This morning in Sunday school we will be talking about “what does it mean to have an adoptive family?” or something like this. As I stare at a room full of 2nd generation Christians I am left in awe that I can never really identify with them.
There is a significant difference in the faith of a person who has grown up in the church vs. Someone who came to faith outside of their family. Just as I will never know what it has been like all of these years to come to church every week with their families and worship Jesus together, they will also never sit in their parents shoes. Their lives, though Jesus can and will transform them, will never have the same experience of wonder and awe of finding your “true family.”
In preparing for this morning, I watched the film Antwone Fisher. The story is about a young man who never knew his real family. For his entire life he was raised by people who only looked like they cared about him. Deep inside he always longed for his momma. He wanted someone who just loved him as opposed to the people in his life who only loved him when he was good or just loved him enough to collect a state check. This was proven susynchtly when he turned 18. On that day the state took him to a men’s homeless shelter and left him with. The only people who took care of him all of those years, state-appointed guardians, simply dropped him off at a homeless shelter and gave him $67. Alone in the world, hurt in every direction, he joined the Navy having few other options. The film is really about finding out who you really are. In his quest to forgive people whom he never met and conquer his anger, Antwone goes on a quest to find his family. After searching for a few days he finally comes across people who are kin to him. The following scene, which contrast two life’s choices, is a crystal clear interpretation of real life. On one side, a single mother alone in a housing project. Her long lost boy finally comes to find her and she just sits there, ashamed of herself she stairs blankly at the wall. It is a cold, inhuman response. Antwone presses her for answers and when it is apparent she will not answer his charges he simply states his case and walks away. “I am a good man. I have done a lot of things, I have avoided all the pitfalls that have befell me in this life. I want you to know that I am alive and I love and forgive you for abandoning me.” He stands tall in confronting this woman. His strength in this moment is life altering. On the flip side, Antwone finds his father’s family. People he’s never met or known. They welcome him with open arms. In fact, after a brief meeting he leaves to meet his mother, only to return later to find all of his family. Aunts, cousins, uncles and even the beloved grandmother. Everywhere he turns there are people who want to love him and accept him. We are left with the knowledge that this young man has found family. His lifelong quest to feel like a normal human being has been fulfilled in finding these people. The void once so plain to see, which he filled with anger and violence, can now be filled by something substantive.
What an incredible contrast for our students today as we show them the truth that as children of God, we are welcomed into that second home. When we receive Christ, our new family kisses us and says “welcome home” and embraces us into the flock. Though we don’t deserve this kind of love, He clears the way for us to be adopted.
