October 2, 2005

Giving Thanks for Our Church Family

Genesis 2:18-24
Ephesians 3:14-19
Mark 3:31-35

We sometimes refer to the occupants of the White House, whether they be Republicans or Democrats, as the First Family, an honorific designation indicating their importance in the life of the American people. Well, we have in our Hebrew Bible lesson today in Genesis a description of God's creation of the first "first family," Adam and Eve. There are actually two creation stories, and this is the second of the two. Whether we choose to take the story literally or as symbolic of God's role in the created order, I believe there are some deeper truths revealed when we study the story more closely. The point of the story is that from the beginning of creation, God sees that it is not good for persons to be alone. Sure, there are times when we cherish solitude, but most folks don't thrive in isolation, in fact, probably just the opposite's true. We are people who need people. "Even when [others] most aggravate and frustrate us, we know we cannot be alone. In life we must have others with whom we can share joys and sorrows, our work and play, our frustrations and successes, our thoughts and feelings. We are created for community, for sharing. Solitude from time to time, yes, but only so we can re-engage. We are not sharks or oysters. We can't be human alone." (i)

Humans have been destined since the creation to live with one another in relationships, and the primary one from the beginning has been the family. The family, whether the traditional family, consisting of husband, wife, and children, or extended families, or the many varieties of families that many of us now recognize as legitimate, for example, single parent families, empty-nest families, same gender parents' families, etc., or other forms of community that act like families, such as the church - the family is where we receive and give affection, it's the source of love and acceptance, it provides a sense of belonging, and it gives us support and care, especially when we're hurting. We live in a society where the family is very important. This is why the Interfaith Council is promoting the idea of "family dinner nights."

When it comes to what is really important to us, most of us rate our families very highly. This is why Jesus' comment is so jarring to our ears. His mother and his brothers and sisters have just arrived, and someone lets Jesus know they are outside. And what does he do? He doesn't say as we'd expect, "Well, invite them to come on in." Rather, he cryptically asks, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" Sure sounds insolent and disrespectful, doesn't he? Or was Jesus trying to get across a deeper truth? Could it be that there are even more important kinships than that of blood relatives? Then he says, "Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." Whoa!

From the earliest biblical writings, family has meant more than just blood relations. In the Hebrew Bible the people of Israel are called God's household, and are often referred to as God's children. In the New Testament writings we hear such terms as the people of God, the body of Christ, the fellowship of faith, the Christian community - all referring, of course, to the church. Even the term family is used in some modern translations. The early church prospered and grew because it's members shared a common experience, had common interests and goals, and had a common obedience to Jesus Christ, the head of the church. Churches like ours prosper and grow today when folks share not only common experiences, interests, and goals, but most especially a common obedience to the Lordship of Christ in our lives and in our life together.

In the Letter to the Ephesians, the writer makes a powerful point in emphasizing that from God every family in heaven and on earth receives its true name. Every person is a child of God; God has named us all. And we are all brothers and sisters. On World Communion Sunday, however, the focus is primarily on our Christian family, near and far. I came across a children's hymn text. I don't know the tune, but I like the words - I think they express what this Sunday is all about. It's entitled "God's Family":

"I am a person, God made me special.
You are a person, and you're special too.
We have our families and friends we can play with;
There are so many good things we can do.

So many children, all of them different.
God gave each person our own thing to do.
All of God's children are sisters and brothers.
I know God loves me and God loves you too.

God has a family with many people:
Grown-ups and children who love God today.
We get together to care for each other,
To worship and learn how to follow God's way.

[And the refrain after each verse is]:
All grown-ups, all children, all mothers, all fathers,
Are sisters and brothers in the family of God." (ii)

I was never more aware of being a part of the world-wide Christian family than I was in 1988, just a year before I was called here to Pilgrim Church, when I was privileged to travel abroad to both the Holy Land and to England. Traveling in the Holy Land, I came in touch with the deep roots of our faith, touring the territory of Abraham and Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, seeing where King David reigned, and of course, the places where Jesus was born, grew up, conducted his ministry, where he walked, and lived, and died. Taking a boat ride out on the Sea of Galilee, and realizing that the surrounding hills I saw were the same ones that Jesus saw, was a deeply spiritual experience. The tour guides may not have been exactly sure of some of the locations of events, but that made being in the region no less powerful. I remember the Church of the Nativity, where pilgrims have gone for probably sixteen centuries to kneel down by the manger in Bethlehem. I remember the Church of All Nations - what an appropriate name on a Sunday such as this - over the traditional site of Jesus' agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. I will never forget our visit to the Garden Tomb, where some scholars believe Jesus' body was laid, and where he rose on Easter morning; and nearby the place of the skull, Golgatha, where the crucifixion is said to have taken place; and the small room back in the garden area, where our group celebrated and shared a most meaningful communion service.

Then the following summer, Claudia and I were fortunate to travel to England for the first time, and we came in touch with other religious roots, not nearly as old as in the Holy Land, but still very special. For example: the abbey where St. Augustine is said to have laid the foundations of Christianity in England, and where he is supposedly buried; the many, very old village churches we visited, some going back to before medieval times; and the gorgeous cathedrals with intricate stone carvings, spectacular stained glass windows, and beautiful organ music, all of which took our breath away. Wherever we worshipped, we felt that we were part of the church family in England, and we were greeted warmly by brothers and sisters in Christ wherever we went, whether to United Reformed Churches (similar to the UCC), or to the more ritualistic Anglican churches. The world-wide Anglican Communion was having its once-every-ten-years Lambeth Conference in Canterbury while we were there. At this conference they took initial steps to authorize the ordination of women in their church. And I cheered when I heard the news.

We visited Epworth, where John and Charles Wesley lived, and where the Methodist Church was born. We saw where George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, came from. We had a chance to see Ken Browne, a seminary classmate of mine from Ghana, who had moved to London, and he prayed a prayer with us before we left that was a powerful testimony to his faith and to the kinship we shared. And we traced some of the steps of the Pilgrims, even visiting Elder Brewster's Manor House, and went into the very churches where they worshipped before they braved the cold Atlantic on the Mayflower to come to these shores. I never dreamed that just a year later I would be serving a church in the very town where many of them later settled.

I hadn't fully realized how important World Communion Sunday was until that year. We are indeed part of the family of God, not just here in the comfortable womb of this caring church family, but beyond here as well. We belong to the family because we belong to Jesus Christ. And because of that kinship, we are brothers and sisters, not only of each other here, but of those who name Jesus as Lord throughout the world. This is a very special part of God's family right here at Pilgrim Church. I frequently give God thanks for our church family, and I hope you do too. Certainly I do not want to make light of the importance of our relationships and our mutual caring; they are very important in my own life, and hopefully in yours as well. But we also need to remember that our church family stretches beyond this place. We are connected in a strong covenental relationship with sister churches in our association, in our conference, and in the wider church and in all its many important missions and ministries around the world. That wider church is for sure the United Church of Christ, but it is also all Christians everywhere, who, on this very day, right now, and in the hours preceding and following, are gathering about the table, breaking bread and sharing the cup.

When you next give thanks to God for our church family, please remember the entire family in your prayers, including the extended family beyond this place, for wherever it may be found, in congregations next door, across town, in trouble spots in Africa, in the refugee camps in Palestine or in Israel, in the Protestant and Catholic churches in Northern Ireland, wherever - our church family needs the prayers and the support of us all. Thank you, Lord, ... for our church family, near and far. Amen.

The Pilgrim Church of Duxbury
Rev. Kenneth C. Landall

i George P. Mocko, "Good God, Where Are You?," quoted in Emphasis, 10/88, p. 11.
ii the Clergy Journal, 7/88, p. 28. 4