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Hi everyone! I trust that you’re all having a good week.

It’s quiet in my house this morning. Too quiet!  (Those of you familiar with old mystery movies will be able to imagine some suspenseful music in the background as I say that.)  It’s quiet because Diane is off to visit family for a few days, so the only conversation around the place happens when I’m either talking to the Lord or talking to myself. That’s OK. I like quiet, and I’ll get lots done. I’ll also watch a little more hockey than usual.

Times like this are also a good reminder of just how important family is, and how we miss them when they’re not around. That’s been on my mind anyway, thanks to my ongoing reading in Colossians. This week, we’re into a familiar and important passage: Colossians 3:18-4:1, where Paul gives some practical instructions for the members of the household.

He speaks directly to the members of the immediate family—husbands and wives, children and parents. He adds instructions for slaves and masters, who were also a normal part of most households in ancient Greece and Rome. These are the roles he names directly. But of course in these verses, he is offering a practical application of the broader instructions we read last week in Colossians 3:12-18, so we understand that our responsibility to “put on” the character of Christ applies in all our day-to-day relationships, including the most basic ones in the home and workplace.

Paul’s instructions here in Colossians are echoed, at times almost word-for-word, in a slightly longer parallel in Ephesians 5:22-6:9. (That, in fact, is one of the clues that these 2 letters were written together, along with information about their courier.) Though the details vary from place to place, the Bible offers us a great deal more instruction about what it means to be a good parent, a good marital partner, a good master and servant, and generally a good member of the home and family and community in which we live. It’s impossible to read the Bible and not conclude that God cares a lot about families! After all, the family was God’s idea. He created us to live together in these small, intimate communities, as well as the larger communities that are built around them. It is in the family first of all that we image and honor Him. The family is the place we learn almost all our first lessons, including (ideally) lessons about life and love and what it means to walk with our Heavenly Father.

Our families come in different shapes and sizes. Along life’s journey, some of us find ourselves more dependent on “adopted” families alongside our biological relations. But one way or another, families are super-important for us all. They help us live well as individuals. They are the building-blocks of our church. And they are the main mechanism through which the church reaches out to touch our larger society.

I’m thinking a lot about family these days, not only because of my reading in Colossians, but also because one of the next big projects on my agenda here at WVBC is an initiative to help our church move forward in our overall ministry to families, including our kids and youth. Many good things are happening in these areas. But it’s no secret that there are also places where we can grow and improve. I’m excited because I see the Lord bringing a number of factors together this spring which have the potential to help our church really grow in its ministry to our families, kids, and youth. I’m hopeful that 2026 will be an important landmark for us as we seek to follow our Lord’s leading in these areas.

I’ll have some more news about this in the next week or two. For now, this is just a teaser! It’s also an invitation to pray. Thank you all so much for your faithful prayer support for all our church’s ministries, including our ministry to kids, youth, and their families. Please continue praying for everyone involved. And please, as you think of it, be in prayer for us as we consider how to move forward in these important areas at this strategic time in our church’s history. We don’t just want to look for “new stuff” to do. We want to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading, and attuned to the heart of God who loves the family so much.

More on this subject in days to come.  Meanwhile, enjoy this beautiful sunshine that we’ve been given this week. If you’re looking to do a bit of preparatory reading for Sunday, I suggest that you start back at Colossians 3:12 with a quick review of last week’s passage for context, then continue right through to 4:1, focusing on that section which our German-speaking friends call the haustafeln, or “household instructions.” By all means, check out the parallel in Ephesians 5:22-6:9 as well. And please be in prayer for Aldo as he prepares to open the text for us all.

(If I could offer one additional suggestion here … people sometimes get preoccupied with the sociological specifics in these passages. There have been, and still are, long debates about how much the 1st century social norms apply directly to us today. You know—what should “submission” look like? Why is it directed to wives and not husbands? And what do we do with references to slavery? Etc.  These are fair questions that deserve some thought. But our first task in studying the Bible is always to emphasize what the biblical author emphasizes. In these passages, Paul is primarily concerned to illustrate what happens when Christlike attitudes are applied to daily life, as we reflect the character we are supposed to “put on” as children of God. Don’t get lost so deep in the debated details that you cease to be impacted by the character that’s being taught here. As Jesus pointed out so well, when our hearts are properly transformed, all the other stuff sorts itself out.) 

Richest blessings! I hope to see you soon. And I’m delighted to be part of God’s family together with you. What a privilege!

—Pastor Ken