Celebrate together as an extended family of God

My husband and I were given an incredible gift from God — our six children.

Granted, there were times when I might have been less than appreciative when it seemed we might be overcome by the noise, mountains of laundry, spilled milk, and normal kid squabbles. But overall, they have been one of the main joys of my life. Things are much quieter and cleaner around our house now that they’ve grown up and established their own homes, complete with beautiful grandchildren.

Now that it’s just the two of us, we sometimes take off to explore places previously unknown to us. And an interesting thing is that invariably we’ll be enjoying something immensely and one of us will remark about how much fun it would be to bring the kids (by now, quite a large collective group) back to enjoy this with us. It would be ever-so-much more fun with all of us together.

Not only would it be tons of fun with all of us there, but we honestly, seriously love each other and love to do life together.

All the years of shared inside jokes and favorite movie quotes add up to a depth of relationship you don’t have with just anybody. It’s our family.

I’d be untruthful if I said everything were perfect with our family. It isn’t. We have our own share of struggles and continue to work through them. And as with any family, there are moments of tension. We’re a real family.

Our family, now established in their own homes in two states, each with its unique flavor, is really part of an even larger extended family. In fact, this summer both sides of our family are planning family reunions. It’s amazing how “family” escalates in a hurry! On my side, from my parents down, we now are a family of 95 with more on the way.

Now that is a family! And what is really quite amazing is that though we live thousands of miles apart in very different cultures, when we get together, there is so much we have in common. We share the inside jokes handed down for generations, mannerisms, even favorite foods. We are a family.

In case you haven’t figured it out, let me say it straight out. I love my family. Nothing makes me happier than to see my family around the table, laughing and enjoying each other — and in the times of pain, carrying each other’s sorrows. I love to watch my grandkids play together hours on end. And nothing makes a mom or dad more distraught than when part of the family becomes estranged from each other.

It is pretty clear that God feels the same way about his family. It is such a big deal to him that when Jesus was facing his own death on the cross, He spent most of his time in prayer for the big extended family of God that would come after him.

While in anguish, he prayed for his disciples and then said in John 17:20,23: “I’m praying not only for them but also for those who will believe in me because of them and their witness about me. The goal is for all of them to become of one heart and mind. … So they’ll be as unified and together as we are … and give the world evidence that you’ve sent me and loved them in the same way you’ve loved me.”

He knew we would have issues with one another, that it would be hard to love and accept one another with a whole heart. And it broke his heart. He knew that the only way the people of the world could ever recognize him was by his family — those who are called by his name, living and working together in unity.

Later, the Apostle Paul echoed the same thing. He said in Philippians 1:1-2,5-6: “If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if His love has made any difference in your life, if being in the community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care — then do me a favor (or ‘make my joy complete’ in another translation): Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. …Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what.”

Again in Ephesians 4, we are urged to “live worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Always be humble, gentle and patient, bearing with one another in love, and making every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit gives through the binding power of shalom. There is ONE body and ONE Spirit, just as when you were called you were called to ONE hope. And there is ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptisim, and ONE God, the Father of all ...”

In this Valley are many different families, each part of the extended family of God. We call them churches. Though we have a common father and faith, each has its own distinct flavor, unique beliefs, inside stories, shared joys and sorrows. Just like with my grown kids, this is good. But God makes it clear that his desire is for all those in his family, also called the “Body of Christ,” to love (not just tolerate) each other as family — to be one.

Imagine father God’s joy when his extended family gets together and loves one another. He loves it! It’s time to gather this family together! The Valley family reunion of the extended family of God — One Lord Sunday — is at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center at 6 p.m., May 19. And it won’t be the same without you and your church family. There is a full kids’ program for ages 9 months to grade four. Kids age 5 through grade four should come dressed for an awesome outdoor adventure.

Kathy Conn is a member of Northgate Alaska and is secretary for Valley Pastors Prayer Network.

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