I was listening to a podcast today and according to the latest census the nuclear family is now a minority. All though it is just slightly it is a fact that the "model" family is becoming less and less the norm. This may not be a suprise to many but the effcts it has in our churches are more and more evident. First we see community being placed of higher importance in our churches that are experiencing growth. Rather it is our traditional churches or home groups or "emergent churches" community is playing a larger role than it did ten years ago. People want that family feeling and find comfort in community. Secondly we can no longer define our relationship with God the same way we used to. For example when we use the language of God the Father many people have a hard time grasping this concept because they have different ideas of a father. Watch the news for ten minutes and you will hear about fathers who have beat, molested, and abandonned their children. When they hear father those are the images that come to mind for many.
So on a day we celebrate love I encourage you to define love. The world has put its definition on love but what do we say it is. As we celebrate this day let our love not be limited to those in our family, or even our communities. What a difference we could make if we could learn to love everyone we come in contact and even intentionally making contact with people in order to show them love.
I delight in knowing that my traditional family is now considered dysfunctional. We live together with our children and decide and work on having a nurturing, loving, family enviroment. I will take my little house on the prarie family and cherish every moment with them.
