I've just finished rereading Lance's latest eNews in which he raised issues related to spiritual fatherhood and, ultimately, discipleship.
I think that, as far as the eNews is concerned, this may be what Lance does best.
Almost from the time Lance assumed control of the eNews column, I noticed that Lance often uses the eNews to send out something very similar to a daily devotional in The Daily Bread. As I said, I think Lance does this very well, superbly, in my opinion.
In this one, Lance bounces some very shepherdy comments off of 1 Corinthians 4:15-17:
“Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore, I urge you to imitate me. For this reason, I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.”
From that, Lance focuses on what it means to live in the Kingdom as a guardian as well as a father.
As I often do when I comment on the eNews, I strongly recommend that you read this article. From what I can tell, you can no longer find the eNews on the Contagious blog (more about that in another blog post...perhaps) but it is easily accessed through the CGGC website.
There's a nice, brief, first class piece of Bible scholarship in the article in which Lance explains the role of the "guardian" and how it complements and contrasts with who a father was and what a father did in the first century world.
A guardian was a cross between a nanny and a tutor/teacher. Eventually, a growing child would pass from the care of the guardian to begin to work with the parents, literally the father, to be schooled in the family trade.
Lance notes that these days there are many guardians, for example authors, speakers, podcasts, etc., and that's a good thing. What we need today, though, is more fathers who will teach the disciple's "family trade" of following Jesus.
I found Lance's idea useful and I took it to heart. As he often does, Lance ties everything together with some useful questions. One of them is, "Who are you fathering spiritually?"
My answer is that there are several people that I'm fathering. In fact, one of them sent me a thank you note on Father's Day! I was so amazingly blessed.
In the past, I've written about how I have used my job, very intentionally, to serve as an ambassador of the Kingdom, hence the name of this blog.
Because I did that, I created the possibility of fathering relationships with anyone and everyone. Every person I met was someone with whom I'd offer myself as a spiritual father.
What happened in real life is that I developed many, well, "uncle-ing" relationships. In these relationships, there's a definite spiritual connection that is focused on Kingdom living, however, the trust and intimacy of a father/child relationship hasn't yet developed.
In several cases, though, the spiritual father/child relationship has developed.
Perhaps this is merely a function of my personality, but I'd amend Lance's wisdom ever so slightly.
In the article, Lance defined the meaning of his, "Who are you fathering?" question with, "Who are you inviting to learn from you what it means to follow Jesus by walking closely with you?"
I'd say that those two questions don't perfectly align. Out of the many I have invited to learn from me, I've entered into a fathering relationship with only a few.
Perhaps I'm wrong here, but uncling ain't bad. It's not failure. And, it's not necessarily the end of the story. All of the fathering I'm doing today is the result of an adoption of a former spiritual niece or nephew who's become a daughter or son.
Again, this may be a function of my personality but, offering yourself as a spiritual parent may come across as coming on too strong.
Paul was a father to the disciples in Corinth because he was the apostle who formed that church's identity. You and I can't say that about many, if any.
The people I'm fathering today are people I'm fathering because those people developed a level of trust with me that allowed the very intimate father/child relationship to take place. The relationship that I have with them is as much, or more, about decisions that they have made.
But, by all means, try some uncling, or aunting, and be open for more.
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