Fathering (and mothering, sister and brothering) a Fatherless World

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27

This past Sunday was Father’s Day.

If you are a father, I hope you had a good day. If you have a father, I hope you made him feel honored. My family made me feel honored -- it was a good Father’s Day, and I am blessed.

So many in our world are not able to receive or to give this blessing. Many around us live without fathers. Other’s whom we look at and would say, “He or she has a father,” practically speaking do not. The land of fatherlessness is a land filled with loss, both personal and societal.

God, whom the Bible refers to as our father, whom Jesus refers to as his daddy, seems to care a great deal about the land of fatherlessness and those who dwell there. Throughout scripture followers of God, made in his image, are called to care for those who have no father. We are called as well to care for those without husbands, for foreigners, outcasts, and the discarded. We are called and invited to love with the love of God the very people whom the world seems to see as invisible, disposable. As we love people who so often feel Godforsaken, we carry the presence of God to them even as we experience it ourselves.

At Creekside Covenant Church this past Sunday we were privileged to have a conversation with Brent Christi, Executive Director of Jubilee Center REACH. Brent told us stories, which echo those of many others throughout history who step out despite uncertainty into the areas and towards the people where God is calling them, certain that somehow God will meet them. And he does. And when that happens, he exchanges their uncertainty, not with certainty but with expectant trust. And the world – including those who step out -- is changed, transformed, and restored. It’s God’s plan, and it includes us.

Have you ever experienced the joy (mingled with the fear) of stepping into these types of opportunities? Have you met God there? If you have, I probably don’t need to tell you to continue – it is contagious. Instead, I tell you to keep it up and to share your stories. If you have not, do it; do it now, step out. If you don’t know how, ask. Ask me, ask others – and then share your story as well – success or failure. We are propelled and fueled by the stories of our common journey – inward toward God, outward toward the world and together as a people.

Peace, hope and love,

Doug