Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, July 22, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Family is a choice. I know that’s a new concept. For far too long, we in the west have been force-fed this idea of a nuclear family centered around a single, male breadwinner, his (usually) one wife, and their children. And truth be told, that’s a pretty recent concept itself, although previous western ideas of family (usually extended, sometimes matriarchal, and based in shared financial responsibility) did not include the idea of choice. The old adage “you can’t pick your family” proves that.
Our ideas of family are rapidly changing, and I think that is nothing but all kinds of good. Single parents, single-sex couples, platonic pairings, intergenerational, intercultural, inter-everything and then some, there is no one correct way to define family. (Of course, there are plenty of folks out there screaming “YES THERE IS!” and trying to force everyone to cling to the nuclear family idea, but frankly, I’m going to ignore them. They’re wrong.)
And whether he intended it in this context or not, Paul speaks truth when he proclaims that it is God from whom “every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.” Family is simply people living together in mutual love and interdependence. So no matter how you choose to define it, is beautiful and holy, and takes its name from God. Amen!
How do I define family? Who is in my family? Do I believe I can choose my family?
![1 Kings 17:1-16 [17-24], God’s Care for the Widow](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b39b61ab48de92d991a40a/bf37035e-33d5-439f-a0d6-a68b02d0f1bc/24-11-03.jpg)
