Kids & Parenting

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The apostle Paul in the second chapter of First Thessalonians represents himself and his apostolic companions both as nursing mothers who cherish their children (v.7) and as exhorting fathers who challenge their children to walk worthy of God (v.11) and as brothers and sisters (v.9) who remind each other of their loyalty toward one another, all in the space of 5 verses. It is, taken altogether, a very family-friendly or family oriented chapter in its emphasis.
At a time of much national debate about the importance of the influence of mother AND father in the home (and most research acknowledges the need for both) we are seeing fewer and fewer homes where both are actually present. The presence of other siblings is also a key to providing peer companionship and teaching the art of sharing possessions or space and taking turns. Paul addresses the “brethren” specifically at least 4 times in this chapter.
As it is in the natural so is it in the Spirit. Church congregations or spiritual families need spiritual fathers and spiritual mothers in order to be wellbalanced and well rounded. The mothers tend to nurture and cherish, the fathers to exhort and motivate. These qualities need to be held in a gentle tension with each other. The paternal qualities don’t always express themselves through males, nor do the maternal ones always find expression through females, but that is as it ought to be. What is important is that a well-proportioned blend of these qualities gets expressed, for the good of the local body of Christ.
Could the preponderance of single parent natural families in our culture signal the same phenomenon having taken shape and continuing to form itself in the spiritual realm, only in reverse? An overemphasis on doing, and action and achievement driven by a need for self-justification, I mean, with an attendant underemphasis on contemplation, intuition and nurturing relationship, fed by an appreciation for the fact that one is already justified!

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