Our Family Tree
In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David;
and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
Jeremiah 33:15
Dear friend,
As family gathered at our home on Thanksgiving day, I found myself reflecting
on our family tree. There were 12 of us gathered around the table this year. Others
came to visit later in the day, because now the children are all paired in
relationships with significant others & needed to visit those other families too.
Our family tree has grown and is growing. It started with Sarah and me, then came
five children, then those five significant others, then three grandchildren, so 15 when our
immediate family is all together. Yet then of course Sarah and I each have this wider family
connected to us and so does every member of that family have family trees connected to them.
And there are struggles in our wider family tree this year. There are challenges with
health and work and finances and a relationship we pray to be mended yet might
not be and yet there are so many joys as well because that’s the way it is
when there are so many branches on such an abundant tree of life.
And then I think of all those who used to sit around the Thanksgiving table with me
before Sarah and I were a couple and how many of them have now moved from this
side of life to the next, and how the same is true for Sarah with people in her life
before I was blessed to be able to sit at the Thanksgiving table with her.
And then I think of you reading these words. I think of how blessed I am that
you are part of my family now. I think of the miracle of you and how grateful I
am to be journeying with you for we can do so much more
as we walk together than we could ever do alone.
And then I think of that branch in the family tree, forming again as that vulnerable
babe in a manger, that branch which needs our care as we care for others, that
babe who needs us to “execute justice and righteousness in the land” which
often lacks justice and righteousness for the most vulnerable among us.
Above and below are videos put out by TIME magazine. They each tell the
story of a famous photo. Each photo is filled with faces of people, some
you will recognize, others you will not. Each is part our family tree.
It’s pretty cool, really, and a deep, deep blessing to be sure.
This coming Sunday, the First Sunday of Advent, we will decorate our
Memorial Advent/Christmas tree. Some of you consider this one of the most
meaningful moments in our church calendar, hanging ornaments which represent
the lives of those we honor and those we hold in loving remembrance and thanksgiving
for helping to form us into the highest expression of everything God has created us to become.
For now, blessings and deep love,
Pastor John
and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
Jeremiah 33:15
Dear friend,
As family gathered at our home on Thanksgiving day, I found myself reflecting
on our family tree. There were 12 of us gathered around the table this year. Others
came to visit later in the day, because now the children are all paired in
relationships with significant others & needed to visit those other families too.
Our family tree has grown and is growing. It started with Sarah and me, then came
five children, then those five significant others, then three grandchildren, so 15 when our
immediate family is all together. Yet then of course Sarah and I each have this wider family
connected to us and so does every member of that family have family trees connected to them.
And there are struggles in our wider family tree this year. There are challenges with
health and work and finances and a relationship we pray to be mended yet might
not be and yet there are so many joys as well because that’s the way it is
when there are so many branches on such an abundant tree of life.
And then I think of all those who used to sit around the Thanksgiving table with me
before Sarah and I were a couple and how many of them have now moved from this
side of life to the next, and how the same is true for Sarah with people in her life
before I was blessed to be able to sit at the Thanksgiving table with her.
And then I think of you reading these words. I think of how blessed I am that
you are part of my family now. I think of the miracle of you and how grateful I
am to be journeying with you for we can do so much more
as we walk together than we could ever do alone.
And then I think of that branch in the family tree, forming again as that vulnerable
babe in a manger, that branch which needs our care as we care for others, that
babe who needs us to “execute justice and righteousness in the land” which
often lacks justice and righteousness for the most vulnerable among us.
Above and below are videos put out by TIME magazine. They each tell the
story of a famous photo. Each photo is filled with faces of people, some
you will recognize, others you will not. Each is part our family tree.
It’s pretty cool, really, and a deep, deep blessing to be sure.
This coming Sunday, the First Sunday of Advent, we will decorate our
Memorial Advent/Christmas tree. Some of you consider this one of the most
meaningful moments in our church calendar, hanging ornaments which represent
the lives of those we honor and those we hold in loving remembrance and thanksgiving
for helping to form us into the highest expression of everything God has created us to become.
For now, blessings and deep love,
Pastor John
Would you pray with me?
God, Jesus, Holy Spirit,
for the glimpse of you we receive
through the loved ones on our family tree,
thank you.
Thank you for the family of our blood relatives
and also for friends who are family
and for the human family of which we are a part,
and for all life on earth, of which we are also a part.
Thank you
for those who have inspired us
to become so much more
than we thought possible for us to become.
Thank you
for those you have placed in the midst of us,
those who journeyed with us,
and journey with us still,
through our memory.
Forgive us,
whenever we feel like giving up
during the circumstances of these current days.
Help us remember those you sent to love us
so we might begin to know something of love,
meant to hold us, comfort and challenge us and set us free,
and at this beginning of the season of Advent,
help us remember you whose life we journey towards once again,
Babe in a manger, another new life, another new branch,
on our ever expanding family tree.
Jesus, for the image of you seen like a photograph,
through the faces of those we love,
thank you.
Amen.
____________________________________________
Become the Love you Seek!
JOURNEY on The Way
SEE the Face of Jesus
in All People
BECOME a Light of Peace,
Justice & Revolutionary Love
Sign Up for PJ's Place
If you wish to receive Pastor John's weekly e-mail, PJ's Place, please contact
Pastor John at [email protected] with a request to be put on the mailing list.
