Mark 3:34-5 “… looking at those who sat around him, [Jesus] said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
I pray for those who hurt, but never say so –
when they must live with wider love.
There’s a four-year-old,
standing in the circle’s perimeter
while others gaze with new baby joy,
and a small quiet family at a wedding,
encountering the boisterous welcome
of so-very-many new in-laws,
Then there is sharing
grandparenting across styles,
and after some couples’ divorce
and re-marriage,
learning how to dance as eight.
There is hearing,
“Hello, I am the birth mother,
hoping to connect with my child,”
or, “good to meet you;
I’m your widowed father’s new partner.”
And also, there is a re-familying,
in meeting assisted living caregivers,
to discover their lives,
their happiness or loss,
their children’s broken arms and triumphs,
are now more important
than any biological bonds.
“Keep the story,” I imagine Jesus said,
“this theology of wide mercy, love, grace,
across the boundaries
people love to build, will be a gift,
but also keep it to show
all the Moms and brothers to come,
bravely smiling in the courtyard,
that they are loved with a love
that will never be replaced.”
Gifts in Open Hands 
Such a vision you draw! Thank you, Maren.
You are so welcome …. it’s complicated, often a blessing, sometimes lots of problems, some quirky responses like “Friendsgiving.”
T’ain’t easy these days, is it? Such complications, often without appropriate words to signify the connections.
Yes, I decided after about fifteen minutes that if I got into that, It would be way too long a poem!
…and the “Mama”giving free bear hugs to the homeless teen, exiled from family because of who they love…
Amen to that story and so many others which will get in the sermon but this was just about the discomfort of the boundaries changing.
You and I wrote about his passage from nearly opposite perspectives this week. I really love the idea of “wider love.” As it happens, in preaching the text this week I’ll be closer to your point of view than the one I took in my lectionprayer. I had to face the irony in the story before I moved ahead.
Yes, I chuckled when I read yours which was wonderful. I’m feeling gospel for ordinary folks this week (it’s a tiny church I’ve visited many times, So looking at 2 Corinthians as the perfect passage to read to someone on hospice and the end of the Mark passage as realistic but caregiving for those whose families expand in uncomfortable ways and those who try to expand the family … say bringing in a same gender partner only to be rejected. Mind you, this sermon does not exist yet.
Loved the idea of re-familying and expanding the love, but also with Eric on the irony of the nuclear family on the outer because their protective impulse is to control and silence him.
Thank goodness for an old preacher like me there are … ever new things to come forth!