Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Friends and Family

The famous BT adverts, with Bob Hoskins, promoted the idea that we might get a cheaper rate of phone charges if we identified to BT who were our 'Friends and Family'. This little exclusive group could be phoned at great length without too much cost. But that was a long time ago!
The whole social networking revolution has blown apart the idea of a select group of people with whom we may wish to keep in contact. The virtual world is challenging how the real world may behave.
But in the real world, we often have our special circle of 'friends and family', that may or may not be linked to blood relatives. 'You can choose your friends, but you cannot choose you family' is often quoted, with sad resignation.
Jesus was confronted by this issue, and his response is very instructive. 'Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.”
Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
(Mark 3.31-35)
Jesus tells us that his family is not one based on human connections, but on our response to the call of God on our lives. Instead of being exclusive and selective in our relationships with each other, we can learn to be changed by Jesus into becoming a welcoming and inclusive community. That would be good!
Best wishes,
Richard

No comments:

Post a Comment