My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ

"A hard time we had of it," say the Magi in T.S. Elliot's poem, "The Journey of the Magi." The same could doubtless be said of the birth of my second grandchild, Ella Sophie. From the very beginning it was a hard pregnancy with numerous scares along the way that necessitated long periods of bed-rest and similar periods of intense prayer for the safety and well being of both mother and child. The anxiety and waiting ended with an emergency Caesarean-section at 2.07am on Sunday 12 February. A hard time we might have had of it, but the end of the journey, as for the Magi, was a baby - tiny, but with a pair of lungs that more than made up for her lack of size.

Katharine said that when she looked down and saw Ella she burst into tears, not just because she was alive and well after all the anxiety, but because, she said, "I just couldn't believe that Howard and I could have been involved in making something so beautiful, so perfect." I guess every parent feels that way. I can remember my own sense of awe and amazement when each of our children was born; that sense of the miracle of life and the wonder of birth and the humble gratitude to a God who allows us to participate in the ongoing work of creation.

That participation is not limited to the act of procreation; it is an active and ongoing stewardship of all that has been entrusted to us. St Gregory Nazianzus argued that being in the image of God is a gift of creation, but one that is realised only as we grow "from one degree of glory to the next." This process of "deification" is, therefore, both gift and task; we have been given the responsibility of working together with the grace of God for the sanctification and transfiguration not only of ourselves, but of all people. And nowhere is that task of stewardship more clearly focussed than in the home. The various uses made by the New Testament of the word oíkos (house) illustrates this clearly. In our home (oíkos) we live (oíkéō) as stewards (oíkonomoi), building (oíkodoméō) a dwelling place for the Lord (oíkía), and engaged in God's plan of salvation (oíkonomía) not only for ourselves and our children, but for the whole of creation (oíkoumene). Significant, too, is the fact that the Church Fathers used the same word (oíkonomía) to describe the mystery of the incarnation.

Our homes, therefore, are places in which the saving work of God is being worked out, in our own lives, in the lives of our children, and in the lives of all who come into contact with us. The nature of our stewardship is most clearly seen in our responsibility towards our children. Our call as parents is nothing less than a call to participate in the saving work of God by shaping and moulding the children entrusted to our care so that they might more fully realise their calling; to be children of God created in God's own image and who reflect God's image into the world.

The Jewish understanding of our stewardship of creation is often expressed in the term tikkum olam - the repair of the world. As a concept, it goes far beyond simply caring for the world and ensuring that it not unduly damaged; it embraces the idea of actively engaging in the repair of a world that has been damaged and broken. Part of our calling is to undo the damage, repair the brokenness and restore God's world. When we treat someone with kindness, we help repair the world. When we act justly, we repair the world. Speaking of tikkum olam at the Barcelona 2004 Conference Rabbi Herbert Bronstein said, "Every act is sacred, as is everyday and every place. Every act we do will improve or deteriorate our world."

Ella is a gift to be received with gratitude and to be nurtured in love. Our every act involving her is sacred, as is everyday and every place. Shaping her in the image of Christ is tikkum olam, the repair of a broken world. It is an integral part of our calling to be stewards who participate in the work of salvation.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, "A blessing is the visible, perceptible, effective proximity of God ... To be blessed is to be oneself a blessing." Ella is a blessing to us; we are God's blessing to her. And we are all called, as stewards of God to be a blessing to all people and to all creation.

May you be blessed and may you be a blessing.

+ Brian

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