Our Family Enters A New Year With Thanksgiving

Last evening Cassie, my granddaughter, and I looked at the Christmas pictures stored on my computer. The photos took us back over the years, back to the times when we first began to gather here in Pagosa Springs. We remembered sharing Christmas gifts, worshipping at Our Savior Lutheran Church, skiing and hiking in the mountains, fishing in the streams and lakes, singing camp songs and roasting marsh-mellows around camp fires and hiking to water falls and overlooks. We've been coming here for more than a dozen years. When we finally built our vacation house here Cassie was a little girl. She's now a grown up young woman about to enter college.

When we built this house, Sylvia and I decided it was to serve as a place for the family to gather for fun and fellowship. Over these years it has been that, not only for our family, but also for many other families and friends. We consider this house and these times together as precious gifts of our Lord. In so many ways, we have seen His hand not only leading us here, but also blessing our times together.

It is good to remember that as another year comes to an end. It's also good to remember the importance of caring for our families. Here's how the Bible puts it:

But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel (1 Timothy 5:8).

The Apostle Paul first spoke these words to young Pastor Timothy as part of an admonition to him to see that the widows of his congregation were properly cared for. That is the first application, but there are others. We all have an obligation to care for those who are of our own house.

We have a beautiful wooden plaque hanging over the door of our Pagosa house. It quotes the words of Joshua, the great leader of Israel following Moses. After admonishing his people to turn from the false gods of the people who occupied the Promised Land, he said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Joshua 24:15).

That's the first thing Sylvia and I wanted to do as we set out to care for those of our house. We wanted them to know that we serve the Lord Jesus. By the word house (oikeios in Greek) the Apostle refers both to one's blood relatives and to those who are related because of being born anew into the spiritual family of God, the household of faith (Galatians 6:10). We wanted to establish a pattern, set an example, and build memories of how parents and families pray, worship and live together in Christ.

We haven't done that perfectly. We've made mistakes, sometimes spoken harshly to one another, been very critical of one another and forgotten the importance of providing encouragement and comfort. But we have loved one another and forgiven one another in spite of it all as we shared God's love and forgiveness in Christ. And that is what the Apostle is talking about in his admonition to Pastor Timothy.

Tonight we enter another year, the year of our Lord 2008. We enter it with thanksgiving and praise. We enter it anticipating that in this year Cassie will graduate from high school with honors, Patrick will graduate from university and go on to become an engineer and Shawn and Marian will become man and wife. What else the year holds we do not know. It may be the year Jesus calls another member of our family to be with Him in heaven. It may even be the final Year of this age when our Lord Jesus returns. What a wonderful thing that would be.

Whatever the year holds, we will remember that we are members of our family and members of the great, universal family of God. As we enter this year we give thanks to Jesus for coming to be born of Mary to be our Savior. In this year we will serve Him. And in this year we will provide especially for the members of our house.