God’s
Love—Mothering Love
When
I returned mid-week from celebrating Mary’s graduation and began to plan for
worship today, I remembered this is Mother’s Day Sunday. I thought back to the
Mother’s Day worship services of my childhood—at 2nd Baptist Church during
the 1960s. As I told our children
earlier, motherhood was celebrated, and a few mothers were singled out for
special recognition. Called to the
front of the sanctuary, they received a corsage from the church—presented by
the pastor—who then thanked God for them and prayed for all mothers.
After
much reflection this week, I’ve determined that my brother and I did what we
did that one Mother’s Day because we wanted our mother to be singled out, to be
recognized by both the congregation and the pastor as special because she was
special to us. There were 4
categories for recognition.
Clearly our mother did not meet the criteria for 3. Because we were in elementary school,
she could not be the “newest” mother.
There were just the 2 of us, and as I remember it we were perfect
children—one could not even say we were “a handful”—so, she was not the mother
with the most children. In her
mid-thirties, she was not the youngest mother. Actually, my brother and I thought she was old. That was it: she might be the oldest mother! So when the pastor announced it was time to recognize the oldest mother, we encouraged her to
stand.
The
last Mother’s Day worship I attended at 2nd Baptist was probably my
senior year in high school. And,
as I remember it, although motherhood was still celebrated that day, only 1
special recognition was offered—for the oldest mother. No, I did not suggest that my mom stand
that day. Over the years I’ve
concluded that recognitions like the one we always had at 2nd
Baptist, while meant to be affirming, can actually be received as hurtful.
Today
is Mother’s Day—a Hallmark card day celebrating motherhood. For some people it is a happy day. We
share good memories with our loving mothers, or we spend time enjoying our own
sweet children. For other people,
though, this is not a happy day.
Grieving for children or parents they can no longer share life and love
with, for some people, today is a despairing day. Grieving for children they longed for but could not bear, for
some people today is a sad day.
Grieving for the loving parent they never had,
for some people, today is a lonely
day. Conscious of those who cannot
celebrate “being a mother” or “having a mother” day, I suggest we celebrate mothering—showing
care and concern for others. Our
Mothering Day recognition can include aunts and uncles, friends and neighbors,
teachers and mentors. I suggest we
do celebrate because in mothering relationships we experience love.
Today’s
text is all about the nature of God—who and what God is. And the bottom line is
God is love (1 John 4:8). With today’s text, we can
explore God’s love.
God’s love is tangible. This is how the love of God is revealed to
us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him (1
John 4:9). God’s love is made
physical in the person of Jesus the Christ. God entered into human existence in the life and ministry, in
the death and resurrection of a particular person in a particular place at a
particular time in history. This
scripture was written to a community founded by people who had lived with this
particular person—people who had eaten, slept, traveled, and learned—with this
Jesus. This scripture was written
to a community founded by people who had witnessed with their own physical
senses—this Jesus. They had seen
and heard, smelled and touched him. Witnesses to God’s love which came alive in the life
and in the ministry of Jesus, the authors of this scripture boldly claim God’s
love is tangible.
God’s
love is unconditional. This is love; it is not that we loved God but
that he loved us (1 John 4:10). God’s
love is the love we see in Jesus’ life.
Jesus was friend not only to moral, religious, and socially acceptable
people. Jesus was friend to
political revolutionaries (the zealots), to dishonest businessmen (the tax
collectors), to immoral people (the woman caught in adultery), and to social
outcasts (the Samaritans). There are no ifs and buts for God’s love. There are no strings attached, to God’s
love.[1]
God loves. Period.
God’s love is initiating. We love because God first loved us (1John 4: 19).
Long
before we look for God, God is seeking us out, turning us towards him, not only
waiting with open arms, but—like the father in the parable of the prodigal son—ready
to run to meet us.
God’s love is costly and self-giving. This is love . . . God . . . sent his Son as
the sacrifice that deals with our sins (1 John 4: 10). Upon the first
reading of this verse, it seems like God is a divine child abuser—a parent
forcing his child to do something dangerous. But then we recall the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit are all 1 God.
So we realize it is God giving himself so that we might be drawn into
closer relationship with him, a relationship this author refers to as abundant
life. God’s love is sacrificial. God, the Son—Jesus, experienced all
that life has to offer: joy &
pain, love & loss, trust & betrayal, relationship & abandonment, life
& death. Entering into human existence and experiencing human suffering,
God the Son—walks with us through whatever we encounter.
God’s
love is renewing. It empowers
us to become different people. If we love each other, God
remains in us and his love is made perfect—(comes to completion)—in us (1 John 4: 12). God’s
love is experienced in the person of Jesus the Christ. When we act out love using Jesus’ life
as our blueprint, we are drawn ever closer to God. We are drawn into the relationship God has intended with us
since the beginning of creation. As
our love grows and changes, we grow and change as well. As we grow and change, our love grows
and changes as well. We, ourselves, and the love we act out are intertwined.
Our
first encounters with love are usually in our family of origin. So, it is often through the lens of our
own family experiences that we connect with these descriptions of God’s love.
Those
of us who are parents can recall the 1st time we held each of our
children. Overcome with love—not
because of anything this helpless, little creature cradled in our arms has
done, but because she is my child, we experience a taste of initiating
love. At that moment, we
comprehend God’s words: “I loved
you before you were born. I love
you now. I will always love you.”
Not
too long after I got my driver’s license, I ran an errand for my parents. Backing out of the store parking lot, my
car met with some resistance. I
had scraped the back end of the car parked next to me. No one was hurt; the
damage was minimal. Their car’s taillight was broken, and silver from my car’s
bumper streaked down the back side of their car. My bumper was scratched. We
exchanged contact information, and I drove home. But I was so worried my parents would be angry with me
for messing up the car. When I
walked in the door, I burst into tears,
“I’m so sorry. I had a wreck.
I’m so sorry.” And what did
my Daddy do? He wrapped me in his
arms and said, “It’s okay. Are you
hurt? It’s okay. Did anyone else get hurt? It’s okay.” Then he called the couple whose car I
had scratched and drove over to their house with a new taillight. He installed it and using rubbing
compound, he erased the silver from my bumper. That’s an experience I hang the description of God’s
unconditional love on. “It’s
okay. Nothing you do can ever
change my love for you.”
In
the spring of 1953, my grandfather, my Papa, took out a $500 loan. That was a lot of money back then,
especially for someone who worked hard for his living. He took out that loan to pay my mom’s
airfare, so that during her pregnancy, she could be with her husband—who had
been drafted recently and posted to Germany. At the time, no one imagined how important it was for them
to be together. At the time, no one knew that cancer would claim his life in
less than a year. I do not know
how long it took my Papa to pay off that loan, but this family story is a rich
illustration of sacrificial love.
It
is often within our family, that we first experience love. Enjoying some successes and suffering some
failures, it is often through our family relationships that we practice
love. On this day of celebrating
mothering love, I hope that each one of us may recognize God’s love. I hope that each one of us may experience
God’s overwhelming, endless, transforming love.
Let us pray: Mothering God,
your love nurtures us. Fathering
God, your love sustains us.
Mentoring God, inspire and encourage us to practice your love both within
and outside of our families. Amen.
[1] Shirley C. Guthrie, Jr. Christian Doctrine. Revised edition. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994. p 105.
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