Friday, February 15, 2008

Friday’s thoughts

Here’s the problem I have with the sermon; What do I do with the fact that Jesus identified God as “Abba”, a word that means “daddy”, and with the parable of the Prodigal Son and the forgiving, welcoming father as typical of the nature of God, when some people do know have positive feelings about their father?

I, personally, did not have I healthy relationship with my father. He was an alcoholic who beat my mother, threatened me, and killed himself by attaching a hose to the exhause of his car when I was 9 and my sister was 14. He was a sad and pathetic human being, but I understand what Jesus was saying when he called God ‘Abba’.

When I was a seminary student in North Carolina I worked in the Pembroke area of North Carolina with the Lumbee Indians. I can tell you that was one community where the idea of God as ‘abba’ was not meaningful.

How do we talk about God as “father” with people who have not had a good relationship with their father?

If you have thoughts about this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. Click on the blank space and the address will pop up.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles

Posted by Charles at 19:01:48 | Permalink | Comments (1) »