06-03-18 “Clay Jars”

New Testament: 2 Corinthians 4:5-12

Gospel: Mark 2:23-3:6

INTRODUCTION

In the days that Paul wrote this letter there were people who were called artisans. They had special gifts for creating things like pottery. Your clay pots were known all around. They had a uniqueness to them that you don’t find too much today.

In the days of Paul, each pot was hand crafted, it was special it was unique. If someone saw a pot in your home they would say, “That is one of Mel’s pots isn’t it.” Your handiwork was known because of the time you took to create it. Skilled potters took raw clay, shaped and molded it as they desired, and then baked the clay until it was hard. They then painted, glazed, or decorated the jars for whatever purpose they had in mind. However, clay jars were not designed to hold their contents forever, they were temporary holding places.

Since those old clay pots were so fragile, they could not be tossed around like a plastic pot and survive. They had a limited lifespan. Rarely were they handed down from one generation to the next. There is a reason archeologists rejoice at finding an intact piece of clay pottery.

In ancient times, sacred scrolls or valuable documents were rolled up and placed inside a jar of clay and then hidden for safe keeping. The Dead Sea Scrolls were kept in such jars of clay. Pottery jars could be beautiful or purely functional, but they had one thing in common: they were breakable.

The clay pots referred to in the scriptures represent us. We are the clay pots – special, handcrafted, one of a kind and we tend to be very fragile.

Paul writes, we are like “jars of clay” with a “treasure” inside. This means that our physical bodies are like those jars. Our bodies come in all shapes and sizes, each designed by the Heavenly Potter for whatever purpose God desired.

Our bodies are beautiful, functional, and also breakable. Our bodies are temporary housing places for the treasure God has given us, namely, “the light of the gospel that reveals the glory of Christ.” The knowledge of the gospel is a rich truth, indeed.

God entrusts to us treasure that will last forever yet puts it into an earthly body that is not forever. How do we keep the truth from disappearing as easily as those clay pots? Will some future archeologist find traces, pieces of scripture? A limited number of artifacts that will tell what we once believed?

How has the Word been carried from those original pots to today? How will it be carried from today into the next century? The treasure we are privileged to hold is the knowledge of our Creator through His Son, Jesus Christ. How has and how will this treasure continue through time?

We make it a priority to transfer the information, we take the time necessary to share the Gospel with those who are younger. We heed Jesus’ words in the Holy Communion liturgy to remember.

In this respect, clay jars are a good metaphor for our lives. We have a few brief time to proclaim the Gospel. The message of Jesus has been entrusted to you. Our physical “jars of clay” will be resurrected one day to become glorified, eternal bodies. Until then, God as extended an invitation to those, who, while still in these earthly bodies, are willing to share the truth. This knowledge and resulting relationship with God are the greatest treasures any earthly vessel can hold. They are the greatest gifts we will ever be able to share.

We always need to be training new believers to proclaim the Gospel. If we look at it this way, the church is always a few generations away from extinction. John Wesley encouraged us to remain faithful and passionate about our evangelism or we the church will become nothing more than a perfunctory waste of space and time.

I love the metaphor of clay jars, because I am aware of my calling to proclaim God’s treasure. I am also keenly aware of my limited abilities to do so alone. If the Apostle Paul thought of himself as a clay jar carrying a precious treasure, that encourages me. It should also encourage you to hear Paul speak so candidly about his shortcomings in being a clay jar for God.

We do not need to be the most beautiful, the most expensive, the largest, the most colorful pot on the shelf. None of that matters, we are all going to be inadequate, like Paul, to carry of this task. We carry it all the same, in the pot God has created for us to carry it in. I must remember that I did not create the pot, nor the message; I am but a vessel. A fragile, unique clay pot that has a mission to accomplish despite what the world thinks of it.

We are all clay jars, we too have been entrusted with a precious treasure. “that the exceeding great power is from God, and not from ourselves.” It isn’t the clay jars that have power, but the treasure that they contain, a treasure put there by God.  Those of us who proclaim God’s Word have reason for humility.

We have been tricked into thinking that the clay pot is supremely important. We have been tricked into thinking that our inadequacies to proclaim the Gospel is a reason not to do so. Even the Apostle Paul felt this way when he wrote, “We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed.”

The inadequacies may just be the most important tool in keeping the faith alive. Keeping the Word of God uplifted takes more than what I can do myself, it takes the Holy Spirit of God to stay within me as well. The world is right then, we are not adequate, we don’t have all the answers, we are in despair. Thankfully you and I are not the ultimate answer, God is; and God is with us.

I want to go back to Paul’s first letter to Corinth and hear what her wrote then. He was writing about this very problem.

He said: “For, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like people sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor. Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place.

We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we are blessed. Being persecuted, we endure. Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.”

What do we do? One of the points that Paul’s opponents make is that the troubles that Paul is suffering indicate that he doesn’t enjoy God’s approval.

But Paul won’t be dismayed by such criticisms.  He  concludes verse 9 by saying, “yet not destroyed.” It is only when you and I retreat from our calling, when we act defeated, when we refuse to share the Gospel, that we prove the other side correct.

My friends you are not destroyed. Despite how defeated you feel, you are not destroyed. Your clay pot may be cracked, in more than one place, or in your mind is beyond repair. It may very well not be the most colorful or largest or most jewel encrusted pot on the shelf. It is, however, on the shelf. Hallelujah! Not destroyed.

Even if some future archeologist finds your earthly pieces scattered all around, your pot is whole and perfect in Heaven. The Good News is that the legacy you have left behind will still be here, for it can never be erased. For you came upon the Word not on your own power, but by God’s grace. By God’s grace take the time to share the truth of Jesus during your brief visit here on earth.

Jesus’ sufferings are revealed in Paul’s body, in the scars on his back from the times he was beaten, and from his stoning, and from the other evidence that he has suffered sacrificially, like Christ. “For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh.”

Our broken pottery may be exactly what the world needs to see. We are not selling a magic potion, we are sharing the the Good News, which is no trick. God will destroy all the tricks and tricksters. You were created by the greatest artisan, so that all who see you know who created you. By God’s grace you shall never be destroyed.

BENEDICTION

Leader: Go forth in peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all

People: And also with you.

All: Amen

05-27-18 “Same Yet Different”
New Testament: Romans 8:12-17
Gospel: John 3:1-17

Imagine a young woman marries into a new family. She comes from a smaller family but is now being introduced to huge family. Even though she and her new husband have been courting of a long time there is still a learning curve once the wedding is over. The first Christmas season rolls around and her husband says, “Well it’s time to make plans for New York.” She knows what he is talking about but is still shocked to a small degree. “New York,” she says quietly.

They begin to have a long conversation about family heritage and honoring one’s parents. He reminds her that every year his family travels to New York and rents out a huge suite overlooking Central Park and they celebrate there. She wants to maintain her family tradition of staying at home and sitting around the tree on Christmas morning opening gifts as they always have. Christmas, family and presents – all the same, yet they are celebrated differently.

I think there is a large learning curve for the new Duchess of Essex, Meghan. Do you think there might be expectations placed on her by her family that were not expected by her far less famous biological family. Ya think!

A major league home run is a home run in any park. The rules says any ball that leaves the park within the fair poles is ruled a home run. The longest home run in Wrigley requires a 400’ drive. In the old Polo Grounds in New York it took a blast of 500’. It’s still a home run, yet it’s different.
How can this be considered fair. How can people all playing the same game have so much variance in the form of presentation? These are examples of a defined act yet it is played out differently; here is another.

Pastor’s who are changing appointments will experience a time of learning a new system. Even though there is a Book of Discipline that tries the level the playing field. Each congregation still plays the game a little differently. Is this fair?

Not every marriage survives, not every ball player adjusts to the game and not every pastor is cut out for the demands of the itinerant system. For the majority the inequalities are overcome by something greater than the challenge. What is intangible that binds all these differences together and keeps them unified? Love. A married couple remains in love despite the different ways their families celebrate Christmas. They overcome hardships because their love is greater than their differences. For other married couples the greatest love is to seperate. A baseball player remains in the game because they love the game beyond the inconsistencies. A pastor remains faithful to God throughout a career even though every church they serve sees rule, mission and ministry differently.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus and asks a similar question, How can we have the same scrolls of faith, the same prophets, the same law, the same God and yet be so different in how we understand faith? Even after Jesus answers Nicodemus, he is still confused. Jesus tells him it is a matter of interpreting God’s love. Nicodemus is not challenging God, he is challenging how other s worship God.

In the current dispute in the United Methodist Denomination some think that God is demanding we stay together while others believe God is saying we must separate.

Can God be unified in one thought yet be big enough to love others who don’t see things just as the Lord does? Seems to me that Jesus loves Nicodemus despite how differently he sees things. Can God love me even though I may not interpret the Word exactly as it was intended? That is my hope and that is one reason why I continue to play the game. That is why I don’t get mad and go home or go play somewhere else where the rules are more my speed.

I see the challenge in this passage between Jesus and Nicodemus as a call to remain himself. Yes, love yourself; but continue to struggle with the faith to understand God better, Jesus seems to be saying. The call from Jesus today is not to understand your opponent or your neighbor better, but perhaps to understand God better. We spend too much time concerned over how others worship God.

I think Jesus loved Nicodemus just the way he was. An inquisitive, fearful, seeking Disciple who did not let a lack of understanding from drawing him closer to Jesus. The scriptures don’t present us with a much clearer example of someone who is lost in their faith.

In most cases, if we rely only on trying to understand and love our neighbors better we will fail. Our success comes from understanding and loving God greater, first. The first and greatest commandment was to love God, then secondly, love your neighbor. This is the order set by God.
The same part is that we love God, the different part is that we all love God in our own unique way. Jesus did not hand Nicodemus a Book of Discipline and say adhere to this. He gave him a challenge to love himself, to figure things our in his own mind, yet remain in love with God.

The soldiers we remember today, the ones who died in combat serving this nation where not unified in their faith, their politics, their view on marriage or even which baseball team they rooted for. What was the unifying word again? Love. Love of country. A greater love than for a person, an ideal, a vision, a moral platform. Love of country is greater because it encompasses all of these and more.
Love of God comes first because it also incorporates all love. If we truly love God then that love will guide our love of all visions, platforms, ideals and even, yes, people.

It is possible for a variety of people with a variety of thoughts and beliefs to live together in harmony. Or, must we travel to the lowest end of the spectrum by spewing out hate filled words on Twitter and Facebook, or worse do we draw up plans to take a gun into the school and intact our own vengeance? Without love we would have no hope. Love great enough to bind us is a great love. Greater than we can comprehend.

How do you celebrate this great love? One way is to remember the sacrifice. That is why Memorial Day is so important to us – we remember the sacrifice. That is why Jesus is so important to us – we remember the sacrifice. This is a the core of what makes us who we are. God’s love.

A party is not enough, nor are flowers or a poem or even a whole church service with a fairly good sermon. These are wonderful pillars to help support what we believe. For that young bride making her first trip to New York, or the young groom changing to adapt to his bride’s heritage, just going is not enough. It may make all but one happy for a few days but it is not a lasting sacrifice. Until he or she embraces the groaning as something beautiful it will only be lip service. Lip service will not stand up to the test of time. When Jesus asks us, “Do you believe these things?” The Lord meant, “Do you believe these things?” Beyond a celebration, beyond nice trappings and wonderful words; do you believe? Doesn’t matter whether or not your neighbor believes the same as you, “Do you believe?”

Are you willing to sacrifice for the good of the Kingdom as Jesus sacrificed for yours?
A deep abiding love of a baseball creates sacrifice by the players. Life long injuries, time away from family among others. A deep binding love in marriage means we make sacrifices of history and heritage. A deep abiding love of country makes you sacrifice, sometimes even our own lives. A deep abiding love of God helps us transition between pastors and so much more. A love of God first, allows us to truly love our spouses, country, churches, pastors, even our baseball team.

The love of God goes even further than these. A deep abiding love of God means we sacrifice our very selves to the cause of Jesus. Are we able to sacrifice enough to be able to sit down and have a conversation with a person like Nicodemus who sees things very differently than we do and not get up and leave the table. Whether it is the Way Forward or a new pastor. You will never be able to understand these until you have an understanding of God.

Even more, to understand the God who lives in your neighbor’s heart. We can’t until we love God first. First love God, then love neighbor. We have deeply held beliefs and that’s not bad, until those deeply held beliefs stop us from having a conversation with Nicodemus. This world is filled with people like Nicodemus, Martha, Mary, Thomas, Peter, there are a lot of Paul’s and probably even more Judases.

Knowing that you will never be able to make them all understand God exactly as you do, how will you celebrate those differences? Do you want to know how Jesus celebrated – Jesus loved them all, still does. Do you think you could begin to celebrate the differences long enough to see if you can find sameness?

WRAPPING IT UP/BENEDICTION
Again I remind you that the people in these earthly unions will eventually let you down. God will not. How do we celebrate the great love God has given us? It is the same love but how we accept it, share it and live it is a varied as the number of people God has blessed it with. The same yet different. Beautiful.
If God didn’t want it this way, the Lord would have created each of us exactly the same. Did’t the Lord realize that if we all a little different we might find it difficult to love each other? The challenge is not be to love the sameness, for even the pagans do this, the challenge is to find a way to love the differences. Each one of us in this Sanctuary is created in the image of God, so what does God look like? God looks like love.

PRAY – AMEN.
BENEDICTION
Leader: Go forth in peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all
People: And also with you.
All: Amen

05-20-18 “Can You Hear Me Groaning?”

New Testament: Romans 8:22-27

Gospel: John 15:26-27 & 16:4-15

Michael and Molly rented a home and they moved in three weeks ago. Sarah and Garrett just bought a new home and are moving in two weeks. When they were little kids they didn’t make a big decision without seeking Debbie or I. In fact, most of the big decisions were just made by us. As they got older we began to share more and more with them about being independent. Not independent from God, just being able to make their own decisions.

We said it over and over, there will come a day that you will be making these decisions on your own. When the time came we offered our years of experience to help them purchase their first car, chose a college, handling their own finances. Similar to how Jesus mentored the disciples and taught them and lead them by the hand for the first few years. Then there came a time to let go and pray the mentoring and sharing was enough. All of us need to let go at some point.

As you and I are experiencing these last few months there is groaning in the letting go and changes of life. At the ‘Making a Good Move’ Conference I attended this weekend, Bishop Coyner reminded us that we both need time to grieve. How often do we only think that the congregation’s grieve. We need to give each other time to grieve. I ask that you give Pastor Julie time to grieve her former congregation. She will need time to get adjusted here, and grieving is part of that adjustment period. Sometime these changes can take a long time.

For millenia the Colorado River has been grinding and groaning its way down through the Grand Canyon, on through Arizona, and on its way to the Gulf of California.

For centuries people lived and died alongside that river some starved to death others froze to death. Many just sat there and shivered in the darkness, all for lack of power. Ironic, yet there was one of the most powerful rivers in America flowing right buy them. As the river groaned so did the people because the power was unavailable — until one day some creative people built the Hoover Dam. They erected this tremendous concrete wall at great sacrifice of money and life, but for the first time the power of the river could be harnessed. The groaning changed.

That is something like what happened at Calvary. All the power of God has been here since the beginning, flowing all around, but unavailable, until the cross of Jesus Christ. The groaning changed. At the cross, at enormous sacrifice, the power of God was released to humankind, yet it was still too much.

As you drive across the Mojave Desert between Arizona and Los Angeles you see the great transmission towers which bring the power of Hoover Dam into the Los Angeles basin. Every one of them bears a warning sign: Danger, High Voltage. Energy is streaming through that wire at hundreds of thousands of volts. How can you and I use a hundred thousand volts? It is too much. So a system of transformers has been installed which breaks it down until it comes out at levels we can use, meaning 110 volts or 220 volts.

If we use the word transformer in reference to the Holy Spirit of God we hear Jesus words this way: It is better for you that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Transformer will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he, the Transformer, comes, he will make available to you all the limitless forces which lie in God. He will take what is mine, and give it to you in quantities that you can handle, just right for your situation. Within the Spirit lies all the limitless power of God.

We are not that different from those original disciples. We cannot bear the full revelation of the love and grace of Jesus Christ. We don’t have minds enough to understand it, nor hearts big enough to encompass it.

We need to have it broken down to our size. But it is there, ready for us to take, ready for us to take and use in our own situations. My kids were not ready to go out and buy or rent a home when they were 6 or 7 or 8. I am still wondering how they accomplished all this without me by their side, or at least their mother. How hard was it for Jesus to let go and leave us? Was it difficult for Jesus to allow us to continue growing without the Lord physically holding our hands? Was there groaning in Heaven?

There was a time when your kids were little and you said something about them moving out and living on their own that they got scared and held your hand even tighter. Then as they got older they began to get excited about the possibilities of living independently. The groaning changed. There are times the changes of life leave us groaning. Paul tells us the whole creation has been groaning since the beginning. At our first birth we groaned, and so too did our mothers. Then we aged and that process caused groaning in the physical and emotional growth. There was groaning when we came to know our creator, then the remainder of our aging into our senior years and finally our death. There is much groaning in our life.

In the Gospels we often find the immature disciples groaning after a Jesus teaching moment. Especially when he taught them about his upcoming death. Even before that they often left a Jesus teaching moment with their heads down, questions burning in their minds, sadness filling their hearts. At Pentecost, however, they are filled with amazement, awe, wonder and they are encouraged to begin this new life with the Spirit. The groaning changed. The groaning is no longer like childbirth but more of new life, of eternal life.

So there is a good type of groaning. Too often we connect groaning to something terrible. Obviously I cannot know the pain of childbirth. I do know, however the pain of child rearing, of letting go. First becoming my own person, then being responsible for another.There is groaning in the process we are all going through in achieving righteousness. Yes, God has already delivered us, but living within that deliverance may cause groaning.

It’s difficult to see the good in groaning during the process. Maybe this is why Jesus said it is better that I go. The disciples may have never accomplished what they did if Jesus remained at their side holding their hands. Life is a groaning process, spiritual life and physical life. God was present in the Garden of Eden and yet Adam and Eve sinned.

Even though we have the Holy Spirit of God with us we are still susceptible to sin. Hear the Good News, we don’t have to starve or freeze to death along the banks of a powerful river. That strong stream of current of life is here for us to claim.

Once we claim it, we reveal it to the world. Jesus says that when we have been fully charged with the Holy Spirit we will be convicted of what sin is; understand that there is right and wrong and we know that we cannot deny judgement, for we will be judged on how we live. This is our challenge to groan through the process of maturity. Jesus is seeking fully mature, devoted disciples.

We are to be like the parents of the whole world who are in charge of teaching and mentoring. If we are Jesus’ disciples. We should always be open to learning and growing as we share and teach. We need to be consistently bringing Jesus name before the people. Not just to tell them about the Lord, but to demonstrate what a life transformed by the transformer looks like.

We need to teach others how we respond to God’s Word. What better way to teach than to respond to God’s Word in the way we have been taught. To be guided by the truth in the here and now and to live with your eyes open to what has yet to happen. Most importantly we teach how to live according to what we hear from the Holy Spirit. To demonstrate that we survive the groaning.

I groaned when I was a young boy holding my father’s hand. I groaned even more when that responsibility fell on me. This is more to the point of Paul’s words, we are getting to heart of his letter. When weight or pressure is applied to a wooden pallet, that wood groans and creaks and it groans.

The disciples groaned when Jesus left for they knew the weight that they would be assuming. TheGood News is that  God sends the Holy Spirit to shore us up to be able to handle the pressure. If God transforms the power to a voltage we can handle, so too does the Lord help us with the crosses each of us has to bear. Jesus did not carry his cross alone we are not expected to either. There is no need to sit along the banks of God’s powerful river of life and shiver or starve. Tap into that power with God’s help and be transformed. Change your groaning.

God watched as we built the Hoover Dam to harness the power of that flowing water. God also watched as we built a wooden cross. The Lord took the groans of death on that cross and transformed them into groans of life.

The power of God is available to each of us. When the world looks at us, let it not see just the groaning of sin, but the groaning that comes from the righteous conduct of God that resides within each of you. We are disciples fully empowered to continue the work of Jesus in this world.

The world needs to know that God is still in control of history, that all of history is trending toward a one great event which lies yet in the future. Let them see that in you. Not despite the cross we bear but because of it. That is what the Spirit of God is come to do. Let them see the beauty of our groaning, let them see the hope that lies within our groaning.

BENEDICTION

Leader: Go forth in peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all

People: And also with you.

All: Amen

05-13-18 “Mother’s Day”

New Testament: 1 John 5:9-15

Gospel: John 17:6-19

A little boy came up to his mother in the kitchen one evening while she was fixing supper, and handed her a piece of paper. After his Mom dried her hands on an apron, she read it, and this is what it said:

For cutting the grass: $5.00

For cleaning my room this week: $1.00

For going to the store for you: $.50

Baby-sitting my kid brother while you shopped: $.25

Taking out the garbage: $1.00

For getting a good report card: $5.00

For cleaning up and raking the yard: $2.00

Total owed: $14.75

Well, his mother looked at him standing there, and the boy could see the memories flashing through her mind. She picked up the pen, turned over the paper and she wrote:

For the nine months I carried you while you were growing inside me: No Charge

For all the nights that I’ve sat up with you, doctored and prayed for you: No Charge

For all the trying times, and all the tears that you’ve caused through the years: No Charge

For all the nights that were filled with dread, and for the worries that come with raising a child: No Charge

For the toys, food, clothes, and even wiping your nose:

No Charge

Son, when you add it up, the cost of my love is:

No Charge.

When the boy finished reading what his mother had written, there were big tears in his eyes, and he looked straight at his mother and said, “Mom, I sure do love you.” And then he took the pen and in great big letters he wrote: “PAID IN FULL”.

Believing that we need to get what we think we deserve stems from an immature mind. Getting what we don’t deserve from God takes a humbling faith.Our worth before God never changes. Throughout the span of our life, our worth changes depending on where we are in our journey. As children we are not valued very highly. During our working years we have a contract with our employer we give them 40 hours of our life and we are compensated with finances and benefits. When we retire we expect a return from the government, pension plans or other investments. Sometimes we carry this worthiness paradigm into our faith practice.

We mistrust God because we have been taught unfair labor and investment practices. Before the advent of unions, and laws to protect investments, workers did not always get treated fairly. Workers were not compensated equitably, especially if their job took more than 40 hours or was physically dangerous.

How often do we throw our creator into the same mix. Believing that somehow the unfair way we have been treated is God’s fault?

There are times we need to address concerns of health and safety but always in the light of Jesus words that we never put ourselves above another person. Motherhood requires that the needs of the children and family are always before her own. A mother’s job requires sacrifice.

If it’s possible, let’s think about the worker-employer relationship on a level, fair playing field. An employee asks for a couple of extra days of to take care of some personal issues. The boss says okay, but discusses making up the work or perhaps docking pay. An agreement is reached. No sacrifice has taken place. We are tricked into thinking that either or both sides made a sacrifice or that someone caved in. No, it’s still agreed upon equitable compensation.

What we read in the opening story is not equitable compensation, it is sacrifice. A mother does not get a financial gain for her efforts as Mom. A mother may give 40 hours of her life to the duties of a home, but does she get compensated? Not in the legal labor terminology. Unless the children become rich and repay Mom with a vacation home. The only gains in motherhood are in the intangible gifts. For the mother who believes in Jesus, that is. There are spiritual benefits from being devoted to God and family.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus is praying to God about the disciples and other believers. Lets re-read versus 17-19 as if Jesus were specifically praying about motherhood. Let’s see if were can find the spiritual blessings.17 Sanctify mothers by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent mothers into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Sanctification is the process where we work on our faith by trusting in, believing in and following Jesus. Sanctification can be looked at as out pathway to Heaven. We desire to be in Heaven with God, right? So we work in this world as if Heaven was tangible that we could see and feel right now. We don’t wait for that far off day to be sanctified, we start now, living within the blessings of God.

A Godly mother goes through the same trials with her children as the unchurched mother. God does not create perfect children simply because a mother believes. No, they are subject to the same world as every one else. A Godly biological Mother cries out the same as a Step-Mom, Mother-In-Law, Foster Mother, the Mother of adopted children, or a Mother by any other means. If they believe in Jesus, they cry out to Jesus.

It is important for Christian Mom to know they have a  God to cry out to. It has been said that being a parent is the toughest job. A person who works in a foundry or factory has a tough job too, but a Mom has a connection to the work that others do not have. A deep love that crosses all the fences that keep us in check. The love between mother and child has no boundaries, it is like the love God has for us, it is eternal. It is a love so profound it forever changes you and it is something you fight for and believe in so deeply that you sacrifice for it without question.

A deep abiding love must be bolstered by the confidence of God that there is more than the life we have in this life. Raising children in this life can be more than painful than imaginable, it can be heart breaking. The deep binding love of a mother is the closet thing we can understand that reveals the love God has for us.You understand the love you have for you’re children, grand children and great and great and so on; imagine now the that same deep abiding love that God has for all children.

What would you do for your children? How far would you go? What would God do for us? In 1st John, the author writes, “14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

We offer up millions of prayers but at the core of them all is this one question, “Do you love me despite who I am?” A Mother’s child looks at his/her Mother and wants to know the same thing. How does a Mother respond?

If we were able, we would do anything for our family. God is able and has already done the hardest thing that love requires, forgives us all and welcomes us home despite all the things we have done. When I say that love hurts, it is not just the bad times when mothers and betrayed, lied to, physically abused, those can hurt. Not just when they worry and lose sleep over our actions. The greatest hurt love provides is to forgive all those actions. This is why a Mother’s job is the toughest, the forgiveness it requires. Sounds like our Savior.

The one who has love great enough to forgive all things never flaunts a list of accomplishments. The mother in our opening story never flaunted her accomplishments. Like God, we are to remember the sacrifice. She let her child know the cost. We know what God has done by reading the Holy Scriptures. We know what God has done by looking back over our lives.

Each time we go to God for help with forgiveness on our tongues, and repentance in our hearts, we receive that which we don’t deserve. That is how exactly how a Mother is asked to live her life, in fact, it is how we have all be commanded to live.

If Mom’s, or any of us, kept a list of accomplishments it is not sacrifice it is done with the expectation of reimbursement.

That’s not what God’s loves teaches.

Go forth to live and love freely as God teaches.

BENEDICTION

Leader: Go forth in peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all

People: And also with you.

All: Amen