Our Stories Unleashed

Our Adoption Day

Do you remember your own adoption day?

Are you new enough to the family that the sound of your new name ringing through the air still brings a weight of glory so real you can feel it pressed against you from all around? Is the opposite true? Has your new name been yours so long that it would be vanity to try and recall a time where you were an alien to its lineage? Do you remember the first time you realized you had a home in the arms of a Father who had given His own Son to pay the price for your adoption certificate? What a glorious, glorious day that was for each of us.

Adoption must be the truest picture of the Gospel that we have on this side of Heaven.

Historically, it's the story of the Israelites. It's the story of Moses. It's even the story of the beloved disciple, whom Jesus grafts into his earthly family with some of his final words from the cross.

Spiritually, it is the story of the Gentiles. Jesus came abounding in grace and good news that would be “for all the people" (Luke 2). Through the cross, we have been grafted into the family of God. This is the story of every Christian who was, is and will ever be. Once we realize that we belong to a family far greater than our earthly name suggests, Romans 8 comes alive. “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

Physically, it is one facet of the greater arena of orphan care, which the Church is commanded to live into (See James 1, Psalm 68). Over the last few weeks in particular and few years in general, it is obvious that the Holy Spirit is stirring our heart at UBC towards caring for the broken families and lonely children in our community. God has allowed us to form strategic partnerships with some amazing organizations who stand on the front lines of this issue. Let us stand with them, arm in arm, fighting against the growing epidemic of abused and forgotten children in this world and in our neighborhoods. As a church, we will not be passive about this. This is one of the greatest and yet most silent fights of our time.

Let this week be a week of prayer and preparation of our hearts to move to action against the orphan crisis, both corporately and individually. May we pray for our brothers and sisters who are currently standing against this injustice through advocacy, support, care and sacrifice. May we pray that God would raise up among us warriors for His causes, and may we understand that those warriors are us.

This Sunday, November 10th, is Orphan Sunday. Churches all across the world are gathering on one day, with one voice, for one cause. May we come ready to worship. May we come ready to fight. And may God be glorified in all that we do. - Jason Simon, Minister to Students