Sermon for May 14th: Mother’s Day

Today is Mother’s Day. So, first off, happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers, grandmothers, aunts, friends, and all who have played a motherly role in the life of another person. I hope today is a good day and a blessed day, as you celebrate with those you love.

I know, for my part, I have been blessed with many motherly figures. From my own mother to my grandmothers, along with aunts, I have had many people who have served a motherly role in my life. They have helped shape and guide me and have shown me love that has blessed me throughout my life.

And now I am blessed to watch my wife, as she mothers three children. She has helped guide them and guard them all their days and I know they love her dearly.

But what happens when our mothers, or those who should have that role in our life are less than motherly? What does this day become for all those who desired to be a mother, but through no fault of their own, they couldn’t? What happens when this day is not a time of celebration, but one of lament?

I suppose every day that celebrates a person in our lives can be scrutinized like this. Is it right to celebrate this day when it is a time of pain for many?

We tend to live in a culture that seems more willing to cancel than to communicate. We like to stand divided over issues, rather than standing united in our diversity and communicating through our differences. In the end, should we choose the approach of dialogue over division, we come to realize we are united by more than we are divided by.

Mother’s Day stands as a perfect example. Though many find this day hard because of bad relationships with their mother, there is likely always a person who has had that role in our life, even if they didn’t have the title.  What we celebrate this day is less the role of mother and more the love that is associated with that role and those people who have exemplified that love.

That love, along with all the best of who we are, is first gifted to us by God. In today’s reading, as in many places, in scripture, we are reminded that we will know God through love. Wherever love abides, we will know God. That may be with our mothers or those mother figures in our life. That may abide in fathers or the father figures in our life. The point of who is far less important than what and the what is God’s eternal and life giving love. It is that love which binds us and inspires our great love for one another and this world.

It is in that love that we will know the Divine. It is in that love that we will come to know Jesus.

I think of this beautiful truth, and I grieve over the kind of divisions and hate that we see every day in this world. It is a world fractured because it is hate and division that we seem to admire or at least find easier to live with. Yet, that is what leads to death and destruction, not to life and God’s way is always life.

I was reminded of this again when I sat with my ministerial colleagues this week. This group is made up of a variety of Christians from a variety of backgrounds. Sometimes, honestly, I can feel a little out of my depth in these meetings. The theology and way of phrasing theological ideas and biblical principles can sometimes be a little off putting. When that happens, I can start retreating into my Lutheran shell and start waving my metaphorical finger at everyone there I don’t agree with. But during this meeting, I decided to listen with an open mind. When I put my judgements away, what I heard was rather illuminating. We were, in the end, saying the same thing. All of us, around that circle, wanted the same thing. We wanted to be of use. We wanted to be able to share God’s love and offer that hope to the world. We wanted to be an instrument of God’s grace in the world. Now, whether that was spoken through the contemplative prayer of the Lutheran pastor (me), the quick, articulate prayers of the Baptist pastor, the declarative exhortation that love would prevail in the world made by the non-denominational pastor, or the earnest open prayer by members of the community and the ministerial chair, all pointed to the same thing. God, may your love reign. God, may your hope break into the world. God, may your will be done. God, may your peace dwell with us all.

To be fair, I didn’t agree with everything said during that meeting, but I was overjoyed and amazed at this common idea which was present in much of what was said and prayed for that day. We may come at this life in very different ways, but in the end truth was the same. We were attempting to live lives of faithful, loving service in the best way we knew how and we would continue to pray fervently as we did so.

In the end, it was God’s love that broke the walls of division and which we could celebrate during that meeting. It is that same love that binds us together as a Christian community here at Peace. It is the same love that we celebrate this Mother’s Day. For it is not just mothers we celebrate this day but the love that the mother figures in our life come to represent for each of us. We are celebrating the love that starts and ends in God, a love that breaks divisions and longs for us, as children of God, to find a way forward in together and leave hatred behind.

A Prayer for all mothers and the love that they give.

Lord, on this day set aside to honor and remember mothers, we give you thanks for our mothers. We are grateful that you chose to give us life through them, and that they received the gift of life from your hands, and gave it to us. Thank you for the sacrifices they made in carrying us and giving us birth.

We thank you for the women who raised us, who were our mothers in childhood. Whether birth mom, adopted mom, older sister, aunt, grandmother, stepmother or someone else, we thank you for those women who held us and fed us, who cared for us and kissed away our pain. We pray that our lives may reflect the love they showed us, and that they would be pleased to be called our moms.

We pray for older moms whose children are grown.

Grant them joy and satisfaction for a job well done.

We pray for new moms experiencing changes they could not predict.

Grant them rest and peace as they trust you for the future.

We pray for pregnant women who will soon be moms.

Grant them patience and good counsel in the coming months.

We pray for moms who face the demands of single parenthood.

Grant them strength and wisdom.

We pray for moms who enjoy financial abundance.

Grant them time to share with their families.

We pray for moms who are raising their children in poverty.

Grant them relief and justice.

We pray for step-moms.

Grant them patience and understanding and love.

We pray for moms who are separated from their children.

Grant them faith and hope.

We pray for moms in marriages that are in crisis.

Grant them support and insight.

We pray for moms who have lost children.

Grant them comfort in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We pray for mothers who aborted their children.

Grant them healing and peace.

We pray for moms who gave up their children for adoption.

Grant them peace and confidence as they trust in your providence.

We pray for adoptive mothers.

Grant them joy and gratitude for the gift you have provided.

We pray for girls and women who think about being moms.

Grant them wisdom and discernment.

We pray for women who desperately want, or wanted, to be moms.

Grant them grace to accept your timing and will.

We pray for all women who have assumed the mother’s role in a child’s life.

Grant them joy and the appreciation of others.

We pray for those people present who are grieving the loss of their mother in the past year.

Grant them comfort and hope in Christ’s resurrection.

Lord, we thank you for the gift of motherhood. We thank you for the many examples of faithful mothers in scripture, like Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth, Lois and especially Mary the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had the courage in faith to say “yes” to your calling. Hear now the names of those women who have inspired us by their motherly examples as we speak either aloud or in the silence of our hearts.

(Silence)

We are mindful this day of all these women. May all of us gathered here today emulate these examples of faith. And may they model for all the rest of us what it means to be your disciple. Bless them on this special day; in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.