Abba! Father!

I had an extremely happy childhood. Like most Americans I grew up wanting for much but needing nothing.  My family lived on a hobby farm with horses and chickens and dogs and cats…lots of cats. I was raised in an atheist household. My parents never baptized me. I have fond memories of sleeping in on Sunday mornings and waking up to a hot breakfast.

My mother taught me about hard work and perseverance. My father taught me that one could have strong beliefs and convictions and still be nice to other people.

My happy childhood ended a month before my sixteenth birthday when my father passed away.

Traumatic events have a way of rattling us especially when we are children. So I felt the need to grow up fast. I got on with my life, graduated high school, and found a wonderful college where I met some great friends who introduced me to the Christian God. Upon graduation I met this great guy who helped me find a church.

Even though I had moved on, there were times of great sadness in my life, certain milestones that I would go through where I missed my dad a lot. I remember vividly the last episode. It was shortly after I was married. Tom and I were getting ready for a weekend overnighter – I was hosting a girls retreat and Tom was hosting a boys retreat. To get ready for the weekend I had assembled love letters for each of the girls from their friends and families. I was bundling them together and sobbing. At one point I was crying so hard I had to put down my work. With tears in my eyes, I uttered a barely audible prayer, “Oh, Daddy, Daddy.”

So fundamental is the parent-child relationship, it’s no wonder why the metaphor is so prevalent in the Bible like this passage in Galatians chapter 4:

⁴But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. ⁶And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ ⁷So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

Born in the same way we are all born, naked and vulnerable, Jesus spent time here with us as a child needing protection, encouragement, instruction and discipline. And this child grew in strength and wisdom. He walked amongst us, calling us disciples, showing us new ways to look at the world, and sacrificing himself for our sake, bringing us into a closer more intimate relationship with God. So intimate that we too can call God, Abba Father or “Daddy.”

I love the message of a popular children’s book “What Dads Can’t Do.” In this book, a father and son illustrate what dads are no good at... as a way of illustrating what really great dads do. “Dads can’t brush their teeth or comb their hair without help,” suggests the book as we gaze upon a picture of a son combing his dad’s hair. The image gives us a sense that this dad is willing to slow down, get close to his son, and show his son how much he trusts him. The book goes on to illustrate that good dads hold hands, they let other people win, they spend quality time with their children, and they serve their families to the brink of exhaustion and cheerfully get up and do it again in the morning.

Galatians 4 describes for us a situation of inheritance regarding a different kind of fortune, the richness that a parent’s intimate attention can provide. Christ abolished the laws and rules which said you needed an intermediary, someone to talk to God on your behalf. Instead he taught us to pray saying, Our Father... 

So as I sat there 12 years ago, sobbing and calling out for my dad, Tom reached into his nightstand and pulled out a stack of letters addressed to me. He had taken the time to collect letters from my friends and family because as he put it, “it wouldn’t be right for you to be the only girl at the retreat without something to read.”

As I sat there reading those incredible letters something inside of me changed. 

I had prayed to my dad and I got a response from my Father. 

I realized for the first time that although I was missing someone in my life, I was so very blessed to have many other wonderful people to watch over me and to take care of me. My Father was there, holding my hand, encouraging me onward, providing for me even in death.

We all need this kind of support. That is why God sent us Jesus. And because he was born to us and raised by us, because he walked with us and suffered with us, we share everything in common with him including his relationship to God. We inherit all that is Christ’s.

No matter which path you have taken to get you to this point, whether you have been raised in the faith your entire life, you are a recent convert, you are exploring your faith, or you do not believe, we are all God’s children. Adopted into our relationship and solidified in our inheritance by Christ. We are now allowed to call God, Daddy!

Because we are so richly provided for, we are commanded to go and spread the good news, which means we are supposed to take care of others as our Father in heaven takes care of us. Sometimes that means telling people about God, but more often it means showing others with our actions; with how we choose to live our lives, how we care for others, how we spend our time and our money.

I would not be where I am today had it not been for the incredible cloud of witnesses, loving parents, thoughtful friends, an encouraging husband, gracious church members, a healing community, and supportive neighbors. And now it is my great privilege to be that for others, to witness to how my life has been transformed by such an intimate relationship with the Creator and Sustainer of that life.

Why are you here? How will you teach others to cry, “Abba Father?”