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Romans 8:31-39

A better promise

In the movie Finding Nemo Marlin promises his last surviving child that he will never let anything happen to him. Having held my own  infant child I know what it’s like to want to protect him from being hurt. My eldest turns 18 in a few months so it has been a long time since he was cute and cuddly.

In the movie, Marlin is very over protective of Nemo who has what they call a ‘lucky fin.’ Nemo is embarrassed by his dad on his first day of school. He feels he needs to prove himself and so accepts a dare to swim into open water. At that moment his dad catches Nemo swimming away from the safety of the reef. Marlin promptly has a complete parental meltdown. In defiance Nemo swims all the way to a boat against his Fathers threats and pleas to come back. Nemo is captured and an epic story begins. Nemo learns to cope while his Dad learns how to let go of his promise.

No matter how much I want to protect my son he is going to get hurt. Marlin learns in his journey that being hurt is a part of life and that preventing anything from happening to his son stopped Nemo from experiencing life. As a parent I know that this is easier said than done. Especially as my son has grown older I’ve had to let him make his own mistakes without frothing at the mouth.

As we celebrate Laura’s baptism let’s be reminded that we are safe because God commits Himself to us. We don’t need to fear being humiliated and rejected because God forgives us, covers our shame and accepts us. We don’t need to fear abandonment because we belong to God. A better promise to make to a child is to always remind them that they are safe, covered and belong because of God’s promises, His forgiveness and His love for them.  the Rev