This coming Sabbath, my sermon will focus on the importance of the family. As Adventists, we enthusiastically promote and try our best to keep the Sabbath holy, but from time to time we must also be reminded of the other gift, the gift of the family, given at Creation. The Sabbath and family, two divinely ordained institutions, are constantly under attack in our post-modern world. As a community of believers, we are called “repairers of the breach.” This means we are supportive of the biblical imperatives to guard, protect, and honour both the Sabbath and the Family. This Sabbath, (February 15th) is attached to a long weekend called the Family Day Weekend, and we are blessed to have an extra day to celebrate family.
A quick Google search will reveal that residents in the Province of Ontario started celebrating the Family Day weekend as an official holiday in February 2008. Alberta was the first Province in Canada to celebrate the holiday in 1990. Some of the early rationale for having a holiday in February was that there was no statutory holiday between New Year’s Day and Good Friday, which could be as late as April. As Canadians, our winters are long, cold, and sometimes depressing (especially if you are not an outdoor type of person). My brother-in-law and his family love long winters because they are a skiing family. They love a long winter wonderland season. This previously long holiday-free period from January to April in the calendar played heavily in the decision to adopt a Family Day holiday in Ontario. Hurray for another holiday on the calendar! Can you imagine what life must be like for people without weekly celebrations or time-out from the weekly Sabbath rest? I do not know how I would enjoy life waiting for the nine scattered statutory holidays sprinkled over a twelve-month calendar without the weekly Sabbath to be revived and refreshed.
I believe that the family, as an institution, is worth fighting for. A church, a community, or a country without strong, healthy families is destined to fail and fall. The family unit is the bedrock and foundation of any durable society. Within the inspired words of Deuteronomy 6, we will find a blueprint for having a healthy, happy, and prosperous family. Moses, as the leader of the Israelite nation, is soon to depart from a people he has led for forty long years. Moses has direct counsel on what a new generation of families born in the wilderness will need to hear and continually do before they cross over into the promised land. As Adventists awaiting the Second Coming of Jesus when we ascend to the heavenly Canaan land, we, too, as modern-day wanderers, must glean insights from the sacred writings of Deuteronomy. We must learn from those who went before us.
In closing, I am reminded of the words of hymnist Samuel Stennett, “On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand, and cast a wishful eye to Canaan’s fair and happy land, where my possessions lie. I am bound for the promised land, I am bound for the promised land; oh, who will come and go with me? I am bound for the promised land.” Did you catch the phrase, “Oh, who will come and go with me?” I pray that my earthly family will want to join me in journeying to the heavenly promised land, where we can celebrate both a weekly Sabbath and endless family days.
Maranatha!
Pastor Glenn DeSilva