Family

I went for a long walk with my neighbor Beth the other day. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and it was so good to just get out in the fresh air and talk about "Mom things" with another woman! The conversation turned to family (of course... a mom's favorite topic) and Luke 20:34. We were pondering whether we would see our families in Heaven -- still be married to our spouses, have our children gathered about us as we do here on earth. And Jesus' answer, of course, in response to the Sadduccees who asked a very similar question, was this... "The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.” At first that seems hard to take. If there's a Paradise, then those I love most in the world should be with me! But as we talked on, it became clear to us that it's not that we won't SEE or BE WITH our earthly families up in heaven. It's the construct of the family that won't be there. There will be no marriage, because there won't be need for marriage there. Marriage and the family unit was created by God in order to teach us about HIM and his relationship with us, during our sojourn here on earth.

The answer is EVERYWHERE in what Jesus teaches us. “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” Luke 8:21

Once we become Christians, we become part of God's family. The word covenant is not interpreted as a "contract" to be signed and agreed upon, like a business dealing. God says "I will be yours and you will be mine". We become family. Family terminology is used repeatedly and almost exclusively in describing the Church and our God. "Our Father". The church is the "Bride". We become "brothers and sisters in Christ". Not just figuratively. Literally. The love we experience towards our spouse, towards our children, will be perfected towards ALL in heaven. That's an amazing thought, that we might one day have the capacity to love and be loved by that many, that intimately, that intensely.

So what is family, then? Why is it here? I believe it is to teach us, to give us a basis for understanding our relationship to God, and His love for us. We know, in our earthly existence, how a Father feels towards his children, because God gave us an innate love for our children that is undeniable and primal. We understand that when Paul exhorts "Husbands, love your wives" and "wives, honor your husband", that he is describing to us the ideal relationship between God and His bride, the church. Wives are repeatedly told to submit to their husbands, not as slaves, but in love, because God demands obedience from us and his Church in just the same way. The entire book of Song of Solomon describes the relationship of God and His people as lovers, a husband and wife. When the Bible tells us that "the two shall become one flesh" in marriage.... they become one in flesh so much that they have to give it a name! When God and his Church unite in the same way, the offspring is us... the believers. The Children of God. Literally.

Understanding marriage and family this way makes me realize how "short" I come to the ideal. My role as a wife, as a mother, needs to reflect the love I have for our Creator, and I admit that I am woefully inadequate to this task. But it gives me something to strive for. It makes me realize that my marriage and family is holy. It is not just a legal agreement, but an integral part of my relationship to Christ. It needs to be nutured and grown in love. It is infused with God's blessing, because it is His Creation. It is sacramental.

Echoes of God everywhere.

This is far from an original thought, but it seems to me as if God has created little reminders of Himself everywhere. Echoes, analogies. Jesus didn't use just words as parables in the Bible. He also used ACTIONS and EVENTS. That tells us that God is a God of symbolism. So that's what I was musing over this morning, driving to work during the absolutely breathtaking sunrise over Portage Lake. Thinking about symbolism, God's creation, and the Trinity.

The idea of the Trinity is hard to grasp... what does "3 persons in one Godhead" mean? I've heard the analogy of an egg... shell, egg-white, and yolk. I think a far more apt example is the human being... body, mind, and soul. Three in one to make a complete human. And we are, after all, made in His image, which is also three in one. Looking out over the lake, I was also pondering water as a perfect metaphor for the Trinity. An undeniable metaphor. One oxygen, two hydrogen makes a single water molecule. Again, 3 in 1. The Creator as the oxygen, with the Son and the Holy spirit as the Hydrogen. If you look at a picture of a water molecule, you find that it is bent, like a tent, with Oxygen at the top, and the Hydrogens pointing always towards the Oxygen. Everything that Jesus and The Advocate do points the way to our Father. I was pondering that the Trinity might also not be a "what" so much as a "how" and a "who" of God... the three states of God, just like water has three states of matter. When God came in human form as Jesus, he was solid - just as water becomes solid as ice. Ice is individual and concrete, we can feel it, touch it, see it, it has defineable dimensions and distinct edges, yet it is still water, still divine. God as Holy Spirit is as water in liquid form. The Bible describes the spirit as "pouring forth", and "filling us up". The edges become indistinct as water flows. God the Father and Creator is as water in gaseous form. He is everwhere, permeates everything - limitless, unable to be defined. Yet all are water - an oxygen and two hydrogen.

There is no life without water. There is no life without God. The human body is over 75% water. It infuses all parts of our anatomy, just as our bodies are infused as vessels for God. All plants, all animals - all life is dependent in some matter upon this one substance. We may survive for a good while without food, but not without water. Water washes us clean when we are dirty. Water takes our weight, our burdens, and makes them light. Water reflects back to us who we are, what we see. The water of the ocean is immense, powerful, awe- and fear-inspiring. There is good reason that God requires a baptism of water in order to claim us for His own. I've often wondered why Jesus saw the need to be baptized in water, when he was already so obviously the prime member of God's family - unless, of course, he wanted to be an example for us, which he most certainly did. But I always felt there was something more than that. I was reading St. Ignatius recently, and he explained that it wasn't so much that Jesus was being baptized BY the water, but that Jesus was making the water holy for us - transforming that water into the means by which our baptism might be complete through Him. In essence, Jesus was baptizing the water! That rings entirely true.

From the microscopic level of the molecule to the macroscopic level of the ocean, we can see the Holy Trinity in water. Our God is a God of details and vast expanses. And undeniably a God of symbolism and metaphors.