You Are My Dear, Dear Child: I'm Delighted With You.

A famous movie-maker had a huge legal wrangle with his longtime mentor and guide. The younger man simply couldn't handle criticism and ended up rejecting the person who had helped him so much. When it was all over, a close friend summed up the real problem. "It was all about an ungenerous father, and a son looking for affirmation and love."

It happens all the time, in families, businesses, and all over. Many children grow up in our world who have never had a father say to them (either in words, in looks, or in hugs), "You are my dear child, I'm pleased with you." In the Western world, even those fathers who think this in their hearts are often too tongue-tied or embarrassed to tell their children how delighted they are with them. Many, go by the completely opposite route: angry voices, bitter rejection, and the slamming of doors.

The whole Christian gospel could be summed up in this point: when the living God looks at us, at every baptized and believing Christian, he says to us what he said to Jesus on that day. He sees us, not as we are in ourselves, but as we are in Jesus Christ. It sometimes seems impossible, especially to people who have never had this kind of support from their earthly parents, but it's true: God looks at us, and says, "My dear, dear child; I'm delighted with you." Try reading that sentence slowly, with your own name at the start, and reflect quietly on God saying that to you, both at your baptism and every day since.

NT Wright. Mark: for Everyone. Westminster John Knox Press: Kentucky 2004. Page 4-5