Deus Misereatur

It was an important, passing meeting. At the time I belonged to a Christian sect that was convinced only our tribe was being saved and redeemed by God. Some of the members of our teeny church came from the black neighborhood just up the road and had drawn me into a part of their communal life. On this day I was in that neighborhood helping with a community project when I met him; Old Mose (like Moses without the “s” on the end). That’s what they called him, and that’s how he introduced himself. Probably in his late eighties, wrinkled black skin and frail frame, yet genuine faith and love for Christ oozing from every pore. Here was a man who wasn’t of my theological tribe, and yet he had more faith in his little pinky than I had in my whole being. His gentleness toward me and confidence in God set me back on my sectarian heels. Though those few hours with Mose were over 30 years ago, I have never forgotten him, and have often given thanks to God for him. That chance meeting sent me on ...

Jesus told us, “ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you ” (John 15:16). In this confidence, then, we pray: Holy Father, you who are the benchmark, the high-water mark of all true fathering. We are grateful for our fathers, especially when their firm love and care reverberated harmoniously with the melody of your own fatherhood. Help us to rightly honor our fathers and their memories. For those fathers in our lives who missed the mark – or worse – grant them to find you a true Father in Jesus Christ; repair that which they scarred or marred or broke and heal the wounds. For the fathers in our fellowship we ask you to guide us by your fatherly hand that we will be – more and more – a noble and wholesome reflection of you to our children, whether they are still at home or out on their own. Lord God of Hosts, the whole earth is fil...