What is a Family?

What is a family? If a questionnaire was to circulate in this community there would no doubt be a variety of different responses to the question, indicative of the diversity that exists amongst our families. Our culture, our heritage, our background and importantly our own experience of family shapes our ideas of what a family is and how we might express our own version of family as we have the opportunity. For some, the notion of large, extended family gatherings, for any reason (and sometimes for no reason), is the truest and most exciting element of family life. For others, even a small gathering on a rare occasion is more than they might bear. Some families have multiple generations living under one roof, whilst other families are spread around the world. Some families speak with each other daily whilst others may go weeks and months without contact. There are families who live in a loving and supportive environment and there are sadly families for whom everyday life is a constant challenge. This is the reality and diversity of ‘Family’.

As you ponder on your own understanding of family, I wonder if you have considered your connection with the family of God? The Church. As a community of faith, we are brothers and sisters and all a part of God’s great family. And our expression of the family of God is as diverse as the descriptions given above. As a Church we are not perfect, we get things wrong and our relationships break down. Our gatherings are not always joyful celebrations, sometimes they are experiences of pain and grief. And yet we continue to get together around the family table, to eat and to drink and to share the love that our heavenly Father offers to us.

Recently Our Saviour Lutheran Church has been exploring what this “Love” is all about. What is this ‘greatest love on earth’, this ‘love without limits’? It’s a love that transcends all of the struggles that our daily life brings to us. It’s a love that walks beside us through the pain and the sorrow and a love that leaps with us in our joys and celebrations. Come home to the family. Come and join us around the table of our Lord. Everyone is welcome here!

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1-2)

At Our Saviour Lutheran Church we are inspired by the love of Jesus to share our family life and the joy that we have in the Father’s love.

MR CARL ECKERMANN Ministry Development Coordinator