family theology

I have often thought about if I write a book of theology it would be in the category of family theology, not feminist or womanist or even Mennonite/Brethren/Pacifist. I first thought of this during an internship in seminary in Englewood.

I can't write that book yet because it is just a fuzzy thought process for me that I can't articulate in written form (and yet I am writing a blog entry about it) - and maybe it is only me that regards all the following theological. The way I see it is that God created a big family of people. The idea becomes that if we treated each person as the belong to this family, as God's child, and as our sister/brother/child/parent then we would indeed be working to follow the reign of God.

I realize this doesn't work for everybody - as many people have been abused or hurt in other ways by their family members - but if I think about my biological families, my intentional community family from several years ago, my family gang - this works for me.

I have been thinking about the importance of this lately because of my mother-in-law's illness and the playfulness of my favorite 3 year old and the importance of a play last night. So some family things that have happened lately that have made me think about the theological implications of the family motif.

*Jim's mom is finding out how to deal with some serious illnesses currently. Trying to be a helpful healing part of that has me thinking about the importance of family in new ways.

*My sister is getting married; and two of my family gang and I headed down to David's Bridal to work on the bridesmaid dresses - which we picked and then dealt with family stuff - checking in with each other, and being with each other. Celebrating this amazing wedding ritual with some good old family time.

*Joslyn and I spent most of Tuesday together. I enjoy spending time with her - from her making me slow down my normally rushed days to when I wasn't quite walking fast enough to the playground and she asked if I needed her hand so I could walk faster.
She makes me realize that I it is important to hang out with folks that I might not on a normal basis. Joslyn is just the start of embracing all the family of God.

*Last night, the family gang went to see Ariel school's production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Boy was it good - and we were there to support our gang member Eric who was the director. I think this support aspect of families is one of the best way's to share in the patient love of God. Sometimes all we need to do is show up in each other lives....

All these are real live stuff, not the stuff for theological handbooks, and yet that is where my theological thought always leads me - where does it matter? in the real stuff!