What is Family? - Sermon for Pentecost 2

Sermon:

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Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who unites us as family.

            I’m pretty excited, my Aunt from Arkansas is up in this area visiting my Aunt and Uncle near Orange City and I get to have dinner with them tomorrow night. As the family gets older it’s been harder and harder to get together. So, getting together just for dinner not connected to either a funeral or wedding is a fun occasion. I don’t know about you but being able to spend time with fam and not have 100 other people also around is a nice change of pace.

            As I said it’s harder and harder to get family together. Parents in the Twin Cities, my sister and brother-in-law are in Texas, Aunts and Uncles all in different states. Cousins scattered all around the country, Texas, North Dakota, Washington, DC, Wisconsin, and one cousin just found out that her husband has been assigned to Hawaii with the Marine Band where he’s a percussionist!

            That’s what’s up with my family. Or is that really all of my family?

            Jesus rather questions what it means to be family in our Gospel today doesn’t he?

            The whole story rather fits in the “You Can’t Go Home.” Idiom.

The story actually starts the half verse before we began reading. It simply says. “Then he went home.” Jesus heads back to his family, and when he gets home, everyone around starts to show up. Wanting to see what the new celebrity has been doing, hear about his healings, teachings. See what has happened to the boy they knew growing up. And do his family welcome him home? No, they have heard people talking saying that he has gone crazy, doing things he shouldn’t, the scribes from Jerusalem say that he must have been doing this through the power of Beelzebub, the ruler of demons. So, they think, we need to stop this rapscallion, he is hanging out with the wrong people.

And in responding to these accusations Jesus applies one of his parables to families themselves. If a House is divided against itself it will fall.

If a family isn’t united, that family falls.

Does that mean they have to agree with each other all the time? No. Does that mean they can’t ever move away from each other? No. Does that even mean they have to like each other all of the time? No.

Let’s look at the next section. “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter.”

That’s what it means to be a family. To forgive. And through that to love.

Now before You all start thinking, oh! I didn’t forgive my family member that one time. This is not some easy thing to break, and I feel that Jesus here is not talking about breaking families, I don’t even think he’s disowning his own here. He is instead expanding who is family.

I think our culture has forgotten this on many occasions. I see story after story of people being arrested or fired for attempting to feed the poor. Just last week I read of a school lunch worker who gave food to kids who had no money that day, she was fired.

What is family? And what does God call us to do? but to help, assist, and care for our family.

Jesus says, “Here are my mother and brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

We are all family. All of us here together today, those at United Parish, those at St. Joes, those at Elk Point Baptist, those of every denomination and affiliation, those in million dollar homes and especially those on the streets. Those who go to service every week and those who have barely entered the door. Through Christ, they are our family. And we are called to do the will of God for them. We are called to help those who are in any need.

And we can only be family and forgive each other through the power of Christ.

Christ brings us together so we can feed people at Friends Feast tomorrow. Christ brings us together to give food to the hungry through the food pantry and the back-pack program.

Christ brings us together as family so we can give resources to the people of Delmont and Nepal. Christ brings us together so we can help show our kids the love of Christ through VBS and Camp.

Christ brings us together, united in the Holy Spirit. Apart we fall. Together as family we can do so much.

Let us pray.

Christ, bring us together as family. Show us your love, help us to forgive each other. Help us to see the Spirit at work around us, amidst us, through us. Amen.