Family

I am an only child. This has some enormous benefits, particularly when it comes to birthdays and Christmas. Add to the fact that my parents were told that they would never have children, that my father was a successful business man, and that they were thirty-six and forty-seven when I was born, it will come as no surprise that I was an extremely spoiled child. It's a mystery I ever became the wonderful person that I am......


My life was ripped apart when I was eight. My Dad, my hero, died. Mum never re-married, we emigrated to Australia where I had two cousins and their daughter. My family was very small. One thing I always wanted was a larger family. Brothers, sisters, a bunch of people to whom I belonged and who, in turn, belonged to me.


I found that family when I was twelve, that was my age when Jesus called me to follow him, and I became a part of that amazing, frustrating, loving, wonderfully flawed group of people we call 'the church.' In this group of people, this family of God, I have found what I had longed for all my life - family.


I have been a part of this family for thirty-seven years this year, and I love it more than at any other time in my life. This family isn't just made up of the people in my own local church community, beautiful and embracing thought they are, it is made up of believers across my city, my state, my country and this world. It is made up of people from all walks of life, all ethnicities, all socio-economic backgrounds, different political persuasions, and even 'ministers of religion.' I had lunch with a bunch of local pastors this week, and they are my brothers and sisters, and they are great!


This post isn't a fairy story, the church isn't perfect. We do some very dumb things, say some ill-thought out things, hurt people, disappoint people, exclude people, judge people, and provide fuel for all manner of criticism - much of it justified. The church is a long way from perfect. Like any family we have in-fighting, disagreements, favouritism, and all too often hold grudges. Just like any other family. And yet, I have found in the church, acceptance, support, encouragement, warmth, forgiveness, generosity and love. I have found people who will laugh with me, cry with me, hug me when I hurt and unconditionally be there for me when I am in need.


Just who are we, those of us who are a part of this family, this ekklesia, this church? We are lost people who have found a home in Jesus, sinners who have found forgiveness in Jesus, wanderers who have found direction and purpose in Jesus, pilgrims who have found spiritual reality and food for our souls in Jesus, as Newton so poetically put it, 'I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see.'


We aren't joined by a common goal - although we have one; a common belief - although we have one; a common world-view - although we have one; or a common history - although we have one. We are joined, as family, by a man, THE man, Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate Son of God, who gave his life to make us one family and unites us by his Spirit alive within us. In Jesus we have the meaning of life and the Lord of the world. In Jesus we have found the one who is the head of this body, his family, and who calls us all to be more than we ever imagined was possible. God's perfect human being into whose image we are being changed; and humanity's perfect God, whom we worship and honour and love.


The church is terribly flawed and messed up, because I am. The church often fails her Lord, because I do. Whenever there is cause to point the finger and justifiably ask, 'Is that what the church is supposed to look like?' And we must answer, 'No,' we must also raise our hands and admit, mea culpa, because even if I am not guilty of the failings being raised, I am the church, and often guilty of so much more.


You see, this is my family. When it isn't perfect, it's still my family; when it's flawed, it's still my family; and when I'm embarrassed to admit it, it's still my family. And yet, there are those times, many times, more often than is trumpeted in the press or will be evident until the Day of the Lord, this strange family of people actually do great honour to their Lord as they reach out to the hurting and the needy and the marginalised and the poor. There have been countless times over the last thirty-seven years I have wanted to shout from the roof-tops, 'That's my family!!!! That's the church...'


I love this family. I count it a great joy and privilege to call these many followers of Jesus my brothers and sisters. They are mine and I am theirs. I belong. I belong not because of who I am but because of whose I am. Like so much in the Christian faith it's not about what I do but about what Jesus has done.


So today I wanted to appreciate this family that God has given me. And in the years I have left to help see more welcomed into my family, more loved by my family, more helped by my family, and pray that I will learn to look more like my Dad and my elder brother. Because a family that looks like that would be one anyone would want to be a part of.