Adopted into One Family

Dear Church Family,

One of the gifts and challenges of life is learning what it means to belong to a family. We are shaped by our biological families, sustained by the families we choose, nurtured by our church family, and above all claimed by God’s family.

In his letter to the church in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul makes a remarkable claim: that long before any of them were born, they were destined for adoption in Christ. Not as an afterthought or a compromise, but as beloved children, chosen and claimed by their Creator from the very beginning.

That was no small thing for the church in Ephesus to hear. This was a deeply diverse community made up of Jewish followers of Jesus and people from across the Greco-Roman world. There were men and women, citizens and enslaved people, rich and poor, shaped by different traditions, cultures, and convictions. It is not hard to imagine disagreements, long meetings, and hard conversations about who they were called to be and how they were called to live.

Into that complexity, Paul speaks a word that is both comforting and challenging. Despite all their differences, they are family. Each one adopted as a beloved child of God. Being family does not mean there will never be conflict or disagreement, but it does mean that even when things are contentious, we remain connected to one another and to our Creator in Christ.
I confess that it has been painful to return home and witness how deep the divisions in our country and communities have become. I was shocked by the death of Renee Good, the daughter of a Presbyterian pastor here in Kansas, and troubled by the increasing confrontations and violence across our nation.

Last Sunday, as we remembered our baptism, we reaffirmed our commitment to renounce evil and turn away from the power of sin. As siblings in Christ, we are called to protect and care for the least and the last. We are also called to remember that every person is beloved by God. God grieves when we forget that truth.

I continue to pray for the families of those whose lives have been taken by violence, for those who live in fear of being separated from their families, and for the safety of those on all sides of conflict. I also pray for our community of faith, that we might live into the truth Paul proclaimed long ago, that we are siblings in Christ, adopted into one family, and held in a love that will not let us go.

See you in church.

With peace, love, and grace,

Pastor Kevin