The Family of God

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight,  o Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" ³⁴ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." Mark 3:32-35 (NRSV)

What is a family?  One definition I found in the dictionary said a family is "A group consisting of parents and children living together in a household."  That is, no doubt, one way to define a family, but a family can be much more than that, can't it?  What about members of our families that don’t live with us?  Do they stop being family?

Another way we can define family is the group of all of those people who are related to us.  This family includes all of our aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, grandparents and grandchildren.  This is what I think of when I hear the word family.

Both of these families are very important.  Our families support us and we support them throughout our lives.  We need our families.

But Jesus is asking us to think about family in a different way.

A family can be any group that is brought together by common interests, beliefs, and love for one another.  One of the best examples of this kind of family is the Church.  The Church is a family bound together by love for God, their Heavenly Father, and for one another.

In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus was together with his disciples in a house.  When Jesus' mother and brothers arrived at the house, they sent someone inside to look for him.  They told Jesus, “Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.”

Jesus looked around at the people seated around him and answered, "Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Did Jesus love his real mother and brothers?  Of course he did, but he also realized that he had another family.  It was a family made up of those who loved his Heavenly Father and wanted to do his will.

You and I love our families, but we also have a wonderful family of faith made up of brothers and sisters who love God and love one another.  It is wonderful to be a part of "The Family of God."

Our family here in this church is much like our other families.  Throughout our lives, we support each other in and through the church.  We also look to each other and to the church for support in our own times of need. 

Can anyone name some of the ways we support each other?

 

-         Visiting those who are shut in and the sick

-         Financial help

-         Food, clothing, shelter

-         Companionship

-         Childcare

-         Prayer 

As the family of God, we do all of these for each other.  Just like in any family, sometimes we do it well and sometimes not so well.  So how do we get better at doing it well all the time?  We pick one area and practice, practice, practice.

So starting today, we will be praying for three or four families within our parish family each Sunday.  During the following week, unless they don’t want a visit, I will visit them and I ask that you continue to pray for them.

 

This week we pray for Keith and Debbie Dowling, Reg and Dorothy Billard, and Ethel and Joe McNeil.

Normally, we will do this as part of the prayers of the people, but today we are going to do a special prayer to ask God to bless this ministry and help us to grow as a parish family within the family of God. 

Let us pray,

Heavenly Father, we thank you for our families and we thank you for our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.  We ask today for you to send your Holy Spirit upon us as we begin a new ministry.  Guide and strengthen us as we pray for one another.  Help us to support each other by sharing your love.  We offer prayers today for all of the member or the family of God, remembering especially Keith and Debbie Dowling, Reg and Dorothy Billard, Ethel and Joe McNeil.  We ask that you watch over them in all of their needs, both known and unknown.  This we ask in Jesus’ name.  Amen.