The GODfather

An old, white haired man sits in a metal chair in the front yard of a Sicilian villa. It appears to be about midday and he just sits there quietly. Suddenly he grabs at his chest in apparent pain, wrenches forward, and falls out of the chair onto the dirt. No one rushes to his assistance. No one cries over his demise. As the lights slowly dim, the familiar strains of a haunting theme song are heard in the background.

Almost everyone will recognize that as a description of the final scene in Godfather III. Michael Corleone, once the most powerful Mafia Don in New York, dies as a recluse, alone and forgotten, self-exiled in Sicily. For decades he ruled: the Corleone family as its violent, ruthless Godfather. He took brutal revenge on anyone he perceived as his enemy, including family members, and disowned people he felt crossed him, even his own wife.

The Corleone family is a dog eat dog system filled with anger, pride, betrayal, and focused on greed, wealth and the acquisition of power at all cost. It's a place where everyone keeps watch over their shoulder, and no one is safe, not even children. There is no room for individuality, creativity, or differences of opinion. The Godfather’s will is all-pervasive and governs everyone's life.

Contrast the Corleone family with this family. A father has 2 sons and his younger son, who is quite full of himself, decides he wants to go “do his own thing.” He is so self-centered and brash that he goes to his father, demanding him to finance the venture by giving him his inheritance in advance. Although the father can predict the outcome, he calmly grants his son the request. He respects his young son enough to allow him to make his own decisions, and doesn't force his will upon him.

The younger son moves to a major city and immediately begins living “the high life.” He has a luxurious penthouse apartment, wears designer clothes, is chauffeured in a limo, and always has a beautiful woman draped on his arm. Things couldn't be better and life couldn't be sweeter! He never thinks about his father, thanks him or even returns his phone calls.

Eventually the son runs out of money, friends, clothes, and wheels. He is homeless, and eats his meals at a local rescue mission. The only job he can get is night janitor at seedy nightclub. He spends his time sweeping broken glass, mopping up spilled beer, and cleaning vomit out of the latrines. He has lots of time to think about home, and to realize how good he had it when he was living there.

He decides to return home, determined to be grateful for the most menial job in the family business. Can you imagine how this son would be welcomed by the Corleone family? He’d probably be shot at first sight! But this father has a different idea of what being a father is all about. In fact he is been looking and eagerly waiting for his younger son to return every day. When he sees his son walking up the driveway, he runs to him and embraces him, kissing him repeatedly. Without reservation, this father immediately reinstates his son to his former place in the family and throws a big party to welcome him home.

Many of you have heard this story before. It's referred to as the Prodigal Son, and was told by Jesus to help us understand how Father God, the true GODfather loves each one of us, and welcomes us to His family. (Luke 15:11–32)

Let me ask you a question. Which Godfather would you prefer to have?

Come join us this Sunday at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM. We will continue our discussion on “The Christlike Family,” and discover the type of family created by the true GODfather.

All in the Family?

Just what is a family? It sounds like a simple enough question, but these days the answer may not be so straightforward. Back in the 1950s and 1960s when Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best were popular TV shows, it was easy to identify the family. There was a father, who was a breadwinner, and a mother, who was a homemaker, and usually several children, all living under one roof. While the ghost of that family constellation may still linger with us, today less than 15% of American families fit that model.

Our current divorce rate is twice as high as it was in 1966, and 3 times as high as it was in 1950. The number of single mothers and their dependent children is 3 times more than it was in 1960, and 1 in 3 children is born out of wedlock. Today married couples make up barely 50% of the households in the United States, down 25% since 1970, and over half those married couples do not have children. A quarter of all American adults are single and live alone.

The family used to be viewed as a safe haven where members could experience some degree of security and protection from outside forces. Parents were generally considered wise and capable enough to resolve the minor conflicts that arose within the family. On today's TV reality shows it’s sometimes difficult to determine who are the children and who are the parents, at least by their behavior. Minor family conflicts have now escalated into adultery, incest rape, alcoholism and drug addiction.

The family experience of some children is anything but what might be considered typical. Many children, 1.5 million to be exact, have one or both parents incarcerated in prison. The average age of these children is 8 years old, and quarter of them are under the age of 5 years. Currently half a million children are placed in foster care and only 25% of those are living with a relative. One half of these children are never reunited with their parents, and 53% of them spend more than one year in foster care.

These statistics hardly represent the image God had in mind when He instituted the family. Scripture makes it clear that God's design for the family involved marital fidelity, mutually loving and respectful relationships between husband-and-wife, and a protective, encouraging environment for children. (Genesis 2:22–24; Ephesians 5:22–6:4; 1 Peter 3:1–7) in fact, God originally intended that the family would provide an accurate representation of His relationship with us as a loving Heavenly Father and His children.

What are all the situations that are included in your family? No matter what condition your family is in, God wants to heal your relationships, and restore them wherever that is possible. He wants to give you a hope about your future relationships as well. He is the God of all comfort and desires to restore peace and joy to you and all your family members.

Please join us this Sunday at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM, as we look at all that is contained in the family as God designed it. This is our second installment in our current series, “The Christlike Family.”

The Mother Nexus

With Mother's Day approaching, the conversation at our last church staff meeting just naturally turned to mothers. Everyone had memories to share. Many of them focused on the wonderful foods their mother cooked or how she kept alive various family traditions. One staffer remembered how his mother always included a special treat in his school lunch along with a note signed with a heart and the word “Mom.” Another shared that his mom never missed a soccer game, and was always yelling encouragement from the sidelines. A third staffer recalled their annual family camping trip to Yosemite, and how her mom managed to pack food, supplies and clothing for a family of 5 children, and never seemed to forget anything.

I smiled as I thought of my own mother, and how she always made my favorite Korean dishes for my birthday. I have a shoebox full of birthday cards that I received from her after I was an adult and left home. She never forgot one of my birthdays her entire life. As we listened to each other's stories, we all agreed that mothers are the nexus, the center and heart of the family. They keep everyone connected to each other and to the traditions of the family. They remember all the little details that mean so much, and they are the glue that holds everything together.

Interestingly, this image of binding together like glue is depicted in the Hebrew word for mother which is EM or IMA. It is composed of two Hebrew letters, “alef” and “mem.” The Hebrew letter “alef” is represented by an ox head, and represents strength or leader. The Hebrew letter “mem” is represented by the symbol for water. So the symbolic meaning of the Hebrew word for mother is “strong water.” The ancient Hebrews made a substance they called “strong water” by boiling animal skins down to a paste-like consistency that they used to attach things together. The Hebrew mother was like this “strong water” paste, as she created the bonds that united the family.

Proverbs 31 gives a beautiful description of this “strong water” mother:

She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family.

She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for the tasks.

She opens her arms to the poor; she extends her hands to the needy.

She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is upon her tongue.

She watches over the affairs of her household.

She does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also praises her.

(v. 15-17, 20, 26-28)

This is a picture of a strong, confident woman, who is equally competent at home and in the business setting. Her family is first, but she also has a heart for the poor and needy. She is full of wise counsel for her husband and her children, and they truly appreciate her. Although written several thousand years ago, this is a description of a completely modern mother.

Mothers are nothing short of amazing! Take time to show your mother just how much you appreciate her this Mothers Day. And if you are a mother, please remember just how very special you are!

Please join us this Mother's Day Sunday at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM. We are beginning a new series on “Christlike Family,” and our topic this Sunday is “A Christlike Mother.”

Joy Unspeakable

A first grade teacher gave her class the beginning of some well-known proverbs and let them supply the endings. Here are a few of the results:

Strike while the……… bug is close.

Don't bite the hand……… that looks dirty.

A bird in the hand……… will poop on you.

A penny saved……… is not much.

If it first you don't succeed……… time to get new batteries.  

I hope that brought a smile to your face. We've been through so much bad news and hard times in the last few years, that we need to remember that life still is full of joy. Too often in the church we get focused on the problems and forget that we have a joyful, loving Father God watching over us.

Have you ever thought of God as joyful or having a sense of humor? He does you know. Let me give you a few examples. Take creation for instance. You have to have a sense of humor to create animals like a giraffe, an ostrich, a platypus or an aardvark. Think of the penguin, a bird that looks like a bowling pin in a tuxedo! And how about designing the bumblebee that defies all the laws of aerodynamics, and yet flies? Someone's getting a good laugh out of that!

Over and over again in the creation story, it says that God saw what He created and it was good. This is not a moral statement, but a pronouncement of pleasure. Did you ever make something that gave you great satisfaction and made you smile? That's exactly what God was feeling when He looked at what He had created. He was happy.

Think of the irony in the life of Christ. The God Who created the universe comes to earth incognito as a baby and is born in a stable. On top of that He spends 30 years anonymously in an obscure country village growing up and working as a carpenter. He has a completely ordinary life during that time, doing nothing that would suggest that He is God. Think of His next-door neighbors. How would you feel if you found out the guy living next door was God! Now that's one of the biggest “gotchas” of all time!

I know God is joyful. He's the one that first told us to smile. He tells us in Proverbs 15:13, “A happy heart makes the face cheerful;” and in Proverbs 15:30, “A cheerful look brings joy to the heart.” He knew the impact of joy and happiness on our health thousands of years before we did. He tells us in Proverbs 17:22, “A merry heart does one good like a medicine.”

We are repeatedly told in Scripture that where God is, there is joy and happiness. His joy is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). When we are in His presence there is fullness of joy (Psalms 16:11). That means there is hilarity and laughter. Before He left, Jesus prayed that His joy would be in as and that our joy would be complete or overflowing (John 15:11).

God is joyful and happy, not scowling and angry. He wants us to know what makes Him the most joyful. It's when we trust Him and receive His gift of love, becoming His adopted child. Luke 15:10 says, “I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Put a smile on God's face today by turning to Him and accepting His love.

Come join us this Sunday at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM. We are very excited to have our special guest speaker, James Goll, a prophet and a seer.