. Dr. Nick Peterson’s Pentecost Sunday sermon “I Got Issues” (preached to Mr. Carmel Christian Church in Indianapolis on May 19, 2024) on Luke 8:1-3, 42b-48. Watch the whole thing here (jump ahead to 58:53).

I got Issues, you got issues, they got issues, we all got issues.

I’m unsure when that phrase became popular, but its broad and continued use functions as a diagnostic.  It is a confession that you have observed a problem.  To confess that I have issues is to acknowledge that inside me, my head, my heart, and or my body, there is something askew, something that ain’t quite how it should be, that something is not in its ideal ordering, and the dis-order is mine to contend with.  It is also the case that when we say you, or he, or she, got issues, we are again confessing that we have determined that somewhere in your corporeal schema, in your person or personality – something ain’t up to snuff, something is off kilter. 

Whether its you or me, he, she, it, or they – to have issues is to confess that the math ain’t mathing, the sense ain’t sensing, the health ain’t healthing, and the mind ain’t minding.  I got issues, you got issues, we all got issues.  And while our issues are different, and our conditions particular to our life’s circumstances – it is a shared phenomenon to live knowing that we got problems – recognizing that there are some things in our lives that are not how they ought to be or how we want them to be and as issues they trouble us and flow out from us to the world around us. 

My issues will inherently impact my relationships.  That is – my issues will inform how I do and do not show up in the world.  They will inform how I interact with people, how I respond to certain situations and challenges.  Even though they are my issues, they are not just limited to impacting me, they can also impact you.  Ya’ll know what I mean when I say, don’t mess with me, cause I got issues – which is their way of saying you keep on doing what you gone get a reaction you might not like.  You gone fool around around and find out.  If you send for me, I will come. 

A paradox in communal living is that we are not only connected by our shared hopes and dreams, but also by our shared nightmares and vices – our issues are a part of our connection.  And whether we like it or not, we are gonna have to deal with our issues, individually and collectively, we are gonna have to address the messes that keep messing us up.  Perpetual denial is not really an option for us, even if it seems like a quick fix.  And even as we address our issues and the issues that connect us, it does not mean that in our own hands is the solution to our collective hemorrhaging. 

The truth remains there are some things we face, that no degree can educate us out of, no smooth talking can finesse us out of it, no amount of money can get fix it, and no white-knuckling can endure it – there are some issues too big for us to handle, too complicated for me to sort out, and too deep for us to uproot.  And that my friends is the plight of the human condition.  For all the gifts and graces we have, we are still in need of powers – grace and mercy, love and forgiveness, kindness and compassion – that is far greater than what we can muster ourselves.