Mothers Day: Not Gospel Sermon, But A Tribute With Humour.

This sermon was delivered to the congregation in Holy Trinity, in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 26th March 2017: by Gordon McCulloch

(A Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).

The readings today are, Ex 2.1-10 Psalm 127 Col 3.12-17 John 19.25b-27

Please join me in my prayer. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit let these words bring you, and all mothers’, honour this day. Amen.

Introduction:

Today’s sermon is a little bit different from normal because we are not only here to worship the Lord, we are here also here today to also honour our mothers, grandmothers, and all the other great mother(s). It is a day for greetings, and the expressions of love all around; but it is also a day for remembering because the telephone companies tell us that Mothers Day is one of the busiest days of the year; and we all know that the shops just love mother’s day; as they make a lot from our sentimentality.

But I am not going to talk about them, I am here to try and praise the true value of motherhood; a task I will barely do justice in this short sermon, because true motherhood as you know, is a lifetime task. It is a difficult task, as by the time a child reaches 18, it has been estimated that a mother has done an extra 18,000 hours of work, … child-generated work. …

One mother once said, "The joy of motherhood is what a woman experiences, … when all the children are finally in bed”; … but true motherhood is a calling, … it is a privilege, and if valued correctly, it is a pleasure.

But before I continue, I must make it clear that Mother’s Day is not for everyone. It can be a very difficult time for some. Many women would love to have become a mother, but for some reason they could not; … and some people do not have what we call the best mother in the world; … while others who did, may have lost them through death or circumstances. So we must give a thought to them, and be sensitive, … and especially to those mothers who lost children; and others who carry the guilt of wayward children, … so to them, mother’s day can be very difficult indeed; and so we sympathise.

Men don’t make good mothers

Now this sounds silly me saying this, but men, or fathers do not make good mothers, … and sometimes we try, but what I am getting at here, is that there are many things us men cannot do, where women simply excel, and motherhood is one.

And I will give you an example, a mother singing Brahms lullaby to a baby has the voice of an angel; a member in the celestial choir itself, whereas the father, just simply can’t, … yet this same voice of a mother can dwarf the sound of an amplifier, when she calls the children for supper, … or cheer them on at a game of football. I remember someone once saying, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you canny fool yer mither".

The physics teacher at our school gave the class a lesson on magnets. The next day he recapped on the lesson and asked, “My name begins with an “M,” has six letters, and I pick things up. What am I?” The kids answered, my “Mother.”

At school a few years ago, I used to be quite proud on saying to the pupils at the end of the period, “Get this place cleaned up, I am not your mother”; then one day, another teacher put his head around the door and said, “I bet your fathers are glad of that”. I don’t say that anymore. …

And mothers too are also well known for teaching their kids, but in their own imitable style: you may recognise some of their lessons: … I remember my granny, … my mother’s mothers teaching me about Contortionism by saying: … "Have you seen the dirt on the back of your neck!", … naw, … and my other Granny, my fathers mother she was good with compassion, when she said, "if you fall off that bike and break your neck, don’t come running to me." … My own mother even, one day at the breakfast table she gave me tips on safety and on harming or others, "now if you don’t stop waving that thing about, you will take somebody’s eye out, and I’m going, wae a bit of toast, a wee solder of toast, … and this gave her the chance to reply with her wisdom on osmosis where she said, “now will you shut you mouth and eat your breakfast”? Eh!