Fathers Day 2007
1 Timothy 1:1,2
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
2 To Timothy my true son in the faith:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Today marks a special day on our Western Calendars Fathers Day.
Duncan Fisher of Fathers Direct in Great Britain said: The traditional Fathers Day is outmoded. It is modeled on Mothers Day. The notion that dads need a day to put their feet up, be waited on and spend time apart from their children is ridiculous. Our chief concern as fathers is LACK of time with our children because of work commitments.
This quote reminds me of one that Dr. James Dobson made children spell love T I M E.
History:
Im very sorry I could not be with you for Mothers Day and I regret I could not bring you a message on that special day so Ill try my best to be inclusive as we talk about Fathers, Fathers Day and parenting in general.
I did some research and discovered that the tradition of Fathers Day is owed to an American woman Sonora Smart who was the daughter of a Civil War veteran named William Jackson Smart. He returned home from the war having fought in the 1862 battle of Pea Ridge during the Civil War.
He was a farmer who lived near Spokane, Washington. He and his wife Ellen Victoria Cheek raised a family of six children. Ellen died in child birth in 1898 giving birth to her last son Marshall. They had five boys and one daughter named Sonora.
She was the first born and was 16 years old when her mother died. She helped her father raise the boys and grew to admire her fathers ability, devotion and love as a parent since he refused to remarry and raise his family himself. Sonora was aware of Mothers Day which was quickly becoming a tradition and thought that Fathers like hers also deserved a day of national recognition.
Im not sure if she was the first daughter to buy her dad a tie for fathers day or not but the tradition of Fathers Day is credited to her. Over the years her campaign became what is now our modern Fathers Day although it was not set on June 5th which was her fathers birthday it was to be fixed to the third Sunday in June. In 1972, President Nixon established a permanent national observance of Fathers Day to be held on the 3rd Sunday of June each year.
The first Fathers Day was celebrated June 19, 1910 in Spokane, WA. Sonora Smart Dodd was honored at the Worlds Fair in Spokane, Washington in 1974. Sonora Louise Smart Dodd died on Mar. 22, 1978 at the age of ninety-six. She rests in Greenwood Memorial Terrace, Spokane Washington, USA.
Well there you have it the origins of our modern Fathers Day. What surprised me was that it was a daughter and not a son who pushed to create Fathers Day. Maybe Im being chauvinistic but I thought it was kind of neat that a woman wanted men honored in a special way. Im not sure if that would happen in our society today.
Trying to tackle these big special holidays from scripture is a real challenge since they did not exist back then. But the family certainly existed and thrived. What I would like to do today is look at several fathers from the bible and see what lessons their lives teach us as fathers and parents today.
Joseph who was Jesus step-father played a huge role and we would do well to examine his contributions. Firstly he was a God fearing man who trusted an Angelic messenger about the child his fiance was carrying.
He did not bring public shame on Mary and did not claim an injustice by God. How many of us would be so willing to have our reputations and family name destroyed by the town gossips as Im sure Joseph had to suffer. He put his life at risk when he became hunted by King Herod and had to flee into a foreign land (Egypt) and stay in hiding away from his family and friends.
Even when he finally returns to his homeland he finds his oldest son Jesus is a little different. Jesus has his head in the scriptures and finds the company of the teachers in the synagogue more interesting than playing with friends his own age. On one occasion Jesus even goes missing for three days from the caravan and they find him teaching the old men in the temple.
Joseph showed incredible trust in God and patience to step back and let Jesus become the person he had to be. We do not read of whether Joseph disciplines Jesus but I imagine there was some conversation about next time leave a note for your mother not me.
Im sure Joseph also swelled with pride as he witnessed the spiritual growth and wisdom of Jesus and how that must have been a little bit of sweet revenge for how they treated him years ago when he left Galilee. Joseph must have enjoyed watching Jesus stump the self righteous religious leaders who once looked down their noses at him for marrying Mary even though she was pregnant and he had a ready and lawful excuse to call off the marriage.
He must have had high hopes of Jesus taking over the family business one day. Then how those hopes must have been dashed as he realized it was not going to happen and all that time he had spent teaching Jesus was wasted. Or was it? You see Jesus himself tells us that as Gods son that he is going to prepare a place for us. That in His Fathers house are many mansions.
John 14:2 NIV
In my Fathers house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
Could it be that the time spent with Joseph in that carpenter shop was more valuable than Joseph could have imagined. It makes one wonder. Jesus had another calling on his life, a higher calling.
We dont really know too much more about Joseph. He seems to disappear from the storyline after a while. He is not present when Jesus is at the wedding in Canaan.
From Joseph we learn:
To trust God, Trust our wives spiritual experience.
Willingly surrender ourselves to Gods purpose & design for our life.
To teach our children what we know about God.
Allow our children to experience God for themselves.
Trust that God will lead your child in their spiritual search.
You will notice that todays scripture talks about St.Paul and Timothy and not about Joseph and Jesus. Well I did that on purpose. You see Joseph was not Jesus biological father, Joseph was a stepfather in the same way St. Paul was not a biological father to Timothy.
The interesting thing is that both men considered themselves to be a father to the young men in their lives who they grew to love as their own.
In our modern society there are many, many Fathers who have children that are not their biological children. What we see is that many of these Fathers are doing a wonderful job raising such children while others have abandoned the privilege to strangers.
If you come from a traditional home and you have known and been raised by your biological father you need to thank God for that. If you are part of a blended family and you have a stepfather you need to know that your stepfathers capacity to love you is no less than your biological fathers could have been and that like Jesus you share a special relationship with a very special man that God has put in your life.
You have not been short changed or gotten a raw deal when it comes to who your father is.
Know that as far as God is concerned you are as St. Paul says to Timothy a true son or true daughter. This Fathers Day look to your heavenly Father to help you sort out your place, you purpose and your hopes and dreams as His son or daughter.
Take a few minutes today to reflect and consider the good things your earthly Father has done for you even if that relationship is not what it should have been.
Look to what the man tried to do rather than what he failed to do and try to understand that you too will one day have the opportunity to parent and you too will be in a position to receive honor or dishonor for the kind of parent you become.
When it comes to spiritual things try to be like St. Paul who while away from his child did his best to stay in touch and let him know what was going on in his life and like Joseph set a good example and encourage your children to discover God and to walk with God.
While your children are in your home they will be watching you as you walk and talk with God. Do it often so that they will follow your good example then you will have much to celebrate on Fathers Day and Mothers Day.
Let us pray.
