“When your children ask you in time to come “what is the meaning of the decrees and the ordinances that the LORD our God has commanded you”? (Deut. 6: 20)
“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, the LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession”. (Deut 7: 6).
Today, we celebrate Fathers’ Day, a day set aside to highlight the importance and duties of fathers. Until recently the fathers who by divine provision are priests of their various families had been relegated to the background in terms of spotlighting their activities. We were used to celebrating so many other days including Mothering Sunday which in our local setting has become a day to showcase motherhood.
Thank God that Fathers’ Day. has finally come to stay. Our Lord asked in Mark 4: 21 “Does anyone ever bring in a lamp and put it under a bed?”. And so today has been set aside to spotlight the works of our fathers and to encourage them to do more.
Celebrations afford us opportunities to cast our minds back and ask ourselves questions like these “Why are we celebrating? Do we have any reason to celebrate?” The answer is yes – we have many reasons to celebrate because feasts remind us of our pasts and inspires us in our daily works.
The book of Deuteronomy can be regarded as a book of repetition of former laws and instructions of God to His people Israel.
During Israel’s long sojourn in the land of Egypt, a land of magicians, a land of strange language and culture, no doubt, they were influenced by some of the practices in that land. In order to purge them of the bad influences from the land and organize them into a nation specifically chosen by God, He gave them the laws on Mount Sinai. When they were about to enter the land of Canaan, God called on Moses to repeat and emphasis these laws. There are many reasons for this, chief among them are that:
- The first generation of Israelites that left Egypt who received the law had all died (except Moses and Aaron) and it was possible that the succeeding generations were not fully conversant with the law.
- The people were about to enter and mix with the raminants of the people of Canaan who practiced polytheism (belief and worship of many gods), human sacrifices and many other things that are abominable in the sight of the Lord. To preserve His people, His chosen nation as a holy nation distinct from her neighbours, there was need to repeat the laws and re-emphasis them in the book of Deuteronomy to equip them to satisfy the inquisitiveness of the new generation.
“Teach them to your children, repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working. Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder. Write them on the door posts of your houses and your gates (Deut. 6: 7 – 9). In obedience the people began to develop recitations, psalms, poems, proverbs, songs, teachings as means of oral transmission of the laws and their history to their descendants.
Today as we celebrate fatherhood, it is a day of sober reflection. A day to examine whether we are fulfilling God’s instructions concerning our children as God’s chosen and holy people (1 Peter 2: 9). Our children who are wildly exposed through the internet, other technologies and interactions have become more inquisitive than children of Israel of old. They will not just follow you to your church because you baptized them when they were infants. They want to know the reasons behind your doctrine.
How many parents are equipped to face these children? How many of us fathers can give our children satisfactory answer when they ask us “What is Anglicanism? How many of us fathers have ever taken the pains to locate and study the 39 Articles of Faith in our Book of Common Prayer? How many of us fathers attend bible classes? How many of us fathers wake our children every morning for prayers and bible studies?
Today, we have a big problem to grapple with – the problem of a disconnect between us and our children as soon as they enter the university. The university community can be likened to Canaan land – a place where our children mix with people of diverse beliefs and cultures. Some unlucky ones join cultists or go on drugs and become a pain in our necks.
This drift is majorly caused by fathers who refuse to teach their children at home at work and at rest according to God’s instruction. Fathers who refuse to write God’s instructions on their door posts. “Teach a child how he should live and when he is old, he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22: 6). Every father is the general overseer of his household church, and every overseer must be able to teach his children for a better society. (1 Timothy 3: 4)
For two days this last week, a vocal youth shouted it loud and clear in The Guardian that his father’s generation failed his own generation. It was like a letter from hell. On this Fathers’ Day, it would be helpful for fathers to reflect on the ways they have contributed to the adversities their children – the Nigerian youth – are facing today. If your child would follow your pattern of life, would you be proud of him? Have you mis-used opportunities you had that would have made Nigeria a better place than it is today? For you, today should be a day of repentance and of asking for forgiveness from God and from your children’s generation.
We salute our dear fathers on this their day. We appreciate the labour of love of some of you in the Lord’s vine yard and in the service of our fatherland. We appreciate your contributions – spiritually and materially. We pray that your labour of love will be rewarded, and you will retire in peace confident that you have adequately prepared your children’s genration for the challenges of the 21st Century.
Have a joyful week as you take seriously the unique roles God has entrusted to you as a father.
Your brother, Vicar & Archdeacon
S.Igein Isemede