WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:17.000 In the name of the risen Lord. Amen. Please be seated. 2 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:23.360 Today I brought with me something that is rather special to me that I want to show you. 3 00:00:23.360 --> 00:00:30.360 Some of you who know me know that I love Celtic spirituality. And this is a Celtic cross. 4 00:00:30.360 --> 00:00:37.440 But I don't know where I got this. I've been using it as a bookmark for some time. Maybe 5 00:00:37.440 --> 00:00:44.360 somebody here knows where I got it. It says on the back, there is a mother's heart in 6 00:00:44.360 --> 00:00:51.360 the heart of God. There is a mother's heart in the heart of God. I've always loved those 7 00:00:55.760 --> 00:01:02.760 words because they say something about the God that we meet in scripture. Now that God 8 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:12.000 is not literally male or female. The mystery of God is bigger than all those human categories. 9 00:01:15.360 --> 00:01:22.360 But scripture constantly reaches for images that help us to understand the love of God. 10 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:30.840 For instance, some things that we call God, shepherd, father, mother hen, healer, comforter, 11 00:01:34.360 --> 00:01:41.360 protector. Maybe you can think of a few more that come to your mind. And sometimes the 12 00:01:42.360 --> 00:01:49.360 closest thing we have in our experience to the steadfast love of God is the love of someone 13 00:01:51.360 --> 00:01:58.360 who mothered us. By this I don't just mean our own mother, but perhaps someone who stayed. 14 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:08.560 Someone who comforted us. Someone who believed in us. Someone who loved us through every 15 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:15.960 stage of our life, no matter what, including the difficult ones. And today's reading, in 16 00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:25.520 the sixth Sunday of Easter, speak deeply about this kind of presence. In the gospel from 17 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:34.840 John, Jesus tells his disciples, I will not leave you orphaned. Think about that. Jesus 18 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:46.120 knows the disciples are afraid. The cross is near. Everything familiar is changing. 19 00:02:48.480 --> 00:02:55.480 And Jesus does not promise them an easy life. Dang, I wish that would have been it. He does 20 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:04.080 not promise them that there is not going to be suffering, that there is not going to be 21 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:11.080 pain. Instead, he promises presence. I will not leave you orphaned. I will send you the 22 00:03:13.440 --> 00:03:20.440 advocate, the Holy Spirit, the comforter. The comforter will remain with them. And honestly, 23 00:03:25.920 --> 00:03:32.920 that sounds a little bit like the best kind of mothering love. Not contrary. Not contrary. 24 00:03:35.080 --> 00:03:42.080 Not trolling. Not smothering. But abiding. You are not alone. I am with you. You can 25 00:03:48.640 --> 00:03:55.640 make it through this. Many mothers know exactly what this kind of love looks like. Things 26 00:03:56.640 --> 00:04:03.640 like sitting awake at night worrying. Did they make the right decision? Are they going 27 00:04:05.640 --> 00:04:12.640 to be home on time? Holding a child through sickness. Praying when nobody else sees it. 28 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:23.160 Encouraging someone who has lost confidence. Standing beside a family member in difficult 29 00:04:23.200 --> 00:04:30.200 times. Love itself becomes a kind of shelter, could we say. And Jesus says, that is how 30 00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:40.240 God loves us. I will not leave you orphaned. Then we hear Paul in Athens in the reading 31 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:49.800 from Acts. Paul walks through the city filled with idols and notices an altar with an inscription 32 00:04:50.120 --> 00:04:57.120 that says, to an unknown God. And Paul tells them that the God they are searching for is 33 00:04:59.080 --> 00:05:06.080 actually very near. In him we live and move and have our being. That is one of the most 34 00:05:09.240 --> 00:05:16.240 beautiful lines in all of scripture. God is not distant. God is not up there. God is not 35 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:27.800 hidden away somewhere far, away from our human suffering. God is closer than our breath. 36 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:40.240 Closer than fear. Closer even than our uncertainty. And perhaps mothers understand something about 37 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:49.720 that too. A loving mother often knows when something is wrong, even if it is not their 38 00:05:50.400 --> 00:05:57.400 word being spoken. You don't have to be a mother to know that. You just need to be in 39 00:06:01.280 --> 00:06:08.280 tune, present. There is a closeness, an attentiveness, a staying connected through joy and pain. 40 00:06:11.520 --> 00:06:18.520 And then 1 Peter reminds us that Christian love and goodness is not always easy. And 41 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:26.800 did you know that? Peter speaks to people who are suffering, people trying to remain 42 00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:35.920 faithful in a difficult world. He says, always be ready to give an account for the hope that 43 00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:43.920 is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Not cruelly, not with arrogance, but with 44 00:06:50.320 --> 00:06:57.320 gentleness. Not with self-righteousness. Not shouting louder than anybody else or talking 45 00:06:57.480 --> 00:07:04.480 over. That may be one of the most needed Christian values in our world right now. And honestly 46 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:14.360 many of us learn gentleness from our mothers, from our grandmothers, from our aunts, from 47 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:22.360 our uncles, from our fathers, from our friends. People who taught us kindness. People who 48 00:07:26.680 --> 00:07:33.680 corrected us without destroying us. People who showed us strength does not have to come 49 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:40.680 from harshness or hardness. The psalm today says, come and listen all you who fear God 50 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:48.680 and I will tell you what God has done for me. Hmm, that sounds a little bit like testimony. 51 00:07:52.400 --> 00:07:59.400 But it also sounds like gratitude. It's on his lips. It sounds like someone remembering 52 00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:08.160 how God carried them through difficult times. And if you listen carefully, many mothers 53 00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:17.680 carry those same stories. We all carry those stories. Stories of prayers whispered over 54 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:28.240 children. Stories of surviving hard times. Stories of holding families together when 55 00:08:30.280 --> 00:08:37.280 life felt uncertain and we didn't know how. And so today, on Mother's Day, we are going 56 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:47.720 to honor not perfection, not the perfect mother we woulda, coulda, shoulda, wanted, been, 57 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:55.200 and all those things, but holy love. We honor those who reflected the heart of God through 58 00:08:56.760 --> 00:09:03.760 compassion, sacrifice, encouragement, and steadfast presence. And we also acknowledge 59 00:09:04.760 --> 00:09:11.760 that it can be very complicated, this love. It's messy and chaotic. Some are grieving 60 00:09:19.960 --> 00:09:26.960 their mothers that they miss so deeply today. Some relationships carry pain and power struggle. 61 00:09:27.960 --> 00:09:34.960 Some long to become mothers and could not. Some mothers are exhausted or worried and 62 00:09:40.840 --> 00:09:47.840 heartbroken right now. So today is not about pretending that this is an easy story. It's 63 00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:55.840 about recognizing that God meets us in all of it, all of the messiness, all of the chaos, 64 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:07.960 all of the love, and all of the pain. Because this God revealed to us is not a distant God 65 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:15.960 and is not a cold God. This is a God who says, I will not leave you orphaned. A God whom 66 00:10:25.920 --> 00:10:32.920 we live and move and have our being. A God who calls us to gentleness. A God who stays 67 00:10:33.920 --> 00:10:40.920 with us through joy and suffering. And maybe, just maybe, our call today is not only to 68 00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:55.360 honor our mothers, but to become more like that mothering love. Not male or female or 69 00:10:56.360 --> 00:11:03.360 other. You see, to become people, we are to become people who nurture hope. People who 70 00:11:10.160 --> 00:11:17.160 remain present. People who comfort instead of condemn. People who make room for others 71 00:11:17.720 --> 00:11:24.720 to belong. The world needs that kind of love so desperately right now. I brought a picture 72 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:37.600 with me today. And sorry I didn't show you my bookmark, did I? I'll get back to you guys. 73 00:11:40.040 --> 00:11:45.600 This is a picture of my mom and I. I'm going to put it over here. You can take a peek. 74 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:52.240 This picture was taken when Doug and I got married. I love this picture of my mom. But 75 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:57.960 mostly because the both of us are looking at each other and we're smiling. We have champagne 76 00:11:57.960 --> 00:12:04.960 in our hands. Good memories. I do not know what we were smiling or laughing about or 77 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:14.440 who took the picture or who gave it to me. But it is one of my most cherished pictures. 78 00:12:14.920 --> 00:12:21.920 This is a mom who loved me unconditionally. A mom who was present in all those hard times 79 00:12:23.920 --> 00:12:30.920 and all those challenges. A mom who forgave me. And I needed forgiveness lots of times. 80 00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:41.440 A mom who was present. And this joy is genuine joy. And it helps me to remember that I was 81 00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:51.440 there. I remember all of these things I just said when I looked at this picture. I remember 82 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:58.440 her gentleness. I remember mostly her presence. And so, the good news of Easter, my friends, 83 00:13:03.760 --> 00:13:10.760 is this. We are not alone. We don't have to try to figure it out. We can learn to figure 84 00:13:14.440 --> 00:13:21.440 it out. We can live it with God no further than a breath away. The spirit remains with 85 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:32.200 us. Our holy comforter. Our advocate. May we live and know that God is with us in our 86 00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:40.800 very being. Amen.