Abba, Father. Creator God.

       I cannot speak for everyone about Fathers, Dads or Pops. There are exceptions to every rule but as a rule, most fathers are genuinely loving, compassionate, thoughtful, wise and nurturing. It is with these fathers in mind that we feel comfort in saying "Our Father" , the one who created it all, loves us with reckless abandon, is nurturing, loves us without exception and wants only the best for us. That is our Father, creator God. Whom Jesus called "Abba" or to us, translated as "Daddy".

          I know of a few instances within my own family where the trusted and holy position of father was not always what it should have been. Several of my own brothers did not have many kind things to say about our own earthly father. He left when I was five years old and as the youngest, I missed a whole lot of bad that my siblings saw first hand - and belt. My reconciliation with 'the man' was then  somewhat simpler and an easier one.  He had grown and matured, suffered from his own weaknesses and eventually found peace which was where we were able to reconcile and actually become friends. For many years I was blessed with his presence, wisdom and care.  Several of my brothers never were able to find him or forgiveness or just simply see his metamorphosis.  The thing is though, the desire to see and be nurtured by our father, earthly or heavenly is as strong as a force can be. Even in hate or dislike of our father we are confessing to the importance of the role. We are holding high the ideal because we perhaps rabidly profess the failures we may have seen. In the diminishing we acknowledge the ideal.

         And so in today's reading, no matter what your experience of 'father' is, we know that our entire life is a search for wholeness and holiness that originates from the Creator. We are nothing without the being that instigated our being before biology with a single thought that what the world needed was a you. By being the best and total you you have been created to be, we cooperate with our design as a human and a s a child of the Creator. The ultimate Fathers Day gift is to learn, love and be who we have created to be.  So long as we emulate, cooperate and are generous with our love, we are gracing the Father, Creator God. We hold high the goodness and love we have received by spreading the love, the Word, our essence.

          So we honour today our Father and fathers, step fathers, grandfathers and fathers of every kind that emulate and cooperate. We give thanks and praise this day.     

John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.