family 06-04-2025

My Bible reading is taking me through the genealogies of the clans of Israel, 1 Chronicles 2-9. It’s the scriptural Ancestry. Maybe you have a full branching family tree connecting you to a deep cultural heritage. Maybe it’s stories told generation to generation with, I’m sure, embellishments over time. It’s why it seems every month our nation celebrates some cultural heritage. Parades, ceremonies, declarations, give us reasons to connect with our past. For many that connection is a source of pride and of their unique significance. That’s where the gospel of Jesus and the message of the church rises above cultural dividing walls and instead of connecting with the past, unite in a new family heritage of the future. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. (Colossians 3:11) and to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name [Jesus], he gave the right to become children of God — (John 1:12) This is the family I celebrate! PK