Family Reunion

Several years ago my wife and youngest son flew to the Nashville area for a surprise weekend visit with my sister and her family. And when they got home, Jenine told me about a situation that occurred on the plane before takeoff. She said that Luke, who was three-years-old at the time, had taken his seat on the plane (his first adventure in flight) and was excitedly swinging his legs when he accidentally kicked the back of the man’s chair sitting in from of him. The man then turned around and angrily yelled at my son, telling him to “knock it off,” to “behave,” and to “sit still.”

Well, that’s certainly not a big deal, but upon hearing this, my ire went up. I thought, “How dare that curmudgeon chastise my little boy.” Now, perhaps I was biased in my response, but it’s natural for us to protect and defend those we love. In fact that’s how it ought to be in a family. We look out for one another.

As Jenine and I reflected yesterday on our first official day at Cornerstone, the way that people have looked out for us, and the efforts that so many have made to welcome and embrace us, we both concluded the same thing:

This is our family.

We don’t have any parents or siblings in town, but we recognized experientially what Jesus said in Mark 3 (and I’m paraphrasing): “My true family is made up of those who do the will of the Father.”

See, in his brief earthly ministry, Jesus radically redefined family. Jesus de-centered biological family and instead emphasized the family of the Kingdom. Jesus roundly debunked the popular notion that “blood is thicker than water.”

As Rodney Clapp says in his excellent book, Families at the Crossroads, “the blood that most significantly determines our identity and character is not the blood of biological family, but the blood of the Lamb.”

The Apostle Paul recognized this. He was relentless with his familial language. The phrase "my brothers" appears more than 65 times in his letters. The church Paul knew met in households and they depended on one another. Here's the point: as believers in Christ, we're not extended family. We're family. Period.

And we want to thank you, our family, for looking out for us during this life-transition, and for making our first day at Cornerstone memorable. We’re looking forward to making many more memories together. By God's grace and for a long time.

John