Knowing God - Matthew 3:17

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Paul, Jay, Rob

 

And a voice from heaven said,

"This is my Son, the Beloved,

with whom I am well pleased."

Matthew 3:17

 

Today is my son Paul's 21st birthday, and I could easily echo the Father's words from heaven.

 

God said these words as Jesus was beginning his ministry. This morning, my son is doing ministry near the beginning of his career too. As a church musician, he's playing "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" (or whatever song of faith that today brings).

 

This Sunday morning at our church, we are celebrating a renewal of wedding vows for a couple. As part of this, we will be reading some words from our standard wedding liturgy: "Because of sin, our age-old rebellion, the gladness of marriage can be overcast and the gift of the family can become a burden."

 

Those are strange, hard, odd words in the middle of happy, floral, wedding ceremony.

 

But they are true.

 

For many of us, every joy in family that we have seems to be offset and overcast by a sorrow. And as the liturgy implies, family trails are generally spurred by sin ... and anger ... and insecurity ... and wantonness ... and mostly rebellion. Someone wants to go their own way, instead of God's.

 

"But," continues the liturgy, "because God, who established marriage (and family, and) continues still to bless it, we can be sustained in our weariness and our joy can be restored."

 

My prayer today is that we may each reconnect with family today in a deeper way ... and reconnect with God who stirs the deeper way and restores our joy.

 

In Christ's Love,

a grateful dad

 

Happy Birthday, Paul!