Church Life at Home

[Back posted from 10/15/12]

I missed yesterday's sermon while teaching the story of Abraham, Sarah, and baby Isaac to a class of two-year-olds in Sunday School.  That's right.  You would have been amused to hear me explaining the surprise blessing of a baby in Sarah's old age to a group of children who believe 6-year-olds are old.  We then made "Baby Isaac" dolls out of tissue paper.  To Abby's understandable dismay, ours was promptly torn apart by the dog just after our arrival home.

Anyways, David told me last night the sermon was from Ephesians chapter 4.  This afternoon I pulled it out during my fragmented quiet time, squeezed between building Lego race cars with Jonathan and helping Abby recover from the trauma of having taken a nap (afternoon's aren't pretty in our house).

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit -- just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call -- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.... And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God" (4:1-6, 11-13).

In these verses I heard again the reminder that, though I've been blessed with the opportunity and responsibility to be my children's mother and raise them towards the knowledge and grace of God, my role as their authority, teacher, and mentor is brief.  The difference between us, but about 30 years in this life, is nothing in eternity, and they will, Lord willing, be my peers in heaven.  They may exceed me in wisdom, in grace, and in patience before too long.  It's certainly my hope.

What I'm getting at is that, as much as I see Jonathan and Abby as my children, requiring rules such as, "everyone is allowed to flush their own pee" to maintain peace in the home, we are in nature the same and will, by God's grace very shortly, be members of the same body of Christ.

There is a message of humility here.  I'm raising children who are so much more than just children, and I can't be so consumed in the very real responsibility of teaching them discipline, limits, respect for authority, manners, and consequences that I lose the profound respect for them as not just little people growing up to be adults, but as persons who will quite likely one day sit beside me in church and in heaven with all the authority of fellow members of the body of Christ.

When time disappears, the children I've raised will no longer be my children but my brothers and sisters in Christ.  Walking in a manner worthy of the calling of a parent means to approach our children, as well as the rest of our church family, "with all humility and gentless, with patience, bearing with one another in love, and eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,"
working to equip these little saints for their work of ministry, in building up the very body of Christ.

Now I'm going to try to remember that today when I open my mouth to respond the next time someone in this house gets their feelings hurt by the dog, takes a toy from another in anger, resists praying with the family, or pees on the floor a mere six inches from the potty.