Gospel Reading for Sunday of Proper 5: Year B
Mark 3:20 to 35
“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:35)
I consider biological family to be like culture; we are born into it without choice. However, as we live, grow, love and learn, we can modify, add to, adapt and transform both family and culture.
As I have served in the military for 30 years I have become a part of the U.S. military culture and many of my retired military friends are family to me. So too, the members of the Episcopal Church are family to me. This new found family of mine also includes my brothers in freemasonry. We are family because we are God-fearing men who live to do the will of God. This in no way means that I reject my biological family. It simply means that the family and culture of my choosing is as dear to me as those I was born into without choice.
I think a house divided happens when someone close to us decides not to do the will of God. This is sad regardless of blood or oaths. Sometimes our own country could be looked at as a house divided with all the political rhetoric going. Family or nation, we must put God first and stay this way regardless of small differences.
As I write these words my biological brother is here visiting with me. My time with him is wonderful and I am thankful to God for him. My brother and I disagree about some things but we love each other and will not let seeing things differently pull us apart. We can have it both ways. We can have our birth families and we can also have our “grown-into” families. Thank You Lord Jesus.
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools including St. Augustine in Raleigh, North Carolina.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray:
Dear Brother Lord Jesus, we give you thanks for connecting us to our eternal Father and true Parent. We pray that you bring to all of us as we live, grow, love and learn, a clearer understanding of what real family means, that is, those who do the will of the Father. Amen
onewhoponders 