RBWords

     We are always someone's child!  My mother died in 1985 and my father in 2001 and I can recall thinking after my father's death, "I'm an 'orphan' now!"  That feeling did not last long.  I am aware of my parents' influence constantly in my life.  No matter how independent or 'adult' we claim to become, we remain the offspring of our parents!  As a matter of faith, we become "adopted" children of God at baptism.  [Romans 8:15-17]  But we also acknowledge that God can work in any person who acts in accord with God's law, even if they have never been baptized or heard of God or Jesus Christ.

     A good relationship with God is founded on a sense of integrity and right-ness in conduct.  This is more than simply being "law-abiding" (as important as that is).  The right relationship with God springs from more than obeying laws.  It springs from a desire to love all that God has created and to live in harmony with that creation.  This desire is shaped and trained in our childhood, which is one reason why our culture should realize the damage that is being done to the family unit by various forms of legislation or economic policy.  It is difficult to act as a "child of God" when one has only known violence or minimal affective relationship in one's "family of origin."  Poverty, substance abuse, lack of adequate housing, food or other basic necessities of life - all of these contribute to a culture of "death" and violence.  If we are to be true children of God, we have to be schooled in righteousness, but the school has to be a righteous school!  This will never happen as long as those who have the means to change the situation hold on to their advantages in fear and abandon God's "other" children to their fate!   AMEN