Fearing God?
Adventist faith has shaped so much of my life and that of my extended family. My paternal grandfather lived a rough early life of drinking and brawling in a small Polish village while trying to eke out a living from the land. His life changed dramatically when he embraced Adventism, married my grandmother, and became a parent. The rhythms of their family life centered around working the land, daily family times of singing and Scripture reading, and Sabbath worship in a local home.
It was their connection with the Adventist faith that propelled my family’s immigration to Australia, facilitated by an Adventist pastor who left Poland and helped other Polish Adventists do the same. By the time I was born, a vibrant Polish Adventist community in Adelaide supported my family through the transition to a new land and way of life. It was in this context that my early faith was shaped, and my fondest childhood memories are Friday night and Sabbath evening worships with my extended family, singing nostalgic Polish hymns accompanied by a violin and accordion.
My faith may be somewhat different from what I remember of my grandparents’ faith—a “historic Adventism” that emphasized the correctness of the doctrines that differentiated Adventism from other faiths, such as the 1844 investigative judgment, the eschatological significance of the Sabbath, Sunday laws and the imminent persecution of Sabbath keepers. In their zeal to share these unique distinctives, early Adventists tended to lose sight of the central narrative of the Christian faith. Consequently, as a child, it was the distinctives that I heard and that caused me to grow up fearing God.
However, it is also within the context of Adventist faith and community that I’ve learned to know and experience a God of love and grace, as exemplified in the life of Jesus Christ. And while it is “Christian” faith that is central to my spiritual journey today, I continue to embrace those aspects of my faith that are uniquely “Adventist”—the blessing of the Sabbath, an emphasis on wholistic well-being, as well as an eschatology that gives me peace in the face of a chaotic world. As a result, I will always value my Adventist family and heritage, and Adventism will always be a core part of my identity.
Verse of the day:
“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” Proverbs 22:6 (NIV).
