"Something More Than a Tattoo That Says 'Mom'" 2010

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18      Luke 1:26-31,38

 

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18  (NRSV) The Inescapable God

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.  Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.  My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.  How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!  I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end —I am still with you.

 

Luke 1:26-31,38 (NRSV)    The Birth of Jesus Foretold

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.

 

Warm greetings to each of you on this Mother's day --

                  and I earnestly hope that it will be a very good day for you.

     I hope it's at least as good    as it will be for the florists,

            for the greeting card companies, and the restaurant owners.

 

I know that many pastors and churches dismiss Mother's Day

            as just another overly sentimental Hallmark holiday,

                    a cultural intrusion & corrupting influence on the church.

 

Perhaps, but I prefer to see Mother's Day as an opportunity to talk

            about God, God's love and compassion in some meaningful ways;

                        for actually,   Mother's Day has a much richer history

                                    and far more theologically significant message

                                                than pandering to gushy sentiment.

 

Mother's Day in America  originated with Julia Ward Howe

            who had served as a nurse during the Civil War,

                        and saw firsthand   the awful carnage of war and battle.

 

Julia, who    also wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic",

            was a deeply committed Christian woman,   and seeing Christian

                        fighting against Christian during the war    haunted her.

 

And around 1870,

            her personal experiences with the wounds and horrors of war

                   motivated her to organize mothers to lobby for world peace.

Her plan was that mother's worldwide would march and demonstrate

            forcing politicians   to stop sending husbands and sons to war.

 

Originally, Mother's Day was very political,

            a peace movement of mothers   in opposition to violence and war,

            -- it was certainly not the sentimental holiday of today.

 

Then, when Mother's Day was signed into law in 1914,

            it was at the urging of Anna Jarvis, who like Julia Howe,

                 also had something very pragmatic in mind for Mother’s Day…

                                    …  far from being sentimental or commercial,

                                                she hoped to solve another very serious problem.

 

    Anna Jarvis was never a mother herself,

            but she spent much of her life caring for her invalid mother.

Her concern was for other mothers and the elderly who needed care.

     This was long before pensions, Medicare and Social Security--

             she intended for Mother's Day to raise the issue of elder care.

 

Anna Jarvis was very disappointed and disillusioned that her work

            was trivialized, and she spoke bitterly against

                  the commercialization and sentimentality of Mother's Day.

 

Actually, visiting a nursing home, working at a soup kitchen,

            a food bank, or working to improve the lives of older Americans

                        comes much closer to Anna Jarvis' intent for Mother's Day…

 

… Julia Howe and Ann Jarvis both recognized that a mother's love

            is about more than the sentimental content of a greeting card,

                        but has something to do   with the will and purpose of God.

 

One time a very bright young woman began attending church services.

      She wasn't a Christian, nor had she grown up attending church,

                        but was curious about God, felt welcome when she visited,

                                    and would often come by my office during the next week

                                                with wonderful questions about Christian faith;

 

- and somewhere along the line she got to know and walk with Christ…

       … and she continued to come by as she explored her growing faith.

 

When she and her husband moved away to another community,

            she continued to ask questions, by email;

                        and when she became pregnant with her first, she wrote:

          "Okay, here's my latest question:  I figure, God gave me this baby to take care of, and he must think pregnancy is a good idea.  So, why has he made the process so difficult?

          I thought being pregnant was supposed to be such a 'glorious' time.  I am either sick, or tired, or both.  Why doesn't God make this sort of thing easy?"

 

I suppose I might have quoted from the end of Garden of  Eden story

            Genesis 3:16  To the woman God said, 'I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, …

            … but that didn't seem terribly pastoral at the time,  perhapsà

                        not the most helpful text for a suffering pregnant woman.

 

Instead, Psalm 139 provides a more hopeful answer to her question:

            vs. 13-14        

                        For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

 

This passage is describing

            a wonderful cooperation between God and our birth mothers,

                        as we are being, knit together -- fearfully and wonderfully made.

 

This brings together   the loving connection of mother & her child,

            with how similarly,    thoroughly and intimately God loves us,

                    because God also knew & loved us long before we were born.

We forget sometimes how thoroughly and intimately God knows us -

            even more than the way a birth mother knows her own child.

 

I often remind my granddaughter   about when she was just weeks old,

            that I would carry her around seminary campus on my arm, andà

                        while studying, I'd read theology books out loud to her,

                                    as she sat and listened   content, soothed by my voice.

 

It's important for her to know    that she has always been loved,

          so that she also knows, that she will always   be loved.

 

So too      is God's love for us    -- it has no beginning nor end;

          and God uses  a mother's love  to help us understand that love…

 

                 … and even going even further,  a godly mother can influence

                             her child's walk of faith and relationship with God.

 

Indeed , it is   in his mother Mary   that we see,

            many of the qualities that later on,   were lived out by Jesus.

 

For example,          Luke 1:26~31,38:

            In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,  to a virgin …

            The angel said to her … And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.

                        Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord;  let it be with me according to your word."

 

Though very young, just a frightened teenager,

            in faithful trust and obedience Mary yielded to God's will,

                        putting her life, future plans and desires all on hold,

                                    submitting to God even at considerable personal cost.

Mary said,               vs. 38  let it be with me according to your word.

 

            Years later, in the garden of  Gethsemane before his arrest,

                        submitting to God even at considerable personal cost.

Jesus said:  Luke 22:42

            "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done."

      Notice the echo of Mary's attitude of willing submission to God.

 

And perhaps it was also a mother's love, that taught Jesus, the boy,

            to look at the lilies of the field, and the birds of the air;

                        to see God's caring and providing hand,

                                    constantly at work in our lives,  and out in our world.

 

Mothers are one of the windows through which God chooses to reveal

            the nature and character

                        of his life sustaining, protecting and nurturing love.

 

We learn about and receive God's love        as a reflection

            of that love which we normally receive from our mothers …

            …  and that love   is what we celebrate this day.

 

God chooses to express His nurturing love through a mothering love,

            but,   let us extend our definition for Mother's Day

                        to all   whose loving influence and compassion teaches

                                    and demonstrates    selfless, sacrificial love

                                                that reflects the gracious love and mercy of God.

 

For beyond biological mothers,        God's love and provision is such,

            that when or where

                        a mother fails or is unable to provide that love,

                                    our gracious and faithful God finds other ways

                                                for another person or persons to so bless us;

 

            - for us still to have the experience of enduring compassion

                   and that maternal love which nurtures without reservation.

 

Today, regardless of your own personal experience of motherhood,

            good mother, great mother, bad mother or indifferent mother,

 

                        yet we have capacity to receive God's love

                             perhaps because we do know about   a mother's love.

 

 

In the Old Testament, whenever you see the phrase, "Almighty God",

            that is always a translation of the Hebrew, "El Shaddai"

                        which is literally, a nursing mother nurturing her child.

 

It was God's choice to reveal Himself through that feminine image.

 

Surely it is a great compliment to mothers and to motherhood,

            that one of the ways God chose to reveal and illustrate his love

                        was through the experience of a mother's love…

                                    and that a mother's love, is a snapshot  of God's love.

 

The lesson of the texts and the intent of Mother's day,

    is that we honor all mothers, grateful to all who love selflessly,

            those whom our loving God has called    to love and to bless us.

 

In particular, we are called to honor with gratitude to God

            for those who knew us and loved us   while   we were being knit…

 

                        …and we are called to love and honor our mothers,

                                    probably   in a more significant way,

                                                 more than   just a tattoo that says,  'MOM'

 

I do wish for all of you, a very happy and joyful Mother's Day.