Tuesday, March 18: Rachel Clifton

Mark 3:19b-35. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’ And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’

In this passage, it does not seem that Jesus was so much rejecting his mother and brothers and sisters as he was expanding the definition of family. He was opening his arms wide to those that wanted to be part of the Kingdom of God and saying that his family was more far reaching and inclusive than they ever could imagine.

In the same way, we who are part of the St. Thomas community are mother, father, brothers and sisters together with all those who are part of the Kingdom. We are more than just John or Rob or Lisa or Betty that sit in the pew in front of or behind us. We are spiritually related. We are family. When we are drawn into relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit we will begin to find that our heart’s desire is to do God’s will. And the privilege of being together is that we can encourage and remind each other of this personal call of God on our lives.

What if we don’t feel that we really are part of the kingdom? What can we do? One suggestion that has been helpful to us has been to place ourselves firmly within the Lord’s Prayer. When you pray it, use your own name, or a personal pronoun. “My Father who art in heaven. Hallowed by thy name in my life. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in my life on earth as it is in heaven” and so on. As we say the Lord’s prayer in this personal way, we are asking God’s help to do his will in our lives here on earth and are reminding ourselves that this is what we truly desire in our individual lives and in our church family.

— Rachel Clifton