Following the Star

Pause

Blessed Savior, in love you came to us as a child.

Enlighten our hearts, that we may more deeply understand the richness of this gift and practice more faithfully your call to give of ourselves in love.

from Daily Prayer for All Seasons

Listen

It was appropriate for God, for whom and through whom everything exists, to use experiences of suffering to make perfect the pioneer of salvation. This salvation belongs to many sons and daughters whom he’s leading to glory. This is because the one who makes people holy and the people who are being made holy all come from one source. That is why Jesus isn’t ashamed to call them brothers and sisters when he says,

I will publicly announce your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you in the middle of the assembly.

He also says,

I will rely on him.

And also,

Here I am with the children whom God has given to me.

Hebrews 2:10-13

Think

Having children of my own means I’ve seen quite a few Disney movies over the past several years. One of my favorites is Lilo and Stitch, where a space alien created by a mad scientist escapes its planet, crash lands on Kauai, and comes to live with two sisters struggling to get by without their parents. Lilo is the younger sister who takes in the strange alien and names it Stitch. She struggles to define the concept of family since Stitch has never known one. Her description is possibly the best known part of the film as she explains the Hawaiian word “ohana.” She tells Stitch that, “Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind.”

This passage from Hebrews states pretty clearly that we are “of the same family” as Jesus. It says that Jesus is not ashamed to call us siblings. What would it look like for us to more fully accept our membership in God’s family and to offer it to others?

Chad Senuta

Pray

Loving God, thank you for making us members of your family and for the assurance in our sibling Jesus that no one gets left behind. Help me to know that I am one of your children and to care for my siblings. Amen.

Go

Though I'm prone to leave Your side / You draw me like the tide

You are constant in my wandering / You are brighter than the dark in me / You are the love that sets me free

You are faithful / You are faithful / You are

from “You are” by David Crowder (2014)