INTRODUCTION -- I have never posted or otherwise published any of my sermons. In part this is because I am lazy. When outlining my sermons, I don't write down every word, or instructions for actions, and they can be difficult reading for anyone else. However, I wanted to share this sermon, so it is up to the READER to imagine the portions that are sketchy.
MOTHER’S DAY SERMON
Introduction –
I want to begin with a disclaimer. Nothing I say today is meant to disparage men. Some of my best friends
are men. Hey, I even married one.
Neither do I want to imply that Fathers or less important
than Mothers. Fathers
are of equal importance, but what they bring to our lives is different. Their
roles are different, and today I want to focus on Mothers.
I also want to be clear that when I say Mothers,
I am not excluding
those who have never given birth. Some of the best Mothers have never given birth, but have provided nurture
and love to others,
especially to those
in need of their care. They are Mothers
in every sense of the word.
Now, I want you to help me preach
this sermon on Mothers.
First, form groups in pews, so you can share your answers
to some questions:
(Let members form groups; then ask the first three questions for them to each discuss and answer in the groups.)
1.
What food do you associate
with your Mother?
2.
What object
do you associate with your Mother?
3.
What memory of something
you did or something you do with your mother comes first to your mind?
(Ask this last question for them to respond outlaid after the count of 3)
4.
Choose one single
word that you feel best describes your Mother.
a.
Don’t share with your group. (Shout
it out)
b.
On the count of three -- 1,2,3 (Make comment on the fact that for so many, the WORD was LOVE.)
Scripture Reading – 1
John 4: 7-9, 16. Read scripture
LOVE – GOD IS LOVE –
GOD GAVE US MOTHERS
TO HELP US UNDERSTAND HIS LOVE
When God created
women he wired them with some very specific neurological, hormonal,
and emotional responses
so that they would love and feed and protect babies.
Most women know this from their own feelings and responses. But Scientists have wired women to machines
to test their brain waves;
to record their eye movements; or to record hormones in their blood
stream, and these have shown that we are wired or created
to respond to babies and children in very special
ways. God created
Mothers to Love babies and children, and to give them the love they need to grow and prosper.
Studies of innate responses in mothers
– The cry of an infant will elicit an alarm response in women.
The sight of a baby elicits
a warm, emotional
response, a desire to hold, to kiss, to cuddle. In fact it doesn’t have to be a baby. Anything with Big eyes and a small face can evoke emotional and hormonal
responses. Puppies,
kittens, all small helpless creatures tend to evoke a care response in many women. Women are created to nurture weak, helpless, needy things – even Men.
IS THIS "MOTHER
LOVE" IMPORTANT FOR HUMAN BEINGS
--
Studies of mothering
in monkeys (briefly tell the story of the baby monkeys raised without mothers) – No mother love = difficulty relating to others;
difficulties sharing,
difficulties finding
mates, difficulties raising their own infants.
Generations are disrupted. The Love you received as an infant
is what allows
you to Love. Love is passed down from generation to generation. If the chain of love and trust is disrupted, it is difficult
to reestablish. If you are able to love your wife, you should probably give credit
to your Mother. That should give wives a whole new perspective on their
Mother-in-Laws.
MITOCHONDRIAL DNA –
Inside each of us is what scientists call mitochondrial DNA. This is DNA we receive
from our Mothers.
It is passed down from Mother
to child over generations with only minimal changes even over centuries. Inside every cell in your body is DNA passed to you from your Mother, and from her Mother and from her Mother and from her Mother back to the beginning
of time. So look around
you this morning.
You are looking at your maternal cousins. WE ALL SHARE COMMON
MITOCHONDRIAL. We are all related. Every human being so far tested
can be traced back to one single MOTHER.
Science over the past decade has proven the existence of EVE, the single Mother from whom we are all descended. I hope it doesn’t upset any of you too much to realize
the kinship you have to those around you. Kind of startling isn’t it.
Moreover, this same science that traces us back to EVE has found
that all of those whose DNA has been tested are descended
from ONLY Seven Women. Imagine that one Mother
for us all; and only seven women
over the ALL THE generations AND CENTURIES. Only seven women whose daughters have survived to pass their
DNA on to us. We are all the grandchildren of these daughters
of Eve. Seven women whose Love and genes have been passed down to us over the ages, and dwell within
each of us. What a common bond we share.
Before moving forward in today’s lesson, I want to read a passage
of particular import
from Genesis.
Genesis 1: Verses 26-27.
Now, I have to tell you, I grew up reading the Bible, but when I was in my 30’s I was given
some grammar lessons
in Hebrew that had a great impact on me.
When I was approaching my 30th birthday, we moved from Shreveport to New York City where I studied
at the City University of New York.
Now the City U system
of New York was largely established because Jewish students
couldn’t get into the private universities. These had quotas
for Jews, and only admitted
a specific number, so the rest who wanted to go to college attended
one of the universities created
by the City of New York. Because
of this heritage,
most of my professors and most of my fellow
students were Jewish.
One of the women with whom I studied
was the daughter of a Rabbi, the wife of a Rabbi, and she eventually became the Mother of a Rabbi.
She was a Kohein,
a direct descendent of Moses’ brother Aaron.
One of the classes we took together
was comparative linguistics. In this course we talked
about how the language
we speak influences the way we think about our world. For example, in the language
spoken by Eskimos, there are over 40 words for snow, and they can perceive each of these differences. We have only one word, and can’t make fine distinctions between one type of snow and another.
In the Navajo language, there is no past or future tense, and their perception of time is quite different from ours. They see time in universals rather
than in a continuous line.
My Jewish
friend gave an example
from Hebrew, and used the verses I just read in her comparison with English. She pointed out that in Verse 26, the translator used the plural pronoun
“US” In the phrase “Let us make.” And the plural possessive pronoun Our in the phrase In Our image. While in Verse 27, the pronouns
are “His” “His image” and He in He created.
She told us that the Hebrew
language has a pronoun which is used for God and which is neither
male nor female. The pronoun Hebrew
uses for God encompasses both male and female and isn’t gender specific. English, like Greek and Latin only has singular pronouns that are gender specific. That is, we say he, or his, or him for males and she, or her for females. We do have plural
pronouns that are not gender specific, such as they, them, us or our, to refer to groups that may be of mixed gender.
She said that when the Bible was translated into Greek,
the Greek language didn’t have a singular
pronoun that didn’t indicate
gender. Thus, the translators had to use either plural
pronouns as in verse 26 or a gender specific
singular pronoun for use in verse 27. The Greek translators choose a masculine
pronoun for God, assuming
that an all- powerful God must be male.
After the class I had to ask her more about the theology behind
the Hebrew pronoun.
After all, isn’t God male? She said that the God of the Hebrews
was never thought
of as human, and thus was neither
man nor woman -- neither
male nor female. She said that they know that God possesses both the characteristics we consider Male, and the characteristics we consider
Female. They know this because God created
both Men and Women in God’s image. If God were exclusively male, God could not create women who are different from men. If God were exclusively female, God could not create
men as different
from Women. Since both men and women are created in God’s image, they know that the characteristics of both men and women exist in God.
WOW!! This idea that God does not have a gender blew my mind. My amazement
was even more marked when she went on to say that Jesus,
a Rabbi, would not have prayed “Our Father” who art in Heaven.
The word he would have used in Hebrew
should be translated more accurately as either “Our Parent” or as “Our Father
and Mother.”
Double WOW!! What an amazing idea. Is it possible that our Heavenly Parent is not only strong,
and powerful, with great expectations for us; but is also gentle, and forgiving, and accepting
of our faults? What an amazing thought.
This conversation and these ideas
were recently brought
back to me because of a book that I read. How many of you have read the book, “The Shack” by
William Young? I’m not surprised. Since it was published in 2007, it has become a best seller, and has stirred
up a lot of controversy. Let me tell the rest of you a little
about it without
giving the plot away.
The main character is a man, who has led a tragic life. He had an abusive father
and ran away from home very young. But he met a Christian woman, became a faithful
Christian and they had a beautiful family. Then their
beautiful five-year-old daughter was kidnapped from a campground, was abused and murdered
by a pedophile. The man blamed God, lost his faith, and became
terribly depressed.
Now, I have to tell you that when I first tried to read this book, I put it down and quit reading
because I couldn’t cope with the horror of what this Father was experiencing. I didn’t finish reading
it for over a year. And I only picked
up again because
members of my Sunday School class were raving
about how wonderful it was.
I quite reading before
the miracle. From the pits of depression, this man receives an invitation, and spends a weekend
in a shack with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
Now, here’s where a lot of other readers
put the book down. They don’t like the personifications the author chose for the main characters. Jesus appears in the story as a Jewish
man. The Holy Spirit appears
as an Asian woman.
AND God first appears to him as an African
American Woman.
A lot of readers find these characterizations of the Trinity
to be offensive.
But as God explains
later, this man needs a Mother-image because of his problems with his father.
Only as a woman can God find this man’s heart, and free him from the demons that haunt him. Only as a woman can God reach his mind and soul and transform him. And he is transformed by the lessons he learns
from Jesus, the Holy Spirit,
and God.
One of the major lessons
of the book are the different roles each of the members of the Trinity plays in our lives. The reader comes away understanding why God has three persons,
and how each is important
to each of us.
You also realize
that God is both a father and a mother to each of His children. Within God are the attributes of the best possible
Father AND the attributes of the best possible Mother.
Your ability
to be a loving Father.
Your ability to be a loving Mother. Your ability
to Love at all, comes directly
from God, because GOD IS LOVE. There is no other
source of Love in this world. Love is the essential essence of God, and it is this essence that He placed within
us at our creation.
We are able to Love only because we were created
in the image of God. The extent to which we are able to express love, to share love, to give love, to receive
love – is directly
related to our experience of God. If we don’t love, he is not in us. The more we love, the closer we are to Him. If we grow in his knowledge
and favor, we will grow in Love. Love is both the inward grace he gives us; and the outward evidence of our relationship with Him.
How good a Christian
are you? It is not measured by how frequently you enter a church. It is not measured
by how much you put in the collection plate. It is not even measured
by how often you read the Bible or how often you pray. It is measured by how much you LOVE. How much you Love God; and how much you Love Others.
There are those who will only know the Love of God through
You. You were placed
here by God to share His Love with them. There is someone
who will only know God’s Love through You. There is someone who needs God’s love,
and is waiting for you to give that Love.
God is waiting for you to demonstrate your love for Him by showing Love to someone
else. He has no other channel for His Love except through
you. Are you giving God’s love to others?
We are going to close now with prayer. First, we will pray silently, and then I will lead us in prayer. During
the silent prayer,
reflect on God’s love for you, and ask Him to draw you closer
into His love. Ask him to help you to grow in the Love you are able to feel and
express for Him and for others, and especially pray for those who need your love. LET US PRAY
Our Heavenly Father and Mother: (pray) then say:
While the choir sings the closing hymn, if you are moved by God’s love for you; if you are moved by memories
of the Love God transmitted to you through
your Mother, come to the altar, and commit yourself to growing in God’s love. Commit
yourself to sharing God’s love with those around
you, especially to those
who look to you to be a Father
or a Mother.
