July 10, 2005

July 10, 2005
Romans 8: 9-17 (NRSV)

In nomine…

There are many misconception people have about various words in the bible. Some of these misconceptions stem from bad translations, some from church legend, and others simply lose part of their meaning as the culture of the word fades away. Somewhere in the middle today’s reading from Paul, Paul speaks of us crying “Abba! Father!” to God. To most of us this may be dismissed as normal, typical, church speak, however, it’s not quite that simple. First, by Paul, who was writing in Greek, specifically using the term Abba followed by the term Father he was making a definite statement. In using these two terms he was using two languages, Abba-Father, was Hebrew followed by Greek. In doing this Paul is making it clear that all people are capable of being heirs to God- not just Jews as many people of his time assumed.

Also, however, the use of the term selected is interesting and important. Abba, is NOT as many people seem to think, exactly the Hebrew word for Father. Its connotation is not FATHER, but is more of, DADDY!! Abba is the word Jewish and Israeli children scream when they want their dad and is who they say goodnight to. Likewise, while many of the words we use for God – like Lord, and master, often referred to as Dominus in Latin, were the same words slaves used to address their masters, the word Abba was forbidden to be used by slaves in this way.

So according to this reading, when we are crying out to Abba, we are crying out to our dad… we are not, in this case, slaves to God, but we are truly God’s children. What it means to be God’s child however, can mean many things. This section of Paul’s letter emphasizes our position as joint heirs in God’s kingdom. This is an interesting idea… I mean, as a child of my parents I’m their heir, well, if we are God’s children – children of God in such a position that we find ourselves being told to refer to God as Daddy, then this heir thing becomes interesting… So, what do we inherit… I mean, what exactly does a child of God, inherit from a Father who is the creator and sanctifier –who is Lord of all?

If, Paul says, we share in Christ’s suffering, then we have the opportunity to, as joint heirs with Christ, be glorified with God. How vague. “We can be joint heirs with him if we suffer that we might be glorified with him? What does that even mean? What was Paul thinking? It sounds good – well, not the suffering part, but the being glorified with God part – I mean, usually its just God who is glorified… this seems kinda cool.

The dictionary defines being glorified as honor, praise or admiration being bestowed, or to elevate to a celestial placement. Hmm, this could sound good –being glorified – but, the passage also says that we have to suffer with Christ. Suffering with Christ doesn’t sound very inviting, but we all know its necessary… in so many places in the bible we are told we have to pick up our cross and follow, that we must turn the other cheek and do all sorts of things which we do not want to do. However, as Paul points out, we have to suffer to be with our Father – to be with Daddy.

God, often seems very far away – being told that we have to suffer to be glorified with him almost seems like it’s not worth it sometimes. But then I have to stop, and think. When I was younger I would do anything for my Daddy. I thought Dad was the coolest and best person in the world – actually, I still do, but that’s beside the point. I would try my hardest to please him and really liked to spend time with him. Sometimes spending time with him would require me to do things that weren’t my favorite – like sitting still in the car- and visiting my mentally ill grandmother, but I didn’t care.

Well, here our other dad- the father who created our fathers – apparently has this opportunity. We can be glorified with him. Cool, I mean, I thought my dad was awesome, but this dad, our dad can create things out of nothing, can cause massive floods, can raise people from the dead - can grant everlasting life and loves us mercifully and eternally. Wow… sounds good to me –and we can be glorified with That.

In an odd sort of way though, thinking of God as Dad seems kinda wrong. It seems almost disrespectful. We use all this flowery language in our prayers and in our thoughts about God, and now, all of the sudden, we are hit with this reality that God is Dad. God really is the grownup to all of us children. The ever watchful parent, rolling their eyes at the children’s misadventures- God is the creator, raising us as his children. Caring about us, wanting us to grow, learn, and love. Like a parent he must watch his children, as we learn to trust and love through receiving love and as we learn strength, perseverance and value through both love and through suffering. Then, it requires our suffering, our learning to live and continue and to not waver in our faith to achieve this – glorification that Paul speaks of.

Abba wants us to cry to him and rejoice in him. To praise him and turn to him – and if it takes us doing some things that aren’t exactly inviting to achieve this, then, well, so be it. If the great feeling I got from spending time with my dad when I was younger is any indication, then this is so worth it. In nomine…