Dear friends, those that were there know exactly what I'm talking about! We had a packed house and a packed gym for Gospel night. Next year we might just have to move to Strahan Auditorium for the event! A special thank you to all who bought tickets, came to worship; to the Wesley UMC Intergenerational Choir, Pastor Sylvester E. Chase, Jr. for his leadership and devotional message (You'll Never Find Another Love Like Christian Love!), to the Stewart Family for making the delicious real New Orleans gumbo (the Stewarts are evacuees from NO, but who have since joined us as real San Marcos Texans! and they made the gumbo for the evening), and the Mozambique team who coordinated everything. God was blessed as was God's family!
A special thank you to Pastor Leslie Tomlinson who preached at our worship services. She spoke on The Truth About Successful Families and I've not yet heard the tape nor have I seen a sermon insert but I'll follow the theme.
I did ask in the brochure about this series about how many of our dads came home from work wearing a suit and then changed into a cardigan sweater to be more comfortable, sat at a nice comfy chair, read the evening paper while Mom, dressed for church, prepared supper? The image I'm sharing, of course, was Ward and June Cleaver, the parents to Wally and Beaver, real name Teodore. The answer I know would be very few. The reality was and is a bit different. What was then more a table-centered family existence is now a clearing house for all sorts of things. I've heard many moms, mine included saying, I'm running a hotel, a cafe, a taxi service, a bank, a laundry, etc. Family time is almost nonexistent.
The truth about successful families in my opinion are those centered on Christ's love for each member and each member trying in his/her own way to share that same love towards each other. The great parable about families was the one Jesus shared about two brothers who didn't get along, were suspicious of each other, tried to play each other off the father and finally the younger of the two left. And he didn't leave poor. He took his share of the inheritance and spent it, according to the older brother "in a squanderous way of living." I'm sure the younger one made sure to email him about what he was up to and how he was spending dad's money. The story has the younger brother coming to his senses only after finding himself so poor he was hungry enough to eat the scraps of undesireable food fed to the hogs on the hog farm at which he now worked. The dad's compassionate love was the key to the story and Jesus used it to demonstrate God's compassionate love for us. The story ends with the older brother not wanting to be a part of the celebration for the young son's return, but the father says to the young man that he had never lost anything, in fact the dad tells him, "all that I have is yours," but understand the need to celebrate that this your brother who was dead is now alive.
How is it in your "family?" How do you want it to be? It may not be too late to try and make your family a "successful" one. It may require a lot of pain, work, tears, sweat and forgiveness, but with God's help and God's presence in your midst, it could happen. The place to start is with you and your heart. Do you have compassionate, forgiving love in your heart towards yourself and the other members of your family? How can you best show it?
PRAYER: God of compassionate love, begin Your good work in me. Help me to have that same sort of unconditional love toward myself so that I can begin to share it with those who matter most to me, my family. I thank you for each member and like me, I know they may not be perfect, but they are mine and they are Yours. Let me love them and begin to work towards having a family that reflects Your presence with us. I pray in Christ Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
