Resurrected Relationships:

….between children & parents.

 

 Genesis 27:5-24; Peter 1:3

First Presbyterian Church, Brownsville, TN

April 6, 2008                 Dr. Will Jones

 

Summary: The relationship between children and parents is one of the most wonderful, loving, and complex relationships you will ever be part of.  There is always some amount of tension, and for many there is estrangement and alienation.  The power of God’s love through Christ offers us strength and hope as we live and provide for those in the generation above us and below us.  

 

Outline:

I.       Christians have a “resurrection-shaped worldview” (N. T. Wright)

a.       The Resurrection changed everything for the earliest Christians:

                                                               i.      1 Peter 1:3: through the Resurrection of Jesus:

1.      See God’s mercy (warm compassion)

2.      New Birth, i.e. new life

3.      Living Hope, i.e. death of despair

II.    The Resurrection changes believers to the core: Resurrected Relationships

a.       God’s life in relationship: the Trinity

                                                               i.      God is love

                                                             ii.      Never-ending relationship of love between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

b.      Humanity made in God’s image:

                                                               i.      Therefore… we are able to give and receive love

c.       Who are you, deep down, at your core?

                                                               i.      You are your relationships

1.      (son/daughter, brother/sister, mother/father, friend, colleague, ex-husband/ex-wife, teacher, coach, step-parent…..)

III. Resurrected Relationship…between adult children and their parents.

a.       Disclaimer and invitation: please come talk to me if I offend/raise issues for you

b.      The “Family Crucible” – a metaphor for family life

                                                               i.      Tells about Family Systems Theory

1.      David & Carolyn Brice, daughter Claduia, Don, and Laura

a.       Overhear their counseling sessions with two counselors

                                                             ii.      Crucible: heat resistant bowl for melting and mixing compounds by flame

                                                            iii.      Quote from book: “A very powerful, restrictive force was operating in the family, which kept them from moving toward resolution of their problems.”

                                                           iv.      The most complex of relationships

1.      Full of beauty and goodness

2.      A place of pain and estrangement

a.       Brice family: thought it was just a problem with one daughter, but turns out to be a whole inter-generational, multi-layer set of problems.  As long as she misbehaved, the family stayed together. 

3.      Tactics of internecine battle

a.       Early dependency of children on parents (good), total control by parent over child

b.      As child develops independence, parent loses control: a gradual arc

c.       Loss of control is devastating for self-centered parents

d.      Old hurts keep estrangement alive

4.      Story of Lou Ureneck and son Adam

a.       Head of journalism dept. at Boston U.

b.      Story of anger and alienation; -- & silence (stony)

c.       Fly-fishing trip to reconcile

                                                                                                                                       i.      Silence, fishing, and time together: relying on each other in the wilderness

d.      Adam works in Peru with Catholic charity for orphans

                                                             v.      Mercy, newness, and hope through the Resurrection for our relationships (1 Peter 1:3)

 

For a DVD copy of this sermon, click here …