The Family of God

When Anne Lamott was twenty-five years old, her father died after a long struggle with brain cancer. Over the next few years Anne began to suffer from an overwhelming sense of desperation and fear which she tried to suppress with alcohol and pills. Although she was managing to write and publish successful novels at the time, it was clear that her life was spinning out of control. In her memoir, Traveling Mercies, she writes about this dark period of her life. And most importantly she tells how a community of Christian faith, a neighborhood church called St. Andrew, came to her rescue.

In her book she tells the story of a little girl who was lost. This girl ran up and down the streets of the big town where her family lived, but she couldn’t find a single landmark. She was frightened. Finally, a policeman stopped to help her.  He put her in the passenger seat of his car, and they drove around until she finally saw her church. She pointed it out to the policeman, and then she told him, “You can let me out now.  This is my church, and I can always find my way home from here.”

Anne writes, “That is why I have stayed so close to my church—because no matter how bad I am feeling, how lost or lonely or frightened I am, when I see the faces of the people at my church, when I hear their tawny voices, I can always find my way home.”

Home is such a wonderful way to describe church. It is a place we can come knowing that we will always be accepted and loved. It is a place where our friends will protect us, and encourage us and help us through the hardships of life. It is a place where we can be the family of God together. Jesus once asked, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Then, answering his own question he said, “My mother and my brothers are those who do the will of my Father.”

I am so happy to be a part of a church family that truly seeks to do the will of our Father. May we always be a place of physical, spiritual and emotional security for all.

Your Brother in Christ,

Tim Hobbs, Pastor