THE FAMILY GOD CREATES
5/8/28

The other day on the trail, I passed a pond in a nearby ravine. Suddenly, ducklings appeared out of nowhere, scattering and then racing across the water toward their mother. She quacked loudly at my presence as they cut quick, panicked V-shapes to reach her. It was a simple moment, but a picture of protection, instinct, and, at the same time, belonging.

This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day, and this picture stuck in my mind as a perfect picture of not only motherhood but also of God Himself. It’s a day to honor the different women who have shaped our lives. For some, that’s a biological mother; for others, it’s a spiritual mother, a mentor, or someone who helped guide us in faith. We may be able to celebrate with them, or we may be honoring their memory. Some of us are celebrating our own children, while others are celebrating children we’ve helped raise and pour into. However it looks, it’s a day to celebrate.

But as a pastor, I know Mother’s Day can also be a difficult day. For some, memories of our mother are not easy. Some may not have had the relationship they’d hoped for, and others have never known their mother at all. Some have experienced the pain of not being able to have children. Others carry the unimaginable weight of losing a child. These are real experiences, and they make this day complex.

And it’s in the middle of that complexity that we’re reminded of something deeper: God is forming a family.

Jesus pointed to those who followed Him and said, “These are my brothers and sisters.” He wasn’t building something defined only by biology, but by belonging. He didn’t come to build something defined only by a kingdom; He came to create a family. And the Apostle Paul tells us that God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family through Jesus Christ.

Even though God reveals Himself to us as Father, Scripture also shows us the depth and tenderness of His love in ways that reflect a mother’s heart. In Isaiah, God says, “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even though she might forget, I will never forget you.” (Isaiah 49:15). Or in a prayer of Moses, God is seen as one who gives birth, and he asks God, “Was it I who conceived all this people? or was it I who gave them birth…?” (Numbers 11:12). And Jesus describes Himself as a mother hen lamenting to gather her children under His wings in the midst of pain and confusion (Matt. 23:37). God’s love is not distant, rather it is nurturing, attentive, and fiercely committed.

So Mother’s Day isn’t just about the families we come from, it’s also about the family God is creating.

Whether women have raised children, felt the ache of wanting to have them, poured into others spiritually, or have gone through the almost impossible task of trying to live after losing them, they are all part of that family. These women reflect the heart of a God who sees, who nurtures, and who never forgets His children.

And because that’s who God is, it shapes what we do.

So my hope on that day is that your children, biological, adoptive, or spiritual, rise up and call you blessed! May we support one another, pray for one another, and worship together as one family.

To all women, mothers in every sense: Happy Mother’s Day!

Pastor Jesse Holt

MIND, DEBT, & FORGIVENESS
5/1/26

Some debts are harder to stop paying than others. In a recent interview, actor Oscar Isaac said, “Find a way to make your mind your friend.” But too often, our minds act less like friends and more like debt collectors, calling at all hours to remind us of what we still owe for our past.
Lately, I’ve been studying what have become known as King David’s Penitential Psalms, partly for a deeper understanding, but mostly for the current sermon series we’re in called “The Rhythm of Prayer.” These Psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143) illuminate the part of Jesus’ Model Prayer: Forgive us our debts…

Most people don’t know the full weight of your worst sin or mine. Yet, after 3,000 years, everyone still knows David’s. While he thought his failure was buried in the palace floorboards, it was eventually broadcast and retold for generations. David’s greatest sin became public history, and while his failure remained part of the story, his guilt did not. What God forgave, David no longer kept trying to pay for. “Finally, I confessed all my sins to you,” he wrote, “and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.” (Psalm 32:5, NLT). This Psalm captures that turning point with startling honesty. Notice the freedom begins not only in confession, but in no longer hiding it. David’s sin wasn’t only mental torture; it was compounded by the exhausting labor of concealment and self-payment.

It’s like a woman who once walked into her bank, ready to make another student loan payment, only to discover her balance was zero. Paid in full. The shock wasn’t just financial; it was psychological. She came prepared to participate in a burden that no longer belonged to her. That image feels deeply theological. So many people approach God the same way: still trying to pay toward a debt Christ has already marked PAID. Provision means the cost has been covered; participation is the courage to walk out of the bank without looking back. Someone else has absorbed the cost.

I have a close friend who often says to me, “Be your own best friend.” I think David discovered a way to do this. And though he might have learned how to make peace with his mind, he didn’t find that peace by looking inward alone. He found it by bringing his guilt before God. Too many times, we look internally for the forgiveness we seek. And while self-compassion matters, peace cannot be found within ourselves alone. We must learn to quiet the noise of our sinfulness in the character of God. Once David brought his debt into the open, God didn’t offer a payment plan. He offered release. The guilt was gone. Not reduced. Not refinanced. Gone.

Maybe that’s how the mind becomes a friend: when it stops arguing with grace and finally agrees with it. We don’t just think more positively. We actually give ourselves the better narrative of the Gospel and align ourselves with what God has declared forgiven. Why? Because some of us are still standing at the counter, ready to pay balances that have already cleared. Healing begins when we accept what mercy says is true: the debt isn’t reduced. It’s gone.

Pastor Jesse Holt