The recent Summit for Life, offered annually by Anglicans for Life and our diocese for the Anglican Church in North America, was a tremendously encouraging and challenging day of teaching and prayer.

“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:9).

Paul is in prison, writing to a man named Philemon, a wealthy Christian who lives in the city of Colossae, in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey, who had come to Christ through Paul’s ministry. He is writing about Onesimus, a runaway slave. Onesimus has somehow met Paul, perhaps by being caught and thrown in prison alongside Paul. As a result, Paul has led Onesimus to Christ and now Paul calls Onesimus his “child,” his son. Onesimus is now born again and Paul, who brought him to the new birth, is his spiritual father.

This summer, our son and his wife adopted a child from China, a seven-year-old girl they now call Lydia. They have embraced her and received her as their own, which she truly is. After spending all of her life in an orphanage, she is now secure as a beloved member of a family. The coming of this precious child into our family brings home to me what an extraordinary thing God has done for us.