Many years ago my work took
me to a new ministry position several hundred miles from my sons’ grandparents.
It had not been easy getting back to my parents’ home in the past. Now it was
even more difficult. My sons felt the loss.
One evening at a church
gathering, the two little boys took independent action that forever has touched
our lives. Without the knowledge of my wife or me, the two confronted an older
woman in the church who looked in many ways like my mother and asked, “Will you
be our granny?”
We had already come to know
the woman. She was a widow and had no children of her own. Her limited extended
family lived three states away. Though she had her church family and was active
in the life of the church, still she was alone.
Only in later months did we
come to realize what the question from our sons meant to her. She knew them as
our sons, children of the new minister in the church. There had been other
“new” children in the church, coming and going and growing up, all independent
of any involvement on her part. With a single question from two little boys
barely out of their preschool years, this all changed.
The family of God makes for a
nice phrase. We see a crowd in a Sunday morning worship service. We take part
in a Communion or Eucharist service with others in the local congregation. We
attend weddings, baby dedications, and funerals and in some way see this as
affecting the family of faith. The question we are forced to ask ourselves is
do we see these people simply as members of our church or as our brothers and
sisters, our children, our parents, our “grannies”.
The phrase “family of God”
must be more than a general statement of organizational membership. The Apostle
Paul felt strongly about the nature of the bonds between members of the family
of God. In the first letter he wrote to his young coworker Timothy he says,
1Ti 5:1-2 Don't
correct an older man. Encourage him, as you would your own father. Treat
younger men as you would your own brother, and treat older women as you would
your own mother. Show the same respect to younger women that you would to your
sister.
Most of us value our
blood-kin families. They have created the environment in which we have grown.
They have provided the extended relationships which have allowed us to see the
world from different but safe perspectives. They have taught us, encouraged us,
and comforted us through the good times and the not so good. We do not wish
them harm, rather only the best.
Within the family of God, our
intentions should be the same. From various members of our family of faith we
have received encouragement, wisdom, and the assurance we are not facing
difficulties alone. In turn we have been there to offer support to others at
times of need. We have shared our experiences in hopes others would learn
valuable lessons. We have offered comfort in times of grief and words of joy in
times of celebration. That is what family members compelled by the love of God
do.
A generation of believers in
a family of faith should see the older generation as mothers and fathers in the
faith. Those of similar age and at the same stage of social and physical
development should see each other as brothers and sisters. The next generation
may well be our sons and daughters in the faith who need to see examples of
faith and love lived out in the relationships of those who are older.
We are one big family linked
by our faith in God and his Son Jesus Christ. The world desperately needs to
see what true and pure family love is all about.
