Mother's Day Tribute to God

Below is a copy of a sermon reflecting the "Maternal" side or nature of God.

‘God’s Maternal Nature’: One of the Best Mother’s Day Sermons I Can Rememberby Jim Wallis 05-10-2010
Yesterday I heard one of the best Mother’s Day sermons I can remember. It was by the pastor at our family’s church, Rev. Jeff Haggray of First Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.
It contains an amazing and quite radical declaration on Mother’s Day from Julia Ward Howe, the visionary behind the holiday, who also wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic, and later became a pacifist after witnessing the carnage of the Civil War. Jeff powerfully laid out the true history of this special day and drew out the theological meaning of “God’s Maternal Nature.” Joy and I were both moved to tears by his words.
“God’s Maternal Nature” John 14:23-29
Festival of the Christian Home/Mother’s Day
Sixth Sunday of Easter May 9, 2010
Dr. Jeffrey Haggray
Mother’s Day is one of my favorite days of the year, because it is a fixed date in our national life that is dedicated to recognizing our beloved mothers and those mother figures that not only brought us into the world, but in so many instances provided the foundation and the framework for our moral, emotional, physical and spiritual development. We have lots of holidays on our national calendar, among them Father’s Day, that are dedicated to different groups or to individuals.
Regrettably, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are not formally recognized observances in the orthodox Christian calendar year. I say regrettably because one of the most profound teachings of the Scriptures is, “Honor thy Father and Mother.”
Mother’s Day is also one of those special days in the American canon that was uniquely conceived of and advocated for by Christian women with such clarity and vigilance that it eventually had to be formally recognized.
The first North American Mother’s Day was conceptualized by Julia Ward Howe in 1870. Mrs. Howe lived from May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910. She was a prominent American abolitionist, leader in the woman’s suffrage movement, social activist, and poet, and is best known for having penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic in 1858. However, Julia Howe later became so distraught by the death and carnage of the Civil War that she became a pacifist.
As part of her effort to end wars by working for peace Julia Ward Howe called on all Mothers to come together and protest the futility of their sons killing the sons of other mothers. She called for an international Mother’s Day celebrating peace and motherhood and issued a stirring Mother’s Day Proclamation which I will read to you in a moment. (See The Complete History of Mother’s Day-Mother Day Central at http://www.mothersdaycentral.com/)
The holiday that was started by Julia Ward Howe did not continue uninterrupted; but once the seeds for the idea were sown, it was just a matter of time before it would be adopted. With the work of Anna Reeves Jarvis, of West Virginia, and her daughter Anna M. Jarvis, the concept of Mother’s Day continued in that state.
In 1912 West Virginia became the first state to officially recognize Mother’s Day, and in 1914 Woodrow Wilson signed it into national observance, declaring the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
I want to return for a moment to Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation written 140 years ago because therein she highlighted certain mother strengths:
Arise, then, women of this day!Arise all women who have hearts, Whether your baptism be that of water or of tearsSay firmly, we will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage, for caresses and applause.Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearnAll that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.We women of one country will be too tender of those of another countyTo allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.From the bosom of the devastated earth A voice goes up with our own. It says, “Disarm, Disarm!”The sword of murder is not the balance of justice!Blood does not wipe out dishonorNor violence indicates passion. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war; Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace,Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, Not of Caesar, But of God.In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask That a general congress of women without limit of nationalityMay be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenientAnd at the earliest period consistent with its objectsTo promote the alliance of the different nationalities,The amicable settlement of international questions.The great and general interests of peace.
Julia Howe’s proclamation identifies and celebrates some particular mother-strengths. I have learned from the women’s movement that I should not presume to speak on behalf of women. Thus I rely on the voices of women to know that a consensus exists among them concerning the qualities identified by Julia Ward Howe.
You can interview women of Scripture such as Queen Esther and Queen Sheba, Rachel, Ruth, Phoebe, Lydia or Mary the Mother of Jesus; or interview modern history makers, some gone on, and others still among us such as Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mary McLeod Bethune, Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Dorothy Height, Hattie Mae Noel, Maya Angelou, Marian Wright Edelman, Sonia Sotomayor, Nancy Pelosi, Georgia Mae Green, Madeleine Albright, Renita Weems, Vashti McKenzie, or Barbara Brown Taylor.
The womanist spirit, values and strategic priorities captured in Julia Ward Howe’s proclamation are reflected in the lives of all these women, and others not named, and those strengths are personified by our Mothers.
Howe believed that if Mothers from around the globe were to convene an international summit at a time and in a place of their choosing around a common agenda and mutual terms they could end all forms of discrimination and injustice, slavery, arms races, military build-ups, international conflicts, and world wars.
Howe contended that an international summit convened by Mothers would begin by commemorating all their loved ones that died as a result of various conflicts; and afterwards they would solemnly collaborate with each other as equals as to the process whereby the great human family can achieve peace. Mothers would change the tone of the meeting, and then decide the nature and scope of the agenda, would relate to other mothers as equals, and thereby change the world. What a concept!
The essence of Howe’s thesis is that it is in the nature of Mothers to make meaningful change leading to wholeness, harmony, and peace.
When we reconsider today’s Gospel reading in John 14:23-29 with the benefit of Julia Ward Howe’s perspective, we can see the maternal traits described by Howe reflected in Jesus’ teachings about God.
Jesus was giving a farewell speech to his disciples, and was responding to a question from Judas (not Iscariot) about why he was disclosing his identity and his nature to the disciples only and not to the entire world.
Jesus’ replied to the question so as to consciously help the disciples understand him more fully so that they can understand God more fully and then proclaim God’s love to the world.
It requires no stretch of the Biblical writ or of the imagination to acknowledge that the maternal traits which we celebrate and extol on Mother’s Day also reflect the image of God.
Let’s look again at the maternal attributes advanced by Julia Ward Howe, and hold them up alongside the teachings of Jesus that we might gain a glimpse into God’s Maternal Nature:
1. Reflection on Howe – The maternal nature builds relationships based on mutual respect, common humanity, and love, rather than by force of war or political control:
“Arise all women who have hearts,
Whether your baptism be that of water or of tears.”
Jesus: John 14:23a/ Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them,”
Reflection on Jesus – God’s Maternal Nature advocates Discipleship that is rooted in a loving relationship (contra fear, force, and individualism). This message of a loving God must be shared with the whole world. Whoever was responsible for painting a picture across the sky of an angry and threatening God surely had their agenda. But the God of the Holy Bible goes out of her way to express love to the world, saying “with loving kindness have I drawn thee.”
2. Reflection on Howe – The maternal nature values and cherishes the home as the primary institution of the society even above the Halls of Government, or the Academy, or the Church:
“We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.”
Jesus: John 14:23b/ “and we will come to them and make our home with them.
Reflection on Jesus – God’s Maternal Nature advocates Discipleship that is rooted in a healthy home life (contra wandering pilgrimage lacking direction or a destination.) The God of history not only cherishes home life but has also functioned as a homeland for God children, “Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.” It is a powerful idea that we humans take for granted, but in most instances, with some exceptions, no matter how old or far gone we get, so long as our mothers are living, we can always return home. That is not true of all creatures. But it is so concerning our mothers, and is so as pertains to God.
3. Reflection on Howe – The maternal nature recognizes that life’s most enduring values are to be taught and instilled in our children and then guarded with intentionality and insistence:
“Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.”
Jesus: John 14:25/ I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26/ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.
Reflection on Jesus – God’s Maternal Nature Makes Provisions for Instruction, Teaching, and Remembering as Prerequisites to Healthy Discipleship. Jesus wants us to know Christian discipleship entails life-long learning. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. God does not leave us along to navigate the dangerous and treacherous ethical and moral conflicts of our time, but God word serves as a lamp before our feet, and a light to our pathway.
4. Reflection on Howe – The maternal nature insists upon peace and non-violence as the primary means and aims of their negotiations:
“From the bosom of the devastated earth
A voice goes up with our own.
It says, “Disarm, Disarm!”
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice!
Blood does not wipe out dishonor
Nor violence indicate passion.”
Jesus: John 14:27/ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
Reflection on Jesus – It is God’s Maternal Nature that Gives Peace to all those who follow Jesus. In a world where so much disaster, crisis, emergencies, conflict, and trouble are prevalent, it is comforting to worship a God of Peace. God keeps those in perfect peace who focus our minds, hearts, and attention upon God. God’s peace transcends ordinary human comprehension in the most desperate times; that is a motherly quality.
5. Reflection on Howe – The maternal nature embodies unwavering Faith in the Almighty God as the sure foundation of every home, institution, community, or nation:
“Each woman bearing after her own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, But of God.”
Jesus: John 14:29/ And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.
Reflection on Jesus – God’s Maternal Nature creates the conditions for the emergence of faith/belief no matter how chaotic or dangerous the world may become.
Mothers and Fathers have a sacred calling to train children in the way they should go…to sow the seeds of faith no matter how contrary the children, or how countless the odds against their success may seem to be. I call upon Mothers and Fathers to pack away some faith in God inside your children as though you were packing a sack of lunch. They may not want it as they are leaving home; but when they get down the road a piece, and there is no station of welcome to be found; when the job market is not opening its doors with wide arms, when the storms and tests of life are raging, and no shelter or help is nigh; and when there is no more money left for McDonald’s, they may just turn to the sack on their shoulder and find something of value that revives their faith again:
A little boy turned one day in a time of hunger to the sack that his mother had prepared for him and found two fish and five loaves of bread leading to faith on the part of the multitudes.
Billy Holiday turned to her sack one day in a time of bewilderment and disillusionment, and found that her mother had given her something to carry her through this world,
Denzel Washington looked into his sack one day and found the Book of Eli
What are you carrying in your sack today that your mother gave you before you left home?
Might your faith in God, and presence at church today be holdovers from your Mother’s influence, the fruit of her labors, the outgrowth of seeds that she planted inside you long years ago?