James 1.27

For the most part, this blog has been about the actual process of adoption and mostly about our personal reflections on adoption or how we emotionally have prepared ourselves for this exciting challenge. I've included some personal hopes and reasons why I believe in adoption, but never taken the time to theologically put down on paper why adoption is at the heart of God. So this is my theological understanding of why loving a person in this way connects to the core of God's heart.

Please note: Like all theology, this isn't meant to be dogmatic or perfect. Theology by its very nature (since it attempts to understand a transcendent and incarnational God) is faulty and needful of discussion and revision. Although I might agree with my upcoming comments (why else would I make them if I didn't believe them to be true) I expect and desire commentary...commentary that builds from this point, proposes a counter-point, questions my premises and is willing to discuss this topic in healthy Christian tension.

Also, these ideas aren't THE reason why I believe in adoption and starting our family this way. My theological articulations make my beliefs and actions stronger, but theology doesn't inform every decision I make. So instead, my theology is supporting my actions. If my theology changes, that doesn't change my love for adoption, because we believe in the love of Christ being a love that has no boundaries or bloodlines. We believe that the love we have inside of us needs to be given away. We desire to passionately love our son as God would have any parents love their child. There is a huge difference between what I believe and know to be true (the sacrificial love of Christ) and my theological understandings that help explain why. The former doesn't change, the later has room to be adapted and altered.

That being said...here's part of my theological musings on God's heart for adoption. I fully expect this theological endeavor to be a deep well that I won't exhaustively traverse for many days, weeks, months or years. (But don't worry, I won't bore you with too much theology when I know you really just want to know when the baby is coming!!)

The NIV renders James 1.27 as the following:
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress
and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

For years this verse has always stood out to me. I've loved the concept of God seeing widows and orphans in special need of love and care; and I've also really loved the idea that religion is not about just going to church or simply reading our Bibles each day or praying over meals. Religion is about loving others. We maintain discipline in our faith, not because it makes us look good before God, but because we seek to give away the love that God has showered onto us.

But why widows and orphans? This has been my question. Why not older people and children?

As I've attempted to formulate answers, I've asked the question, what is different about widows and orphans. Here is the answer I've come to...

Widows are without the person that made them complete. (In a culture where individualism is prised above servanthood and humility, this concept of being complete with someone else is almost evil, but we must at least consider that God has something to say about our willingness to lay down our pride and be truly found in the communion of one another...especially in marriage.) When a man and woman come together in marriage, God pronounces them one. The two become one. But when a spouse dies, the widow(er) left behind is no longer receiving their identity from the union that God has ordained and sanctified. There is a loss and a question about one's place in the world.

Similarly, orphans are children without parents. Children are needful of care and love, of protection and nurturing. Parents shape identity and give children meaning in life. They teach them about the world and how by simply existing the child is making the world a better place. But an orphan doesn't have the very people who shape who they are becoming, the people who teach them about love.

So, both widows and orphans are in search of identity and in search of love. But here's the kicker...

All of humanity is in search of a God who gives them identity and gives them love. These are the questions we all long to have answered, does God love me, who am I in God's eyes, am I who God made me to be. God answers these questions on the cross and in the resurrection. God answers these questions when God sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in our lives. God answers these questions when in Romans Paul says that God seeks to adopt us as children.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress
and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Why?

Because when we look after widows and orphans in their distress we are giving someone love, and we are reminding them of their identity as important pieces to the body, to the kingdom, to the family found in Christ. And in our loving others we are being reminded of our own need to be loved by God.
So often life becomes about us. We live in a society that puts a premium on individualism and achievement. But God is calling us to die to ourselves and find our identity in Christ and the love that Christ has so perfectly shown us through his life, death and resurrection.

We aren't called to love widows and orphans because they don't have anyone else. Sure, they do need someone to love them and give them identity. But God calls us to love widows and orphans because it also reminds us that we need to be loved by God. It's not simply that widows and orphans need us, but we need them.

So whether it's adoption, sponsoring a child through Compassion International, getting involved in a soup kitchen, helping at a nursing home, or just going shopping for the neighbor down the street...we all have a responsibility for helping the widow and orphan. And it's not because we earn points for heaven...it's because as we love and give others meaning, we are reminded of our need to be loved by a God who has named us and called us his children.


Ephesians 1.4-7

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons and daughters through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.