There was an accident in around 1950s in Korea, where a boy accidentally fell on a railway track in front of an oncoming train. The father of the boy grabbed him and got the boy out of the way. But he was hit by the train and died for his son. About 2000 years ago, Jesus died after being severely persecuted. And in this way, he saved many people from the dead. I still remembered my parents, who devoted all of their lives for their children. There are common threads in each of these stories. The man, Jesus and my parents gave all their lives to save and protect their children and their family. They all believed that people and family mattered.

​Some of you may have gone on a Kiwi OE. You may have been given a fond farewell by family as you set off on your overseas experience. You probably have happy memories of travel, sights, people you met and places you worked. Joseph’s OE was not like that. He was taken against his will to a place he did not want to go, to be pressed into labour in an Egyptian household for which he would not be paid. He was sold as a slave.

TV shows have family sitcoms, soap operas, and dramas – I wonder if there is a TV family a bit like yours, with family dynamics you can relate to? While families can be our greatest joy, all families have problems that cause us concern. Christians aren’t immune from family problems – we live in the same broken world as everyone else. Families may face struggles with addictions, bad decisions, estrangement or accidents. Some have a family secret that burdens them, a big lie or the cover up for the family member no one talks about.
One of the key ideas of this message is that in different times and seasons of life all families have problems.