A father’s day card I received read: ‘Dad, my aim in life is to be as funny as you think you are.’ How often have we noticed mannerisms or words used by children frequently mirroring those of their parents?
The Bible describes God as ‘Father’. It is an image given to try and convey in human terms one characteristic of God. But a human image can also be fallible. For some, the thought of ‘father’ may not be a very positive one; memories of our own father – or even the absence of one – are indelibly printed on us, and can colour our impression of God as ‘Father’. Rapper Michael Omari Jr – better known as ‘Stormzy’- wrote the song, ‘Lay me bare’, and it is the last track of his album, ‘Gang Signs and Prayer’. It describes a whirlwind of emotions, in particular anger, which he says is directed at his dad, who wasn’t around when he was growing up. For those of us a little older, Stormzy’s we might recall another song about fallible fatherhood in the song ‘Cats in the cradle’. Can you remember the name of the band?
One of Jesus’ friends, Philip, once asked him, ‘Lord, can you show us the Father, and that will be enough’ (John 14:8) Jesus replied “I have been with you all this time Philip, and do you still not know me?” Philip had a longing to see and meet in person God the Father, but his preconceived impressions of what God the Father must be like, led him to expect someone else. Perhaps this is one reason why elsewhere Jesus also offered an image of God as a loving mother: in lamenting that the people of Jerusalem struggled in their preconceived ideas of God so much that they failed to see what was in front of them, he cries out ‘Jerusalem! how I have longed to gather you up, like a mother hen gathers her chicks, but you were not willing’ (Matt 23:37). July’s church calendar finds us in ‘Trinity’ season, which we begin by remembering the three persons of the trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It’s a time to pause in wonder at how God the Father declared his love for each of us through his Son, Jesus Christ, who died for us at Easter. And even though life may have conspired to erect barriers to receiving God’s love, perhaps through fallible human examples of parenthood, God the Holy Spirit, always gentle like a dove, prompts us to remember that no matter what, heaven’s love is unconditional and infallible.
Rev’d Andrew Hiscox