Today is Father’s Day.  It’s a day when we take a breath, pause, and think about the gift of fatherhood.  For some, it’s a day of thanksgiving and celebration.  Cookouts, perhaps a game of catch in the backyard, a sharing of laughter and memories with a dad who has always been there for us.  We are grateful, even if their aging or health impacts us, we acknowledge the gift of their life’s journey beside us.  For some, whose fathers have passed, it's a day of remembrance, thankful for what has been given, and filled with anticipatory hope, knowing that someday as our God has promised, we shall see them again.  And, unfortunately, for some, whose relationships with their father is not what they might hope it to be…or perhaps estranged and complicated, Father’s day is a bit painful.  A reminder of what we hoped for, but was diminished by real human failings.  

Whatever this day brings for each of us, we have a gift of a gracious God, whom we can emulate and celebrate and count on to be the FATHER we ALL need and love. I thought this morning I would focus on our heavenly father.  What does the Bible say about God as Father of all humankind?  

Well, the Bible begins with God as the Father of Creation, the source and sustainer of all life.  God said “let it be” and life was created…and it was good!  The prophet Isaiah reminds us that we are the clay, and our Father God is the potter.   The prophet Malachi said:  “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? (Malachi 2:10)  The Psalmist declared, “For it was you, O God, who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.”  (Psalm 139)  And  Psalm 8 : “When I look at the heavens, the work of your fingers…what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?   Nature speaks to this reality each and every day and each and every season.  

But Father of Creation is just the beginning.  Old testament witness tells the story of a Father God who engages with his creation.  Through Abraham God calls together a holy people, (a FAMILY) a nation encompassed by parental love, guidance and discipline.  God is a father of relationship and life that is relentlessly bestowed and blessed.  God’s fatherhood is covenantal, and wrapped in a promise that can NEVER be broken from God’s side.  Yet His children struggle to respond to our Father of love and promise and they break away in rebellion over and over again.  There is perhaps no story in the Bible that more poignantly captures this Father/Child struggle than the story of the Prodigal Son.  We all know it well.  How a Father gives all he has to grow a future for his children, yet one son wants to break free; take his inheritance and live life HIS way.  We watch as the son squanders and flounders, yet the Father waits in anguish, yet patient hope for that son to come to himself.  The scene of a Father waiting, and longing for that bedraggled son to come home, and then running to meet him with unconditional grace and celebration gives us a full and amazing picture of what God as Father truly means.  NOTHING but our own willfulness will ever break His love for us, and even in our resistance, our Father waits….

Fatherhood becomes even more embracing when Jesus, the incarnation of God’s presence in flesh, opens the door for an intimacy with the Father of ALL.  Jesus uses the name “Father” more frequently than anyone else in scripture.  He uses the term “Abba” or, as we might say in modern language, “daddy,” and teaches his followers to pray saying,,,”My Father, who art in Heaven.”  (Matt 6:9) In Jesus we know God our Father not as distant or harsh, but as loving, approachable, and attentive.  Through faith, we who call God Father are described as children of God.  “See what great love the Father has lavished upon us that we should be called children of God!”  (1 John 3:1)  Baptised and claimed…given an identity of belonging we can trust will  never let us go.

Jesus portrays God’s fatherhood as both tender, and formative.  Matthew writes “Your heavenly Father knows what you need and provides.”  (Matt 6:32)  His discipline is out of love and patience, not revenge and anger as depicted in the Old Testament understanding of God.

But, while the Bible overwhelmingly uses the title of Father for God, it also used maternal imagery to describe aspects of God’s presence and care.  Isaiah writes:  “As a mother comforts her child, so I comfort you.” (Is. 66:13) So in many ways, the Biblical image of God as Father is not primarily about gender, but about His relationship to creation, His people and to each one of us individually.

With  all these Biblical truths about who God is as Father to All in mind…what does this help us understand about the special role human fathers are meant to play in families and society today?

My own father was a German farmer with a very big and tender heart.  He was known to break into tears at the drop of a hat.  All we had to do was say, “I love you dad,” and tears would roll down his cheeks.  My dad gave all he had to his family and his six children and 20 grandchildren.  Everyone loved him.  Especially when he tried to tell a joke and couldn’t stop his own laughter to get the punch line out.  Or when he took us fishing…we had so many happy memories together.  

Fathers are called to help their children understand God’s love.  Respect and understanding of authority, tempered with both gentle correction and unconditional love is learned as it is modeled in fatherhood.  Remember how Jesus said:  “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give…” (Matt 7:11)  A loving father is a living illustration of God’s faithfulness and care.  I learned so much about trusting the HEART of God’s love simply because my father demonstrated that kind of gentle love in his approach to life.

Second, Fathers provide security and protection. Children thrive when they feel secure, valued and protected.  My dad was a busy farmer, but he always found the time to serve his community, whether at church, on the school board, the farmer’s union and other civic organizations.  But more than that, he was a strong father figure for some neighborhood boys who had lost their own father to a farm accident.  The Harmoning brothers were always seeking my father for advice and council, and on the day of my father’s funeral, tears were rolling down their cheeks as they served lunch in his honor.  

Third, Fathers shape identity.  A father’s words carry tremendous weight in helping a child understand who they are…and WHOSE they are as children of humanity and children of God.  Vaughn comes to mind as a father and grandfather that is always available to his children and grandchildren, as well as every neighbor around.  He blesses them with his presence at their sporting event; here at church doing whatever needs to be done, and responding whenever anyone calls with a fixit concern.  Just his time and attention alone share with each of us that we are WORTHY of his care.  And HE is worthy of ours.  In the Bible, Fathers pronounced blessings over their children, affirming their worth and their future.  Jesus, himself, received such a blessing “This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased." (Matt 3:17)  

Out of this blessing of identity, fathers teach wisdom in how to live and relate in a world of constant change and challenge.  They Teach, Instruct and Model healthy authority; good boundaries and limits; and compassionate concern for others in need.

And finally, fathers help their children launch into adulthood. They cheer their children on as they embrace responsibility, resilience and their own roles of parenthood, friendship and leadership among society.  My husband Dale is especially gifted in mentoring others.  He has a deep desire to support anyone in finding their path and using their gifts, and over his many years in education has helped launch many, including our own children, into meaningful vocations.

But lest we put fathers on an impossible pedestal, we know that the Bible also recognizes that not every child has an ideal father.  Our Father God is portrayed as caring especially for those who lack earthly fathers.  The psalmist writes:  “Our God is a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows...”  (Ps 68:5)  And last week we spoke about Jesus’ unwavering compassion on the harassed nature of human life as sheep in need of a father/shepherd.  We are compelled by his model of self-less love and forgiving grace, to embrace our roles as fathers, mothers, friends and neighbors…EVEN when they are far from perfect!

Life the Father of the Prodigal, we are asked to never stop watching and hoping for each new generation.  We are to run toward our children with grace and peacemaking rather than harsh discipline and rejection.  We are to grow in relationship to our children as they embrace their own adulthoods and roles as fathers and mothers, friends and neighbors.  And as we age and prepare for whatever awaits us in that great cloud of witnesses, we bless our children with an identity that they can trust. 

Someday…I pray, they will rejoice at our passing for the role we were privileged to live in their lives.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.