Tag Archives: Children of God

Adoption

Christmastide

January 2, 2020

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. –Ephesians 1:3-6

As a once-upon-a-time child welfare worker, I can easily say that my greatest joy involved doing adoption studies and placing children for adoption. My tenure doing such work fell on the cusp of the time young pregnant girls would come to our office with their mothers usually indicating that they were pregnant and wanted to place the baby for adoption as quietly as possible. We often whisk them off to another county to live in a foster home until the baby was delivered. The family would tell others that their daughter had gone to stay with an aunt or grandmother who needed some help. I think of that when I read that Joseph wished to put Mary away quietly. I am sure the change was more gradually than it felt but like an overnight occurrence suddenly these young women quit coming for help and chose to keep their child. Our roles changed also as we worked to assure that these single mothers and their babies needs were met.

Belonging to a family is a very important sociological and psychological part of every human’s wellbeing. Adoption meets that need for those whose parents are deceased and for those whose parents are for whatever reason not able to care for them. Adoption as Paul uses it may be his attempt to help the gentiles understand that through Jesus Christ God spreads God’s covenant of care not only to God’s Hebrew children but all God’s children and God specifically sent Jesus Christ to share this good news with them. I think the relationship was always present, but some did not know about how much God loved them and Jesus’ followers were tasked with changing that circumstance which is still our job today.

Prayer: We praise you, O God, for the wonder of your parenthood and ask that you support our efforts to share it with all your children. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

God’s Children

Eastertide

June 6, 2019

Scripture Reading: Romans 8:14-17

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

I was stunned when I read one of my great, great grandfather’s will where it said my great grandfather, his son Daniel, was to get nothing. The small town they lived in created a history of most of its early citizens. My great, great grandfather and grandmother are named along with eleven of their twelve children. You can guess who was left out. Family lore has it that Daniel was a horse thief and was found dead facedown in a creek having been shot several times. I have not verified that, nor do I know where he is buried. I do not think most of us spend much time thinking about being heirs, and I cannot imagine how one would feel if he or she were disinherited. I did see the records of the sale where my great, great grandfather’s property was sold at auction after his death.  Daniel bought his dad’s saddle.

And so, it is that God in God’s great mercy and love sends the Spirit to bear witness to our spirit that we are children of God. I think all humans are children of God. Some may not be aware of that and that perhaps in on us for not having taken God’s love to the ends of the earth. Others may defy God’s attempts to love them. I do not think that God ever disinherits any of God’s children, but some may remove themselves from the shelter of God’s love. Perhaps that is what is described as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit*.

I wish I could find a prodigal son story about my Great Grandfather Daniel, but I have not yet. The prodigal son in the Bible had already lost his property inheritance, but he could never lose his Father’s love. That is true for all God’s children.

Prayer: Thank you, God, for the gift of the Holy Spirit to give us the assurance of your love for each of us, your children. Amen.

*See Mark 3:28–29, Matthew 12:31–32, and Luke 12:10
**See Luke 15:11-32

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Children of God

Living in the Spirit
November 6, 2018

Scripture Reading: Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin; and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has borne him.’ Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom, and became his nurse. The women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, ‘A son has been born to Naomi.’ They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David. –Ruth 4:13-17

I grew up with two very different sized family experiences. My mother had a very small family; my father a very large one. I had two first cousins on my mother’s side; 42 on my father’s. In both cases, there was an abiding sense of relationship that one always had someone else with whom to make their journey through life. Now I am of the older generations and nephews and nieces outnumber my generation. I must confess it is hard for me to conceive of people having no relatives at least that they know, but as an active member of a church, I now have encounter many such people. Some have simply outlived all but the most distant relatives. Others for reason known and unknown have severed ties with family members. Some just come from small families. Recently I have gained greater insight regarding families from one person recently experiencing the death of her only relative and the other a small refugee family torn away from relatives, neighbors, and friends by the ravages of war. Because of my own life experiences, it is quite hard for me to wrap my head around such aloneness.

What these experiences have reinforced in me is the wonderful knowledge that I and each of those who feel so alone are all children of God and part of a great family. We who share in this knowing must realize the ramifications of our responsibilities to our siblings inherited through our relationship with God.

Prayer: Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us; teach us as sister, brother, each person to embrace. Be present, Lord, among us and Bring us to believe: we are ourselves accepted and meant to love and live*. Amen.

*Words from Help Us Accept Each Other by Fred Kaan Hymn Online Words © 1975 Hope Publishing Company see at https://www.hopepublishing.com/find-hymns-hw/hw3521.aspx

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Welcoming the Different and the Difficult

Stigma of mental illnessEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
February 1, 2015

 Scripture Reading: Mark 1:21-28

Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.  — Mark 1:23-28

We do not provide adequately for the mentally ill in our communities. Strides have been made in recent years to improve both the medications and therapies available to treat mental illness but the availability of such service is often rationed and limited in scope. Faith communities have a role in advocating on behalf of populations who cannot advocate for themselves and that includes encouraging the expansion of services for the mentally ill, but that is just the beginning.

Jesus treated the mentally ill just like he did everyone else. He met them where they were and welcomed them into his presence. Do we welcome the mentally ill into our churches and treat them as we would treat any visitor? Yes, Jesus did heal both the mentally and the physically ill, and yes, we might help people find the health care they need, but more than anything else the mentally ill need to experience life without being shunned. There is no better place for that to happen than in church. It is amazing what transformation can occur in people’s lives when they are treated like the children of God they are.

In Mark 5:1-20 we read about the healing of Legion, a man who apparently had multiple personalities. Jesus healed Legion who then begged to go with Jesus, but Jesus’ response was to encourage Legion to stay in his own community and be Jesus’ follower there. Legion did and told his story to the extent that people were amazed.

Prayer: Lord, teach us how to love the other who is different and sometimes difficult, but whose potential as a child of God is as great as any. Enable us to be enablers of that potential. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Adoption

Living in the Spirit
July 17, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Romans 8:12-25 

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. —Romans 8:14-17

Slavery as it is described in the Bible may have been the absolute ownership of another human being usually a foreigner perhaps taken in war, but, particularly among the Jews, it was more like what we called indentured servants in the early days of the founding of America. When someone could not pay a debt they were indentured to work for their creditor until the debt was paid. Many people came to the US via an indenture of work in return for their ship passage. Others, like one of my ancestors was indentured to learn a trade. He worked for room and board for seven years to learn how to operate a forge. He may have worked alongside the children of the forge owner who also were learning the trade and not getting paid but who would at some point inherit the forge, a subtle but very important difference.

Paul likens our relationship to God as being like a child accepted into a family as a family member with all the benefits that go with that status unlike slaves who worked until their debt was paid and then were released or worked until they were no longer able to work. They most likely then become the beggar in the street. Our homeless in America today are very much like these outcastes of centuries ago, only in most places here it is against the law for them to beg.

The interesting thing about such divisions by status is that Jesus opened the door to recognize all people as the true children of God that they were. Paul, following his lead and his command, extended the invitations throughout the known world. We should not miss what a radical concept this must have been for a society that was so comfortable with haves and have-nots that they accepted them as the norm. Is it still a radical concept in our world today?

Prayer: Lord, give us the spirit to take up the mantel of Jesus and Paul as we too open the door for all to be welcomed as your children. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.