Monday, June 12, 2023

⁴⁶ As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. ⁴⁷ Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak to you.” ⁴⁸ Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ⁴⁹ Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. ⁵⁰ Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”      Matt 12:46 – 50

       You will make no graven images for yourselves.  You will not bow down and worship them.  We pride ourselves in being a civilized culture.  We have advanced beyond religion.  We have advanced beyond rituals.  We have no objects of worship, no idols.  Yet have we really moved beyond that or have we merely substituted one true God for many?

       For many, family has become a god, an idol, a false deity.  Modern parenting has placed such focus on the child – what the child wants, where the child wishes to go, what the child wishes to do, what will make the child happiest, most content.  Parents spend gobs of money to occupy their children today and to give them a future career, a future in the big leagues or under the Saturday evening lights.  We have dance lessons, music lessons, baseball and softball leagues, football camps.  We skip church on Wednesday because of Junior’s schedule.  We’re out of church on Sunday because of traveling league baseball.  We can’t serve in the service this weekend because of Little Sally’s dance competition.  These are the rituals that have replaced the church’s liturgy.  And Junior and Sally are our new idols.  And I’m complicit.  I did it too.  I made my family the idol; the perfect family was my goal.  O God how will I ever get clarity?  How will I ever repair the damage I’ve done and the poor witness I’ve been?  Help me, O God.  Amen!