RBWords

     I know there are many parents [also teachers] in the Beloved Congregation.  Ask yourselves if the words from Hosea describe your range of feelings toward your children from time to time!  They can run a gamut from hugging to almost slugging!  Hosea speaks of God as a parent overwhelmed by the conduct of a wayward child!  I've met many parents in a similar situation.  "Father, we've done everything we know how to do!  Nothing seems to work!  But we can't just abandon our child!"  Of course, the child's perspective may be very different!

     I know, too, from many years of preaching to college students that the metaphor of God as parent may not be helpful, especially if the student comes from a family where one or both parents was severely impaired by emotional challenges, addiction or other problems.  In some cases, it may be that the parents "tried too hard," and "over-parented."   Perhaps one or both parents were trying to "relive" their life through the offspring.  In others they were simply "passing on" the patterns by which they were raised. Divorce and blended families can add to the complications!   However, for those students who came from families of loving parents who knew how to guide with the right amount of discipline, the metaphor of God as parent could show the way to understanding what a personal relationship to God can be like.  Perhaps when they themselves would become parents, then they could realize that God could say to them in those moments that combine love and frustration:  "Tell me about it!"

     On a personal level, because I revered my own father, I find Hosea's image comforting.  The last line of the passage (not quoted above) says, "I will not let the flames consume you."  I'm counting on that!   AMEN