Greetings on this great day! God’s grace makes every day great. It’s good to be with you on this Thursday in the Pastor’s Workshop.
If you’ve been with us a while you know what happens on Thursday. Today is the culmination of our creative process. It’s time to take all our thoughts, notes, musings, reflections --- everything we’ve written down this week --- and look for the overall connection, the underlying theme, the Sunday message “emerging”.
This week our focus is on Father’s Day. Our text is Genesis 27:1-10, 30-38 (but you can read verse 1-40 if you want to get the full picture). Our emphasis is on our human need for “blessing” and God’s gracious giving of blessing as our “Heavenly Father”.
Here are the talking points of Sunday’s sermon that come forward for me:
Experiencing a “blessing” is always good!
On this Father’s Day we give thanks for the significant men in our lives: our fathers, grandfathers, perhaps uncles or older brothers; or maybe family not by blood but by bonds of care and commitment, teachers, coaches, mentors or friends. We’re grateful for how they shared their lives with us, all the many moments. We’re thankful for how they shaped our lives with their love. They have been blessings for us. They have given us a blessing we need.
The Scripture story of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau and Jacob reflects our human need for blessing and what people will do to get one. The cry of Esau in verse 38, “Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me, me also, father!” gives voice to that deep longing.
When we long for “blessing” what are we needing? What is a blessing? From a spiritual perspective, blessing is experiencing a benediction in our being. Blessing is unconditional love settling on our soul. Blessing is given by someone greater than ourselves. Blessing is known when someone’s heart is with us and favor is for us.
In this Old Testament story blessing was a formal act. It was done by father with the eldest son as the father bequeathed the family inheritance to him. In our day, blessing is not so formal, but it is no less powerful. Our blessing is receiving our “family inheritance” of unconditional love from our Heavenly Father given, not to the Son, but through the Son, Jesus Christ, to all of us as God’s children.
On this Father’s Day we rejoice that we have a God who delights in bestowing blessing as our Heavenly Father. It is Jesus who introduces us to God as “Heavenly Father”. As he says in John 14:7, “If you have known me, you have known my father also.” As Jesus goes to the Cross for us in love and rises from the grave for us in life, we know this is the heart of our Heavenly Father. We have a Heavenly Father who goes all the way in love and rises up to bring us into greater life. The Biblical story of the Prodigal Son pictures our Heavenly Father so well.
As we live life in our Heavenly Father’s blessing (of unconditional love in Christ) it enables three blessings for us. First, we can more deeply appreciate our earthly fathers as witnesses of our Heavenly Father’s love. We get a greater sense of the sacredness of the relationships we have shared. Secondly, when our earthly fathers fall short in being and bestowing blessing, our relationship with our Heavenly Father helps us to find healing for our hurt and freedom to forgive. Thirdly, in our relationship with our Heavenly Father as a giver of blessing, we discover God has also given us “a blessing to give”. We bless others through: Attention and Acceptance, Example and Instruction, and Encouragement and Delight.
This Bible story of blessing leads to a blessed end! Jacob, who in the beginning felt it necessary to steal a blessing from his earthly father, is continually blessed by his Heavenly Father. God did not rescind the blessing. Even though Jacob did not deserve it, God as Heavenly Father desired it. Over time this unconditional blessing changed Jacob. It changed him to the point that God changed his name from Jacob to Israel. The last act Israel did was to bless his sons, all twelve of them. Our Heavenly Father, in his continual blessing of Jacob, laid a foundation of faithfulness for the life of the people that was to carry forward for generations as the twelve tribes of Israel.
Our story of blessing also leads to a blessed end. Our Heavenly Father is continually faithful, constantly bestowing unconditional love on us in Jesus Christ. It’s not a matter of whether we deserve it. It’s a matter that our Heavenly Father desires it. Over time God’s blessing of unconditional love changes us for the better. It leads us into being faithful people who live in the faithfulness of the Heavenly Father. There’s no better blessing for us this Father’s Day!
Those are the talking points. As you see the sermon covers a lot of ground. On Sunday it will be “enriched” with a few illustrations, clarifying main ideas.
These are my musings. What are yours? What is the message God is speaking to your mind and heart through this Scripture? As you take time to write out your own talking points, you will be blessed!
So much for writing this week. Today and tomorrow you’ll have opportunity to put it all on paper and work and re-work your message. Then Saturday we put it all to prayer and prepare for Sunday.
I’m grateful to celebrate this Father’s Day with you. I rejoice in the blessing of knowing God as our Heavenly Father together. In that grace I look forward to seeing you Sunday in worship!
Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for your Holy Word and the ways it inspires a word of faith in us. Thank you for how this Scripture draws us deeply into your holy will to bless and your faithfulness in doing that as our Heavenly Father. Open us to your unconditional love so we might live more fully in faith and be the blessing you would have us to be for others. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen