God’s family

Family is important. Everyone knows it’s true. Don’t they?

We live in a world of family breakdown. Of our seven immediate neighbours where we live, all are broken homes in the process of rebuilding their lives: second marriages or relationships; single mums; late-in-life divorcees. It’s tragic, and in this context, Christians rightly talk a lot about family; we teach about it; we celebrate it.

Only things are not quite so simple when you open the Scriptures. In fact, there’s a real chance we Christians might be overstating the case and making family into an idol. It seems clear to me that the building block of the kingdom in the Old Testament is the family; this is where the teaching is to happen; this is where the grace of God is displayed; this is where festivals are celebrated.