Ex 2.1-10 Psalm 127 Col 3.12-17 John 19.25b-27
Summary: True motherhood is a lifetime task; but handled right, it is a calling, a privilege and a pleasure. Yet Mother’s Day is not for everyone. “When a father is not happy, who cares, but when a mother is not happy, nobody is happy!”
This sermon was delivered to the congregation in St Oswald’s in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 10th March 2013: by Gordon McCulloch (A Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).
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.
Our gospel reading this morning comes from John 19, verses 25 to 27: “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home”.
Introduction:
Today’s sermon is a little bit different, because we are not only here to worship the Lord, we are here today to also honour our mothers, and grandmothers, and all the great mother(s).
It is a day for greetings, and expressions of love; it is also a day for remembering.
Telephone companies tell us that Mothers Day is by far their busiest day of the year, and the shops just love mother’s day; as they make plenty of money from our sentimentality.
But I am not here today to talk about them, I am hear to try and praise the true value of motherhood; a task I will barely do justice in this short sermon.
True motherhood is a lifetime task; it is not easy as by the time a child reaches 18, a mother has had to handle some extra 18,000 hours of 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, a privilege and if handled right, 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. Some people do not have best mother in the world; and others simple just do no get on; while others who did, may have lost them through death.
And sadly, some mothers have lost children; where others carry the guilt of wayward children. To them, mother’s day is very difficult; and an understanding of this, certainly helps. We also remember this morning … … and … … and we pray that despite their troubles this is a special day for them.
Years ago, I listened to what I refer to as the worst sermon I have every heard. If I was not on duty, I would have walked out, but I never attended another mother’s day service until I came here to St Oswald’s. Ah!
The Celebrant that day was a woman, she was not ordained, but she certainly had issues and this came across in the sermon; all she could talk about was how wonderful women are, and how they do all the work. She then went on to decry the men, saying they we were all lazy, unsupportive, and selfish; and I am convinced, in fact it was blatantly obvious, that she used the pulpit to get at her husband.
I was so angry that day; as you all know, I work night and day; Christine does as well, and I don’t need a pulpit to get my point across; although I will say this, if she puts on that Tom Cruise film this afternoon, I am going out. …
Anyway, what I am saying here is there is a tendency to get motherhood mixed up with feminism and many people don’t see the difference.
I was talking to my son the other day, about how influential mothers are, when I remembered a quote: “When a father is not happy, who cares, but when a mother is not happy, nobody is happy!” He laughed and said, well that is certainly true.
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 I used to be quite proud on saying to certain pupils, “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 glad of that”. I don’t say that anymore.
Out of the 69 kings of France, only 3 were really loved by their subjects, and these 3 were the only ones reared by their mothers and not by tutors or guardians.
There is great saying from Napoleon himself that says, "The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world."
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the man who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century once said, “Men are what their mothers make them”. That is some accountability to place on a mother; particularly as there is an old Spanish proverb which says, “An ounce of motherhood is worth a pound of clergy.”
But there are some great portraits of motherhood in Scripture too. There is of course the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus; and also the mother, (or step mother) of Moses; who cared so much for her son that she broke the law in order to teach him the faith of his people.
Proverbs 31 tells the story of the mother of King Lemuel, who gave advice to her son about godly living, and how to pick a good wife and mother; and there are many sermons made from that chapter on mother’s day.
And of course the one of the most powerful story ever, of a mother’s love; where that mother told King Solomon to give her child to another, rather than any harm come to him.
A mother can make a significant spiritual impact on her children; Susannah Wesley, mother of 17 (seventeen), two of which were John and Charles Wesley, spent one hour each day praying for her children. In addition, she took each child aside for a full hour each week to discuss spiritual matters; so it is no wonder her children were used of God to bring blessing to all of England and much of America.
A mother talking to an old University friend once said, "I remember the time before I was married; I had 3 theories about raising children? Well, now I have 3 children and … no theories."
A mother has the fascinating ability to be almost everywhere at once; and she alone can somehow squeeze and enormous amount of living into a 24 hour day.
A man was walking along the beach at Girvan one day and stumbled across an old lamp. He picked it up, rubbed it, and out popped a genie. The genie said, "Four People have released me from the lamp this month and I am getting sick of this three wishes routine, so I am only going to give you one wish, but I will make it a good one.
The man thought about it for a while and said, "I have always wanted to go to America, but I am afraid to fly and I get very sea sick. Could you build me a bridge to from Girvan to New York so I could drive there in my car?
The genie went “oh come on”! "That’s impossible. Think of the logistics of that feat! How would the supports of such a bridge reach the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and stay stable in the bad weather? Don’t be stupid, the answer is obviously no.
Think of something else. The man thought about it and said, "Well I have been trying to get a girlfriend for years, and every time I get one, they always tell me that I do not care and that I am insensitive. So for my second wish, I wish that I could fully understand women, to know exactly how they feel, and know exactly what they are thinking".
The genie paused for a moment and said, "See that bridge to America, do you want it with 2 lanes or 4 lanes"? What I am getting at here is that us men, do not honestly understand women; we try and we fail, and sometimes I think more fool us for trying. There is many things us men cannot do that women excel in, and men do not make good mothers. It is not that men are useless there are things a mother can excel in.
For example, a mother singing Brahms lullaby to a baby has the angelic voice of an angel; a member in the celestial choir itself, where as 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 football game.
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".
And a mother can be tough too, when she needs to be. Last week I was getting cheek, real abuse for one of my pupils at school that I had to give him a punishment exercise.
The big man that he was started shouting out in the corridor, “I’m no dae-ing it, I’ve goat a shredder at hame”.
He was being real stroppy, but I had a plan, a cunning plan; his mother worked in the school, and after a quiet word with her, the exercise was done, and his attitude re-adjusted. You will have guessed by now that there is no gospel message this morning, but we are all learning so much.
A mother is considered "old fashioned" to her teenagers; yet she just Mum to the primaries; and simple "Mummy” to the little two and three year olds; but there is hardly a thrill in their lives that can compete, with saying to the world, "That is my mother!"
I remember when my son Craig was a baby, coming home from a hard days work to find the smell of motherhood, dirty nappies, washing drying and Craig all clean and fresh lying asleep on the couch; and Christine saying, don’t start, I did not sign up for this either. ….
She fed me when I was hungry; she laundered all my clothes,
She helped me study history; and wiped my dirty nose
She often wiped my fevered brow; she taught me to ride a bike,
She even taught me how, to eat the foods I did not like.
She wore old and faded clothes; so I could wear something new,
She set an example so I would know; what to say and what to do.
She often worked from dawn to dark; to make our house a home, while singing like a lark; her eyes with loves light shone.
Now wrinkles grace her brow; her hair has turned to gray,
And I begin to wonder; how I'll live without her here someday.
And this brings me to another topic; one day, a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes, and suddenly she noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out her brunette head. The little girl asked, “Why are some of your hairs white, Mummy?" The mother replied smugly, "Well, every time you do something wrong, and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white." The little girl thought for a moment and said, "So how come all of Grandmothers hair is white”?
Grandmothers and Great Grandmothers are extra special too; and much can be summed up in an essay written by a primary school pupil entitled, “What is a Grandmother”? (she was one of the brighter ones). You will like this.
A grandmother is a lady who has no children of her own but she likes other peoples little girls and boys. A grandfather is a man grandmother. He goes for walks with the boys, and they talk about fishing and stuff like that. Grandmothers don’t have to do anything, except, be there. They are old, so they shouldn’t play too hard, and they shouldn’t run.
It is just enough if they drive us to the shops where the pretend horse is, and have a lot of pound coins ready. When they take us for a walk, they slow down, and show us pretty things like leaves, and butterflies, and things and they never say, things like "Hurry up, we are going to be late!"
Usually grandmothers are fat, but not too fat to tie your shoes. They wear glasses and funny underwear and they can take their teeth out. Grandmothers don’t have to be smart, but they can answer questions like, "Why isn’t God married?" and "How come dogs chase cats?"
Grandmothers don’t talk baby talk like other adults do and when they read to us, they don’t skip parts of the story; or even complain about reading the same story over again. Everybody should try to have a grandmother, especially if you don’t have television, because they are the only grown-ups who .... have time for you.
Almost all of us have fond memories of our mothers and grandmothers; and of the home when were raised. When we think of one, we think of the other. Remember the sounds, and sights, and the smells of home.
Remember before double glazing, the warm coal fire at our front, and our cold backs from the drafts coming from through the doors and windows.
Remember the smell of home baking, and the taste from licking the spoon, and the warm scones just out of the oven; and the dinners that only your mother can make; even if it was only beans on toast; but a mother could add that special something, that something to a simple meal that make it special. This something basically is a blessing.
I could go on for ages, and you know I would, but I would like to close by reading another unknown poem entitled, "My Mother."
Your love, I know I’ve seen your tears; you’ve given to me my life.
You have walked me through days and years, of heartache, toil and strife.
To see that I could have the best, that you could give to me,
You gave up your needs and often rest, as you viewed eternity.
To do His will, my highest call, And by your special care,
I stood and walked and did not fall, You held me up in prayer.
Though strands of gray may brush your hair, And miles divide our way, I know that by your quiet prayer, You’ve helped me day by day.
You have shown me how to give, to share, To put my own needs last. You’ve helped me see and be aware, That life is so soon to pass.
To spite your love I would not dare, For there is not another,
Who spreads her gentle love and care, Like you - My Loving Mother.
May Our Lord Bless you and keep you all .... on this special day.
Amen
Let us pray.
Father, we thank you for Jesus; that he died on the cross instead of us. We thank you also for his mother, the Virgin Mary who raised him perfectly to do your will; and watch him die for us, on the cross.
Father, although we want to applaud all the mothers who take the task seriously, we bring before you the mothers, who do not, remembering the women who cannot have children. We pray also for those who have lost loved ones, and those too, who cannot enjoy today because of strife.
Father, be with each and every one of them today, and make their day a very special day to remember.
We ask in your name, Amen
PS. I am very very grateful to J Jeffrey Smead from the Epiphany Anglican Fellowship for his inspiration in preparing this sermon.
