WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.060 Several weeks ago, I received an email from one of those many companies that seem to live under the conviction that, as the general public, we just love receiving daily marketing. 00:00:15.060 --> 00:00:35.380 But with this particular email, which on this occasion I did actually read before deleting, it was a bit different. It was from a, shall we say, a well-known supermarket, a branch of which happens to be located just over the road from one of the two churches where I'm a minister. 00:00:35.380 --> 00:00:50.180 The message went something like this. Dear valued customer, we know you love to be kept up to date with our amazing offers and deals. Well, naturally. 00:00:51.380 --> 00:00:58.500 However, with Father's Day on the horizon, we do understand that this can be a difficult time for a lot of people. 00:00:58.500 --> 00:01:07.560 So if you would prefer to opt out of our Father's Day promotional emails, just let us know and we won't send them to you. 00:01:08.439 --> 00:01:11.000 Well, as they say, every little helps. 00:01:12.060 --> 00:01:16.680 For all kinds of reasons, Father's Day can be difficult. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:20.039 There are so many complexities in our lives. 00:01:20.819 --> 00:01:27.219 There are absent fathers, bereaved fathers, fathers who have passed away. 00:01:27.219 --> 00:01:33.019 There are estranged fathers, fathers with estranged children, fathers with sick children. 00:01:34.099 --> 00:01:35.459 There are abusive fathers. 00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:47.700 There are men dealing with miscarriage, navigating IVF, infertility or fostering and adoption or the cultural taboo of choosing to not have children. 00:01:48.759 --> 00:01:54.439 And look, that's just a handful of reasons why Father's Day can be a bit raw for lots of us. 00:01:54.439 --> 00:01:57.840 So my question is this. 00:01:58.359 --> 00:02:00.579 Should we still mark Father's Day? 00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:05.719 My answer to that question is absolutely yes. 00:02:07.319 --> 00:02:20.659 My reason for that answer is simply because fathers and fatherhood is too important, both for life in general and in Christian faith in particular. 00:02:20.659 --> 00:02:29.180 We can opt out of marketing emails, but it won't do to just opt out of what is a vital theme in life and faith. 00:02:29.979 --> 00:02:31.740 And there's two reasons for me saying that. 00:02:32.859 --> 00:02:40.800 The first reason why I think we cannot and should not try to opt out of this theme is that it's right to pray for dads. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:46.580 Now, bear with me on this, but here's my attempt at a very quick history lesson. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:52.219 The modern Father's Day came into existence just over a century ago. 00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:55.060 There's more than one story behind it. 00:02:55.719 --> 00:03:00.520 But the most prominent one is that of someone called Sonora Louise Smart. 00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:06.820 When Sonora was 16, her mum died whilst giving birth to her sixth child. 00:03:08.320 --> 00:03:14.620 Sonora was the only daughter, and she shared with her father William in raising her younger brothers. 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:24.100 In 1909, she was in church in Washington for what was one of the earliest modern Mother's Day services. 00:03:24.099 --> 00:03:32.120 And she felt something should be put into place to celebrate the contribution of fathers as well as mothers. 00:03:33.139 --> 00:03:39.500 She approached her minister and proposed the date of the 5th of June, which was her father's, her own father's birthday. 00:03:40.659 --> 00:03:43.519 However, the minister said he needed a bit more time to get ready. 00:03:44.060 --> 00:03:47.299 So the third Sunday in June was eventually arrived upon. 00:03:47.300 --> 00:03:52.260 Now, as a few years before, it made its way across the Atlantic to the UK. 00:03:52.820 --> 00:03:58.380 And yes, today, along with most calendar events, it's been commercially hyped. 00:03:59.880 --> 00:04:07.320 But let's not forget that it all started simply because about 100 years ago or so, 00:04:07.320 --> 00:04:16.460 someone somewhere recognised some of the broken situations within which a lot of parenting often happens. 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:21.079 Being a dad is, well, it's an awesome privilege. 00:04:21.220 --> 00:04:22.199 There's no doubt about that. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:25.900 But it can also be pretty messy. 00:04:26.579 --> 00:04:28.680 And that's because life is messy. 00:04:29.980 --> 00:04:36.280 Dads, along with mums and all those people who play a role in bringing up children, need our prayer. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:39.960 And that's what we do this day. 00:04:40.819 --> 00:04:44.180 We pray for dads because dads need our prayer. 00:04:44.180 --> 00:04:53.160 The other reason why I think we shouldn't be too ready to opt out of Father's Day is theological. 00:04:54.579 --> 00:05:00.620 It's an important reminder that, and I say this at the risk of maybe sounding a bit simplistic, 00:05:01.259 --> 00:05:04.620 but it's a really important reminder that God is our father. 00:05:04.620 --> 00:05:10.560 Whatever emotional experience comes our way when we hear the word father, 00:05:11.079 --> 00:05:17.139 that term is indispensable if we are to really understand and experience Christian faith. 00:05:18.139 --> 00:05:24.519 If we try to opt out of it, we deny ourselves something that is essential in being a Christian. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:29.420 There are loads of reasons for this, but here are just two. 00:05:29.420 --> 00:05:37.120 First, if God is our father, then that makes us brothers and sisters. 00:05:38.180 --> 00:05:42.560 Perhaps that sounds like a bit of cliched rhetoric. 00:05:43.819 --> 00:05:47.879 But in our broken world of division and hostility and suspicion, 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:57.199 we must not allow ourselves to become over-familiarised with the basic, simple message that we are to regard one another, 00:05:57.300 --> 00:06:03.980 not simply as fellow human beings, but as brothers and sisters who share one father. 00:06:05.959 --> 00:06:16.139 Second, if God is our father, then that tells us something critical about how God is to be approached and related to. 00:06:16.139 --> 00:06:23.319 Our Bible passage today from John chapter 14 tells us that when we see the person of Jesus, 00:06:23.620 --> 00:06:25.779 we see the God who is our father. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:32.779 All the unconditional love and grace and goodness that we see in the character and teaching of Jesus 00:06:32.779 --> 00:06:36.680 is a revelation of the God whose children we are. 00:06:37.919 --> 00:06:43.879 He wants us to know that we are his children and to know him as the one who never stops loving us 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:50.899 and to live in a real and deeply conscious awareness that he is indeed our father. 00:06:52.339 --> 00:06:55.939 Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. 00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:59.219 No one comes to the father except through me. 00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:03.459 You see, it's one thing to say we believe God exists, 00:07:03.459 --> 00:07:11.919 but the only way we can know that God as our loving personal father is through Jesus. 00:07:13.099 --> 00:07:15.879 Now, if that claim is true, it changes everything. 00:07:16.699 --> 00:07:23.139 It's not just some small aspect of Christian doctrine to which we can say we'll take it or leave it. 00:07:23.139 --> 00:07:30.719 To opt out of seeing God as that sort of God would be to deprive yourself of the personal relationship 00:07:30.719 --> 00:07:35.419 that lies at the very core of what it is to experience being a child of God. 00:07:37.419 --> 00:07:40.800 Now, there's a story that's been around on the Internet for some time, 00:07:40.860 --> 00:07:45.560 which I actually only came across quite recently, a story about Bill Gates. 00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:51.220 I'm not sure whether it is actually a true story or if it is a true story, 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:54.040 which of the several versions of it is the most accurate. 00:07:54.540 --> 00:07:58.160 But for the purposes of what I want to illustrate now, that doesn't really matter. 00:07:59.379 --> 00:08:04.379 The story goes that Bill Gates was being interviewed and he was asked, 00:08:04.939 --> 00:08:07.379 what's the secret behind your success? 00:08:08.459 --> 00:08:12.980 At which point he took out his checkbook and invited the interviewer 00:08:12.980 --> 00:08:17.600 to name the figure that she would like him to give her. 00:08:19.700 --> 00:08:23.500 Apparently, she got a bit embarrassed and said, I didn't mean it like that. 00:08:24.700 --> 00:08:31.000 So he gave her a check from his checkbook and told her to write down the amount she wanted. 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:37.980 She pushed it away and repeated her question to him, but in a different way. 00:08:37.980 --> 00:08:44.060 Apparently, then he took the check and tore it up and said to her, 00:08:44.820 --> 00:08:50.340 the secret of my success is that I don't miss opportunities as you just did. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:53.519 You could have been the richest broadcaster in the world. 00:08:55.560 --> 00:09:01.759 I don't know how true that story actually is, but I do know that it's true 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:06.379 that we can too easily miss out when we choose to opt out. 00:09:06.379 --> 00:09:13.740 Jesus said that if we get to know him, then we get to know God as our Father. 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:20.439 Why would anyone opt out of that? 00:09:20.439 --> 00:09:20.460 Why would anyone opt out of that?