Belonging in the Family of God

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://encounterchurch.org/messages] 

A Facebook post caught my eye recently—it revealed a level of vulnerability I don’t often see on social media. It simply read, “Even though I’m not in high school anymore, it still hurts not to be invited to the party.” Ouch. I think we’ve all been there. Rejected by people we thought were friends. Passed over by those we long to be with. On the outside looking in with no way to enter that inner circle.

It’s even worse when those doing the rejecting are family, the people who are supposed to care about you the most, and want only the best for you. “Not good enough” might be stamped on our forehead. I have someone in my extended family that has, over the years, let me know that she does not really want to spend time with me. I have yet to figure out why. It may be that some of the things I do embarrass her, which to be fair, my children might say the same. But twenty years later, it still hurts. We all carry bits of that kind of baggage if we are honest about it.

The woman at the well in John 4 in the Bible carried that baggage as well. Rejected by multiple husbands, the women of the town, and society in general, she comes to the well alone. Jesus meets her in her pain and loneliness—he sees her in a way her community does not. I love that Jesus offers himself to her as living water—water that moves and cleanses. Years ago, when debating the merits of showers versus tub baths, my son declared, “Who wants a tub bath? It’s like sitting in your own filth.” Being a confirmed tub-bather, I continued the debate, but I understood his point. Moving water washes dirt away and with its continuing movement keeps washing us clean.

One of my favorite songs contains the lyrics, “You make me new, you are making me new.” God’s living water, Jesus, washes us clean, and continues to work each day to move us closer to being people after God’s own heart. I keep coming back to this thought: again and again God comes back for his people. He comes to gather in the rejected, the broken hearted, the depressed, the weird ones, the estranged, the outsiders. The ones who feel entitled, or swear too much, those who whine, the pushy ones, the resentful. In other words, all of us.

This is so not me, and probably, if you are truthful, not you either. We want to believe God loves and hates all the same people we do. But back again and again God’s grace taps us on the shoulder and says, “I want YOU” like a cosmic Uncle Sam, not pulling us into an army, but back into his family, his chosen ones, his dearly loved kiddos. He wants that so much that he became flesh and blood and entered into our humanity. He washes us clean and we become sons and daughters in the family of God.

[Sandy Navis is happily retired and spends her days doing pretty much whatever she wants to do. She is a firm believer in the power of laughter, singing while doing the dishes, crazy dancing while cleaning house, and eating chocolate every day. Sandy has three grandkids, who she loves to talk about even more than breadmaking.]