Thoughts Following a Reunion

June 4, 2005 was an historic day in many respects. It was a gathering. It was a family reunion held with about 60 of my family members. We had a great time. One cousin of mine spear headed it out of her love for my grandmother, whom I wrote about the other day. (Thanks Beverly!) That day would have been my grandfather’s 97th birthday (if my memory is accurate) had he survived. It was very fitting since this reunion was the gathering of living descendants of my Grandmother and Grandfather Mann. There were maybe 12-15 who could not come for varying reasons, but in spite of that, it was a great day.

There is something really cool about seeing family. We have a lot of relationships in our lives, but those of family are a bit stronger than others. “Blood is thicker than water,” was the phrase I learned growing up.

I have to admit, while processing the family reunion, I thought about my other family. I am speaking of my spiritual family where God is Father and we are all brothers and sisters. The very mention of God as “Father” makes some people cringe does it not? In my thoughts on this I wrote to my church family in our e-newsletter basically what is below.

I have been a student of the Bible for many years. When someone asks me if I understand it all, I usually reply, “I understand a great deal.” That is very honest, because there are some passages I have not gotten my mind around yet. You know what? I am okay with that. If I understood everything about God, I would have a God my size, and quite frankly, I do not want or need a God that is my size.

If there were not “seeming or apparent contradictions” in the Bible I think I may trust it less. (I say “seeming or apparent” because after YEARS of study I am more convinced than ever that God inspired the original autographs and we have sufficient evidence to know what those were. Further, for any apparent error there is NO major Christian doctrine affected.) Hear me out on this one, because I will not take a back seat to anyone when it comes to belief in, support of and teaching of the Christian Scriptures. If every account so totally matched up that you could not get the personalities of the writers, I would feel we were being “given the party line” and not hearing the faith stories that shape Christianity. In fact what we get is a multi colored many faceted view of a God who loved us so much He could not let us drown in the mire of our own sin. He had to do something. And He did!

That being said we are only a few days away from Father’s Day. It is a time to celebrate Father’s. It is also a time in the church where we draw attention to the fact (whether we realize it or not) that God is our Father. I am fully aware of the discussions that are held regarding the use of “Father” terminology when referring to God. I am also keenly aware that no matter what anyone says, changing the noun does not eliminate issues, it only changes them.

Here is a good question. Why would God choose to use a human relational term to describe himself and his relationship not only with us, but also the relationship between the first and second person of the Trinity? I have heard, read, had screamed at me, all the usual and unusual answers. But as far as I can determine, the only real answer is that there is something about the character of God that we only learn by that human relational language that was given in a society very distinct from our own.

As we approach Father’s Day, celebrate that God is indeed our Father. He is not our abusive earthly father or even our excellent earthly father. He is not something in between. He is “Father.”

When I do not fully grasp that or other issues, I refer myself again to the previous paragraphs.