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The Family Name: Who Are We?

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By Jason Comerford

Here at Elim, we’ve been asking ourselves some big questions over the last two years. As we embarked on the pastoral search process and prepared to enter a new season, we tried to discern who we were, our gifts, and how God had made us as a church. It was a time of serious introspection, getting at the heart of who we are underneath all our familiar traditions and practices.

There were some common answers. Elim is a warm and welcoming place. We pride ourselves on our hospitality to the new and old alike. We care about families and children. And of course, like any good church rooted in the Protestant tradition, we value the Bible. As one of the oldest churches in Washington State, we have a long and significant legacy.

Honestly, I’m happy to call Elim my home. And I know the same is true for others. But though I’m happy to be surrounded by such a wonderful spiritual family, I’ve remembered something sobering in recent weeks.

It would be really easy to look at Elim in the last 10–15 years, including our hospitality and other traditions, and take this on as my identity as a Christian. “This is who I am,” I might say. “I go to Elim, and we’re good at hospitality. We care about families, and we value the Bible.”

And that would be a mistake.

Aside from not everyone experiencing Elim the way I’ve described, it’s also not actually at the center of who we really are.

We’re marked not by Elim and its history, but by the work and purpose our Lord Jesus (Galatians 2:20) We are not merely a hospitable church; we are servants extending our Lord’s hospitable kindness (Luke 9:11). We are not merely a people who care about families, but we are a new spiritual family with Christ at the center of it (Matthew 12:46–50). We’re not just a people who love studying the Bible; we are a people who know our Lord personally (John 15:15) and seek to trust and obey Him (John 15:7–8).

So why does that matter?

Because the things we have in the past loved most about Elim as a community have come from earnest hearts seeking to serve the Lord, to trust His guidance, and to obey Him. And as this next season presents us with new and uncomfortable challenges, I think we’ll be helped in remembering where all the best parts of Elim have really come from—in loving, trusting, and obeying Jesus wherever He leads us.

Hang in there, friends. The Lord is, as always, doing a new thing.

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Desire Family

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By Isaac McKenzie

“And He said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.’”
(Luke 22:15 ESV)

We want many things. We should first know that it’s important to divide want and need. Just as important, we must define for ourselves the role that want plays in our lives. The want I refer to is this desire Jesus speaks of in this passage of Luke. In the Greek, it’s epithumia: “desire, passionate longing, lust.” In the verse, Christ earnestly desires to eat with His closest counterparts. He conveys a genuine and passionate tone. He is eager. His is more than merely sincere. He communicates a desire to experience His friends’ presence in a limited window of time. Can we relate to such a desire?

Do we desire such things as Christ did?

Our Christ desired a genuine relationship with those He loved, with those that loved Him. Jesus didn’t take for granted the small moments that are meals and the presence of good friends. He experienced life as He lived it. All the while Jesus maintained His mission.

Christ was to suffer. He was acutely aware that His time with the loved ones who followed Him was drawing to a close. He wasn’t motivated by legacy as we might be. His motivation was much greater. He was savoring moments such as the Passover meal.

We so often forget that we have such a great influence on the moments that we are given the opportunity to live. We have a chance to make moments to be something meaningful. We can see our fellow believers as our family, just as Christ did. Matthew says about Jesus, “Pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother’” (Matthew 12:49-50).

I imagine Christ looking around the rooms He would enter with a great deal of intention, absorbing the view of people and ambient conversation and taking to heart every meaningful word exchanged. He knew what was to come and He genuinely loved them just as He loves us and wants us to love others as He does. I’d like to be like Christ in this way in particular. It’s my number one priority when being with others. Christ would walk into rooms and be present, as I would like to do. Do I desire to be present?

We only have such a short time. But the experiences on our bucket list of life, those desires—are they worthwhile? Am we intentional in having conversation? Are we engaging others? Do we find ourselves desiring to be present with our brothers and sisters, as he has made all of us to be? Do you desire for those you see at Elim to be family?

I would like to eat with you. I would love to do life with all of you, as Christ would want us to as well. Life has so many hurts and sufferings. We have such little time. We must strive to see each other as family. We must believe that this concept is possible—to find belonging, acceptance, trust, and family in others who follow the will of God. Your Father supports you in this goal. He remains with us, so we remain in Him as well as with each other (John 15:15). After all, don’t they say, “To never have loved others like Christ, is to have never loved at all” (or something like that)?

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Father

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By Jim DeAngelo

This last Sunday was Father’s Day, and I found myself reflecting on my relationship with my father and also with my children. My father passed away from cancer when I was eleven, and I have fond memories of my time with him. My mother remarried, and my step-father proved to be abusive and controlling. My memories of those times are not pleasant, and the pain and suffering that came out of that for the entire family was broad and deep.

I thought about my relationship with Abba Father, about how profoundly He has changed my life over the last fifteen years after accepting Christ as Lord and Savior and, consequently, how He has changed the lives of my children. When my children were growing up, I worked hard to do a good job at being a parent, but found I fell very short. I provided, but didn’t spend the time nurturing them and growing my relationship as I should. My job often took me away for extended periods of time, and my relationships suffered. Yet the impact that Jesus had on my life and the relationship I now have with my Father in heaven through Christ has changed me. My heart was changed, and I became a relational father instead of a provider father. My children grew up and left home many years ago, but my relationship with them has continued to grow. This isn’t because my efforts made the difference, but it’s because my heart was changed and the effort was part of who I had become.

I couldn’t help spending time meditating on the profound impact my relationship with Jesus has changed my life and how my thoughts and understanding about Abba Father has changed, grown, and deepened. I was thankful, awed, and lifted. I praised Him for that change because of who I had become and the resulting impact on my family. Our Father in Heaven deserves our reverence, praise, and thanks.

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