The Christian Family

This summer we're focusing the first part of the season on the Christian family. This past Sunday we began that journey with the sermon which took its beginning in the Shema.

Beginning with Moses' desire to leave the Children of Israel with a new legacy in the Promised Land, we opened our study with Deuteronomy 6: 4-9 in which Moses instructs the Israelites to center their homes and their lives in their belief in God. Starting with that ancient call: "Hear O Israel, The Lord your God, the Lord is One..," we began our journey toward an understanding of the Christian Home and its difference from other homes.

We found that Moses hoped to help the Children of Israel understand who and what they were. We also found that Moses understood that, to be fully human, people have to understand who they are. The Shema starts us on that journey which finds its fullness in I Peter 2: 9-10 when Peter posits: "Once you were no people, now you are God's people."

Moses helped the Israelites answer three basic questions:
1. Who are we?
2. Where do we come from...what is our story?
3. What is the structure by which we order our lives?

Our journey will help us understand how important it is for us to have these three elements firmly answered in our lives if we are to provide a healthy Christian environment for our children. This is important! It is vital to building our homes as healthy places to live.

We then began the journey in the same way as the Israelites entered the Promised Land by crossing the Jordan. When they crossed, a leader of each tribe selected a stone from the river and, together, the twelve leaders built a stone cairn. This was for a memorial: a place where the Israelites could gather and remember their story...the story which told them who they were.

Like those Israelites, we began our journey with a memorial: The Lord's Supper. As we gathered there, we began a journey which will take us through this summer toward the goal of homes centered in Christ.

Curtis

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