fathers

Index - Posting 13 June 2007 Vol. 4.2

A father to the fatherless…God sets the lonely in families

Psalm 68:5-6 (NIV)

I will always be eternally grateful to my grandmother for ensuring I would never forget Father’s Day. Somehow she managed to give birth to my father and his brother ten years apart on the same day June 17 th which invariably falls on or very near the third Sunday of June – Father’s Day. Her remarkable thoughtfulness is a constant reminder to count my many blessings and to consider the contributions of all my fathers to my life. Thus on Father’s Day I reflect on my biological father, who made history by becoming the first man, and black man to gain custody of his own child with the amending of the Guardian ad Litem laws, with regard to illegitimacy in 1960. I consider my step-father, who committed unspeakable acts but not with me, as I was already wise to that game. And finally my foster father, who with his wife, befriended my father after the Second World War and provided my first sense of home and family life after many years of being “in care.” There are others, whose acts of kindness have left an indelible impression that I still recall today.

Many years ago I learnt not to be stressed out by the multiplicity of voices, often contradictory, present in the Bible. I now read it is a wonderful anthology of sacred writings of how we have perceived and understood God through out the centuries. Our love of the Divine has been the inspiration but it can never contain or be the whole of God. The Holy Spirit still hovers over the waters; constantly renewing the revelations of the power inherent in the inclusive love of God. But in my youthful inexperience, I did wonder about Deuteronomy 23:2 (KJV)

A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

Thankfully it did not square with my experience of God. As a child, I grew up feeling God’s caring presence. I was always in the shadow of His wings and nestled in the palm of Her hand. I was wanted and even more importantly needed. This deep down knowing has been the bedrock on which I have built the structure of my life. Being raised like an orphan and then over time acquiring my natural parents and then foster and step, reflects the ever changing nature of family life here and at home. I have three half sisters, but I am the only child of my father and mother. So Father’s Day carries an assortment of remembrances for all of us; some acutely painful others glorious, but all part of the learning through experience of our coping with our vulnerabilities as adults and children. He did his best as did the others. Whether it came up to standard or fell short ceased to be an issue long ago. I have grown through the pain, the anguish and the need to accuse. Despite his many shortcomings as a father and mine as a daughter we have stayed together.

I am sustained in the frailties of our humanity, through God’s abiding desire for our healing and maturation into sensible and compassionate adults of God. We are not meant to remain as children. Encouragement continues to come from the usual and sometimes unusual places. The Bible remains a profound teacher of spiritual truths through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Through out my life many texts have encouraged and sustained me. These in particular have helped me to place where I felt valued and loved, to enable my giving and receiving love from others.

Although my father and my mother have forsaken me, yet the Lord will take me up, adopt me as His child. Psalm 27:10 (Amplified)…Faithful is He Who is calling you to Himself and utterly trustworthy, and He will also do it, fulfil His call by hallowing and keeping you. I Thess. 5:24 (Amplified)

May the Holy Spirit of God lovingly hold your feelings on Father’s Day.

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