Adopted to Life
Christmas 2
January 5, 2025
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
While I was in seminary, Meg and I came to know a little boy named Liam. Liam was born in California. Sadly, he had been severely abused and shaken as an infant. His adoptive parents were told he would never walk or speak. He would always require constant care his whole life. They brought this tiny, helpless, little fellow into their family because he needed so much love.
Mom, Dad and big sister all welcomed him as one of their own. That’s how adoption works. When we adopt a child, they become fully part of the family in every way. It is as if that child was your biological child. There is legally and morally no difference. An adopted child has the same rights as a biological child. Adoptive parents have the same responsibilities to care and nurture the child. This is your kid, period. In Florida, they even change the birth certificate.
Liam was a very blessed little fellow. His adoptive family is a very loving family. You can imagine the type of people they are to have sought a special needs child. They are truly wonderful people. In addition to having hearts as big as California, his parents have tremendous faith. They had prayed earnestly to find the right baby, and they pray for their family all the time.
But there’s more. His mom DeeAnn has a PhD in brain physiology. She’s now a professor at Bucknell University. That helps. She’s been on top of his needs and care. His dad is a pretty neat fellow in his own right. He’s an Episcopal priest and leads one of the largest Episcopal churches in the country. His big sister is patient, smart and loving, too. She has a PhD in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania and is a teaching assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. This a family built on prayer.
We met Liam when he was three. He was a beautiful child with big brown eyes and a very sweet smile to go with them. In fact, he’d talk your ear off. He could walk. In fact, he could run faster than most of us. He sparkled. Boundless energy. He still had some trouble. He had a hard time grasping some things. He had to be on seizure medicine. He tended to get overly upset or angry at times.
But his parents love him no matter what. When he’s good. When he’s bad. When he’s healthy. When he’s sick, no matter what. Liam could really try their patience. This kid could flat wear you out. Boundless energy and a minimal understanding of boundaries can do that. No matter what, though, his parents and his sister love him. He’s theirs. They are his. That’s it.
The unconditional love of his adoptive family, this little boy that had no hope, got hope. That hope inspires and drives him to push far beyond the expectations the world had for him. He wanted so badly to do the right things – you could really see that when he knows he’s done something wrong. Sometimes he’d even put himself in a time out.
Meg ran an in-home day care and after-school care for a few kids, including Liam. His parents say she connected with him better than any teacher he ever had. She just loved him. They connected. She taught him to read and count, such that he was able to go to kindergarten on time.
In a very real sense, Liam’s story is our story, as Paul wants us to hear through this passage from Ephesians. Through Christ, God has opened the opportunity to all people to be his adopted children. Our legal concept of adoption today comes directly out of our Judeo-Christian heritage.
Liam’s parents took him in as a full, equal member of their family not in spite of his difficulties, but because of them. They were willing to take on all of the practical caregiving of a severely impaired child out of love. In this same way, God has taken us in to be full, equal members of his family not in spite of the ways we struggle and fail him, but because he loves us and knows his love is the cure. We are all invited to be Children of God, all of us, 100% adopted. You are his child and precious in his sight, just like Jesus.
He pours out his love and grace on us when we’re good. He holds us accountable when we’re bad, which is an act of love to get us back on track. He loves us when we’re healthy. He loves us when we’re sick. He loves us when we die. God’s love for us is always there, a constant presence.
Sometimes that’s hard for us to perceive or accept. For whatever reasons we either ignore or bypass that love. Maybe we take it for granted at times.
Recognize that you are a beloved child of God. As an adopted child, remember that God chose you. God chose you to be his child. As a loving parent, God sees in you possibilities that the world cannot see, the world can’t even dream for you.
Paul prays that God would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation. The first level of that is to see more clearly the truth and depth of God’s love. Seek it. Embrace it. Let it seep in and fill every cracked and broken part. The second level is to have that spirit of revelation, to recognize God’s presence in all things.
We saw God’s movement in Liam as a child. Liam is 27 today. Unfortunately, once he hit puberty, he started having more and worse seizures which left him much more limited in his abilities to communicate and move. He lives in a special group home for disabled adults where he continues to get care and training for daily living. Do we see God’s movement in Liam today? We do. He had no life, until he had life, and he will be healed and with Christ forever.
The more we are able to realize and recognize this overwhelming love of God, then we start to see in that hope. Our hearts get enlightened. You have gifts, possibilities that maybe the world couldn’t dream for you. Maybe that you can’t even dream for yourself. Such joy to see God in all of those blessings.
Maybe you or people you love dearly are really struggling and are having a hard time. The reality of God’s love in the midst of hardship and loss can be challenging, yet when found makes all the difference. Faith is so powerful. Hope is so powerful. Love is most powerful of all.
All this comes to us through faith in His Son, our savior, Jesus Christ. Our faith is the key that opens us to all these possibilities. Through faith we see the wonder of God’s glory. Those are the riches of his glorious inheritance, that no matter what, the eyes of our hearts are enlightened to know the hope to which he has called you, that comes because we believe Jesus came into this world to deliver us from sin and death.
Merry Christmas.
AMEN.