Mind the Gap: Morning Devotion
Matthew 2:13-23
At a very young age, Jesus is uprooted and exiled to a foreign land. Joseph, Mary, and their toddler become refugees from the power of a jealous king. Out of this experience Jesus gains solidarity with refugees of all times and places—in our times these include Vietnam, Somalia, and Syria. Like so many refugees, Jesus’ suffering is not solitary. His family suffers. The family unit crosses borders, enters new cultures, and weathers the storm.
The journey of Jesus’ family mirrors Israel’s captivity in Egypt, by which an entire people—the Hebrews—experience slavery and redemption. In both cases, God’s deliverance comes not to a single individual but to a family. If we project with the New Testament to the salvation afforded by Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, we find a similar truth: individual Christians are not saved, per se. The Church is saved. We are not God’s persons, islands of glory unto our own. We are God’s family, a vast people spanning continents and millennia. Now and forever, we are part of a family.
The word “family” means different things to different people. I invite you to consider your family of origin, the household in which you grew up. What made your family most distinctive, and most valuable to you?
For the next few mornings, I will call us to consider the Church not as a business, or an institution, but as household. You might wonder why this is suitable for our time at camp. I believe that Sonlight teaches, among other things, a new or deeper definition of what it means to be the family of God. How we treat the table, how we worship and pray, and our focus on low-technology presence all direct us toward God’s intention for us to live as family.
I hope that what your family of origin has instilled in you will infuse your work here and contribute to God’s greater work in the Church.
Would you pray with me? Host of Heaven, thank you for giving us a seat at the table. Thank you for birthing us into the family of the Church. Shape us together into your brilliant inheritance, and through us inspire others to learn what it means to be children of God. Do it for your greater glory. Amen!
Wisdom from Emrys, this series is from morning devotions for staff: Summer 2017.