From the Pastor’s Heart

Like so many of you, I have been following closely the David Goldman custody battle. I can’t imagine the heart-wrenching ache of losing custody of one’s child. The boy’s mother, Bruna Bianchi, took Sean (then 4 years of age) to her native Brazil in 2004, divorced Goldman and remarried. Goldman began legal efforts to get his son back.

After Bianchi died last year in childbirth, her husband Paulo Lins e Silva, continued the legal fight and won temporary custody.

The last several months, each time David Goldman was able to embrace hope that he would be reunited with his son, that hope was met with devastating disappointment when yet another court ruling prevented the father and son reunion.

Finally, a ruling last week by the chief justice of the Brazilian Supreme Court finally cleared the way for the boy’s return on Christmas Eve. David and his son Sean were finally reunited. After five long agonizing years, Sean and his dad began a new journey… a journey home.

A recent report stated: “A man who brought his son home to the United States from Brazil after winning a bitter custody battle said in an interview aired Monday that he’s thrilled they have been reunited but is still waiting to be called ‘Dad.’” “I said, ‘You can call me Dad,’” David Goldman said on NBC’s “Today” show. “And he didn’t say anything.”

And so David Goldman rejoices in their reunion but patiently waits for healing and for his son to embrace their relationship so that he will once again call him “Dad.”

This is the time of year when we again meet up with the Magi. They too are on a journey. The story of the Magi is astonishing. Magi living hundreds of miles from Israel leave their families and the comforts of home to chase the mere possibility of encountering the long-awaited King of the Jews.

The Magi offer a model for life. When they were confronted with the opportunity to connect authentically with God and experience true life, they left all that was familiar for a journey into the unknown. The Magi are not content to experience Jesus from afar. They want to experience him personally. That encounter… that experience changed their lives forever.

As we approach 2010, I wonder about God’s agonizing wait for His children to return home and call him Abba (Daddy). There is no judge or court prohibiting our rightful custody with our eternal father. We are our own stumbling blocks in returning to our rightful home.

It is not enough to experience Jesus from afar. How long will God the Father have His hopes dashed and experience disappointment after disappointment because His children refuse to come home and embrace the relationship that God offers each of us in becoming part of God’s family?

Give thanks if you call God “Abba”. But if you are still only curious from afar, the New Year is a great time to come home! There will be no court ruling ordering you home. There is however, the Father’s outstretched open arms and loving invitation. And He waits for your response. He longingly waits to hear you say, “I want to come home ‘Abba!’ I want to come home.” This morning I heard David Goldman say with tears of rejoicing: “He is home, he is home.”

I can imagine every time one of God’s children comes home, God rejoices with the same exclamation… “He is home! She is home!”

Won’t you come home?

Peace and Blessings for the New Year,
Pastor Russel

With Grateful Hearts…

We have been showered with blessings by the outpouring of your expressions of love this Christmas season. Thank you for the generous gifts from our Church family and the many other expressions of love. Nancy and Pastor Russel