Where are the fathers?

When special Sundays roll around it's always an option to take a break in whatever sermon series I'm doing and write something appropriate to that day.  With Christmas and Easter, it isn't an option, the message always reflect the holiday (they are after all, holy days).  With Mother's Day, Father's Day, Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and Thanksgiving, the option is always there when I decide to take it.

This year for Mother's Day I didn't break from the messages I've been preaching in Philippians.  This upcoming Sunday is Father's Day.  Having preached eight messages in a row out of Philippians (from 1:1 to 2:11), I thought it was time for a break.  So where do I turn for a message that will speak to God's people on Father's Day?

If it had been Mother's Day, there would be no shortage of stellar mothers whose stories I could use to illustrate a moral or theme.  I could have used Jochebed, Hannah, Naomi, or Mary (to name some of the easiest choices).  But what fathers can I use who distinguished themselves in the Bible as a father?  Suddenly, the list seems short.  Let's see, how about Abraham?  Ishmael votes no.  How about Isaac?  Esau says try again.  How about Jacob?  Joseph isn't too keen on that one.  What about Eli?  Yikes, both of his sons were notorious sinners.  Then certainly we could use Samuel, his mother was on the list for ideal mothers; nope, both of his sons "did not walk in his ways".  I'm getting worried here; this doesn't look promising.  Then certainly we could use David, isn't he a man chosen by God?  Sadly, Absalom thinks we ought to avoid talking about his relationship with his father.  We could use Joseph, after all he was a man of character in the birth narrative, but we don't know anything about his relationship with Jesus.

Do you see the pattern?  To find a good mother one need simply look around in the Bible, there's plenty of them.  To find a good father, you need the scour the Scriptures or avoid the unpleasant sides of the stories of men like David.

Are you surprised?  If you've spent any time looking at and analyzing our society you shouldn't be.  The single greatest flaw in modern American culture and society is a lack of fathers.  We have plenty of boys willing to create children, but precious few men willing to be fathers.  Men, this indictment falls squarely on our shoulders.  You or I may have fulfilled our obligations, but literally millions of men have miserably failed their children.  Single moms raising their children may be awesome, but they're not meant to carry that burden alone.  Some kids may turn out OK without a father, but the education, social welfare, and criminal justice systems are full to the brim of kids who haven't been so lucky.  We, as American men, have failed.  It doesn't matter which statistic of social ills you look at, they're all made worse by absent or lackluster fathers.  Can anybody honestly not see the connection between teen pregnancy/abortion and absent fathers?  Is it hard at all to see the connection that gang activity, gun violence, and drugs have with fathers who are MIA?

Father's Day is a tough one.  I'm just glad that I can preach about our Heavenly Father; at least then I'll know that everyone in the congregation has a good one.