Appreciating Family

“Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; and Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram...”Matthew 1:2-3, KJV

I never got into the genealogies in the Bible very much. They are always long and confusing, and the names are usually strange and difficult to pronounce. For example, won't you try to keep track of who's who as the descendants of Joseph are described in the book of Numbers:

“The descendants of Joseph by their clans through Manasseh and Ephraim were:

The descendants of Manasseh: through Makir, the Makirite clan (Makir was the father of Gilead); through Gilead, the Gileadite clan. These were the descendants of Gilead: through Iezer, the Iezerite clan; through Helek, the Helekite clan; through Asriel, the Asrielite clan; through Shechem, the Shechemite clan; through Shemida, the Shemidaite clan; through Hepher, the Hepherite clan. (Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons; he had only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkay, and Tirzah.) These were the clans of Manasseh; those numbered were 52,700.

These were the descendants of Ephraim by their clans: Through Shuthelah, the Shuthelahite clan; through Beker, the Bekerite clan; through Tahan, the Tahanite clan. These were the descendants of Shuthelah: Through Eran, the Eranite clan. These were the clans of Ephraim; those numbered were 32,500. These were the descendants of Joseph by their clans.

So, here's my question: How are the descendants of Shuthelah related to the descendants of Hepher?

You see what I mean? It's just confusing, trying to put the pieces together and keeping track of who's who.

But recently I gained a new appreciation for those who persist in genealogy. I attended a family reunion of cousins on my father's mother's side of the family—the descendants of Roscoe Benjamin Hughes.

Most of my grandmother's siblings and their offspring ended up in the upper midwest or the western states; my father married a Texan, so naturally he ended up in Texas. As a consequence, my siblings and I never really got to meet the Hughes side of the family. Even my dad hadn't seen most of the relatives from that branch of the family in over 30 years.

The reunion took place in Lincoln, Nebraska, home to one of my father's cousins. Because of the distance, and other time commitments, Carol and I had initially decided not to attend the reunion. But at the last minute we decided to make the trip.

I'm glad we did. Very glad.

We discovered that I have some pretty awesome cousins. Second cousins, first-cousins-twice-removed, whatever – they are family, and it was great to get to know them. We started the weekend as strangers, but that didn't last long. There was immediately a sense of warmth between us as we visited. Of course, we ate a lot of meals together (Thanks, Ellen and Lynn, for making your kitchen our central gathering place!), and it was around the table that we were able to converse and get to know one another.

We spanned the spectrum in terms of vocation and life experience. And yet, I didn't feel like our differences set us apart from one another so much as they enriched and enlarged our identity as a family.

Fun fact: in the four generations including my great-grandfather Roscoe, we have five ordained ministers (six, if you include the fact that my daughter is a youth minister and will surely one day be ordained as a minister of Word and Sacrament).

I now know that my family also includes a firefighter, a financial advisor, a teacher, an IT manager, a store manager, a hospital attendant; a retired aerospace engineer, and a retired artist for the Walt Disney company. I know that there are other vocations that I haven't mentioned because, frankly, our focus wasn't on what we do for a living, but on who we are.

Carol and I came away from the experience with a great appreciation for our family. And an awareness that our family is much larger than we had previously considered.

My parents (center), with my "new" cousins:
Carol and Leon Hughes (left)
Lynn and Ellen Davis (right)

If I'm honest with myself, I will admit that I treat family differently from others. Family is special. I tend to be more patient with family; I tend to be more compassionate with family; I tend to think more often about family than others; I tend to take more time to listen to family.

Family is special.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul was writing to a church where some people treated others differently because of their background. Even though all were Christians, some were from a Jewish heritage, while others were Gentiles. Those of Jewish heritage claimed a special status because of their ancestral ties to Abraham, something the Gentiles lacked.

Paul noted that that which ties us to Abraham (and the blessing promised to Abraham by God) is not bloodline, but faith. “Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.” (Galatians 3:7) But that's not even the half of it, because Paul goes so far as to say, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith... There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26, 28)

"So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith..."

You know what that means? It means we're family. We, as in you and I, and all the others who are reading this post. And remember what I said about family? Family is special.

So maybe next time you think about church, look at it as a big family reunion. Get to know your brothers and sisters, your cousins, and uncles and aunts, and all your distant relatives in the faith. Get to know them, and appreciate them for who they are, and for what they mean to us all. You don't need to get hung up with all the ins and outs of the genealogy; who begat whom isn't as important as knowing that in Christ we are family. We belong to one another.

Til next time, cuz!