Faith, Fish, and Children

Today’s gospel reading (read here Luke 11:5-13) brought to mind an article I read recently entitled: “Pregnant and Homeless on the doorsteps of a Christian Megachurch”.  It’s a good article, and I suggest reading the entire thing in the link, but to sum it up, there was a very, very pregnant homeless woman who had escaped an abusive relationship to protect her unborn child. The only assistance offered from the “megachurch”(the place she had been standing/sitting for days) was that someone took her to a Target café to talk to her about God. Anyone see the problem?

James says it very well in his letter (2:15-17) “If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,’ but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Abby Johnson, the author of this article, sums up perfectly what our reaction should be: “How can we expect to nourish someone spiritually when their physical needs aren’t met? How can we expect someone to be receptive to the Gospel when they go physically hungry during the day? How can we expect someone to believe in the power of Christ when they don’t know if they will be forced to deliver their baby in alley somewhere?...That is not what faith is about. …What is faith if we are not willing to step out of our comfort zone and get our hands dirty in service to Christ? We are called to be the ‘hands and feet of Christ,’ right? That means service to those who need him … not just words … actions"

( A woman from the Austin Coalition for Life ended up speaking with her and helped her to connect with pro-life agencies that would help with housing, healthcare, etc, etc., so the story has a happy ending)

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In Abby Johnson’s story, the problem was that only the woman’s spiritual needs had been met. A problem that all too often occurs in the home is that only the physical needs of children are met. How easy to spoil a child with physical gifts of toys, food, endless TV or friend time, etc? What good do these things do when they are spiritually dead? What good does this do for our souls? The more stuff we have, the more things in our mind, the busier we are with pointless activities, the less space we have for God in our hearts.

I really doubt that ANY Christian parents would actually try to create an environment without room for God in their families. But isn’t that a reality in our society? How do we counter this temptation to provide only the physical needs?

Jesus shows us 3 easy ways: “If you love me, then you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15)

“This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:9-13)

“The centurion said in reply, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.’” (Matthew 8:8)

To sum up: Keep the commandments, and “drill them into your children” (Deuteronomy 6:7), pray with your children every day (even when we don’t feel like it!) the Our Father (slowly…don’t just rush through it…think about the why Jesus wanted us to pray like this) and ask Jesus for our needs and ask Him how we can please Him better in our actions, and come to Him humbly, depending only on Him to give us peace (not material things).

I know it’s hard for me to do these things on my own right now, so to be entrusted with this responsibility for my children is just plain daunting. I can only pray and  trust that God will give me the grace to parent according to His will.