Sermon
21st May 26
The Church is often seen as being rather grumpy about those who are keeping today as Father’s Day. It tends to treat them with the same disdain as it does those who call Mothering Sunday “Mother’s Day”. That’s quite surprising for a Church that claims to uphold family life, and even claims Matrimony as a Sacrament. So today, let’s think about families, starting with the one we heard about in today’s Old Testament reading.
God has promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation, but he and his wife Sarah are getting old, and still have no children. There was no IVF with sperm donation in those days, so Sarah encourages Abraham to take her slave girl Hagar and get her pregnant instead. As a result, Abraham’s first son Ishmael is born to Hagar. 13 years pass, and Abraham and Sarah are told by God that they will have a natural child of their own, despite in the Bible’s euphemistic words “it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women”. Both Abraham and Sarah laugh, but nine months later, Sarah gives birth to Isaac. We were talking about the meaning of names last Sunday: Isaac is Hebrew for he laughs.
Once Sarah had given birth to Isaac and he was weaned, she became uncomfortable about the presence of her slave, Hagar, and her son, Ishmael. As we heard in our Old Testament reading, she orders them to pack up and leave. We have a family with various complications four thousand years ago and, remember, this is the founding family of three great religions: Christians and Jews tracing their spiritual descent from Abraham through Isaac; Muslims theirs through Ishmael.
Jump forward two thousand years to the Holy Family of Nazareth.
According to the New Testament, Jesus was conceived in Mary’s body through the miraculous intervention of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, who was betrothed to Mary, was initially minded to separate from her but, after a vision, takes her as his wife, becoming Jesus’ stepfather.
These stories are surprisingly relevant today. Blended families are quite common. My grandchildren live with their half-sisters, born to my daughter-in-law by her first husband. I’m sure that many of you have similar situations in your families. Yet the Church is seen as being obsessed with an idealised family model: mummy and daddy, with all their children born in wedlock, all carrying their parents’ genes.
Of course, there are many such families, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But neither is there anything wrong with the alternatives, providing that they are happy and positive and, where appropriate, able to offer loving care and support to growing children.
On this Father’s Day, we properly pray for all families, whatever their history. For parents, and stepparents; for all children, whether natural, adopted, or fostered; for wider families of in-laws and grandparents. And we ask God to guide his Church to a greater acceptance of all good human relationships.
Amen
