O God, It Is Mother's Day... <I>Or</i> Oh Gawd, It's Mother's Day
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
Mother's Day typically offers a conundrum for us -- should we accede to the wishes of many in our congregations who want to make it the primary focus in worship, or should we treat it as a secular holiday that is appropriately observed outside the confines of the sanctuary? Of course, it's always good to lift up parenting -- but how can we do so in a way that keeps our attention firmly on the scriptural witness? In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member George Reed suggests that with its comparison of the relationship between God and humankind to the relationship between a parent and a child, the lectionary epistle text assigned for the Sixth Sunday of Easter gives us an excellent entry point for reconciling these often competing approaches to Mother's Day. The text not only discusses parental love; it also highlights one of the fundamental ways parents demonstrate their love: through the setting of "rules of the road" for their children. The author of First John notes that God's commandments "are not burdensome" -- even if we sometimes feel like they constrain us. That's reminiscent of how children often think of parental rules. Mothers and fathers set limits not to be burdensome, but to protect them and provide a nurturing environment in which they can grow and develop. God's commandments function essentially the same way for us humans -- even if, like headstrong children, we think we know better than our parents and need to learn the wisdom of their rules the hard way. God (and parents) demonstrate love through the setting of rules -- and humans (and children) demonstrate their love and respect by following those guidelines and understanding that it's for our ultimate benefit. As George points out, that binds all of us together. Not only have we all been children of human mothers, but we are all children of God.
Team member Ron Love shares some additional thoughts on the gospel text and its call to sacrificial love. We're all familiar with the verse telling us that there is "no greater love than to lay down one's life" -- but while we associate that with the ultimate sacrifice, Ron reminds us that sacrificial love is demonstrated not only in the ways that capture our attention ("going out in a blaze of glory," if you will), but also in thousands of mundane, unseen ways too. While sometimes we need the shock of the ultimate sacrifice to jolt us out of our complacency, Ron notes that all the small, daily acts of sacrifice also demonstrate our understanding of Jesus' imperative to "love one another as I have loved you."
O God, It Is Mother's Day... OR Oh Gawd, It's Mother's Day
by George Reed
1 John 5:1-6
THE DISCLAIMER
Whichever attitude fits your state of mind as the preacher on Mother's Day, this week we are going to deal with the topic. While I prefer liturgical purity (whatever that means), I long ago gave up the fight against Mother's Day at church. If the congregation wants to make a big deal out of it, I let them. I usually include a thanksgiving for mothers and those who have been like mothers to us. Any reference to mothers is always looking back. We celebrate our mothers and mother figures (who sometimes are male). This means that everyone is included, since all of us have had biological mothers and almost all of us have had some sort of mothering figure in our lives (or we wouldn't have made it this far in life). So in the end, my Mother's Day sermons are altered from what I would preach on any day only by the inclusion of mother-related illustrations.
THE WORLD
This Sunday is Mother's Day. The topic of motherhood is in the center of many conversations currently, as the whole discussion of the relative merits of working vs. stay-at-home moms ("the mommy wars," in popular shorthand) has resurfaced in the news -- stoked by the recent publication in the U.S. of The Conflict: How Modern Motherhood Undermines the Status of Women by the French feminist Elisabeth Badinter, as well as by Ann Romney's indignant comments about how hard she worked raising her children (in response to criticism from a Democratic operative that Romney had never "worked a day in her life"). There has even been legislation proposed to classify the raising of young children as work for women on welfare who cannot afford child care in order to go to work outside the home. There are many different views of what it means to be a mother, as this excellent roundtable appearing in the New York Times last week indicates. So what does it mean to be a parent?
THE WORD
In First John we have the connection made between loving the parent and loving the child. The loving of Jesus as the Christ is proof that we love God, and loving God is a sign that we love all of God's children. There is no concept for loving in part.
The Gospel of John text also relates the circular nature of love: Jesus loves us as God has loved him, therefore we are to love one another. Love is a never-ending circle of God's activity. It is a result of and a proof of our being part of God's family.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
One could begin by talking about the incredible love of mothers for their children. Mothers have sacrificed themselves for their children, and many a mother as she looked upon her son who was being sentenced for heinous crimes could only exclaim, "But he's a good boy." Even the examples of bad mothering serve the point because they cause us such revulsion. (There are always abundant negative examples of parenting in the headlines; most recently we have the New Jersey "tanning mom" arrested for allegedly causing burns on her 5-year-old daughter by bringing her into a tanning booth. The mother's notoriety was sealed when she was lampooned in a Saturday Night Live sketch.)
But the love of God goes even beyond that of a loving mother, a loving parent. God's love is complete, eternal, and wider than all creation.
We are called to love God -- but we can only do that as we love one another. Just for today, you could suggest that we will set aside the idea of loving our enemies. (The command still stands, but we are going to deal with that another time.) Today we are just going to talk about loving those children of God who are part of the church. Just as it is said that one can choose one's friends but one cannot choose one's family, so that is also true when the family is the Family of God.
We don't get to say who can come in and sit at the family table. That is God's call. God is the parent, and only the parent can own or disown a child. If we could just learn to love one another in the church, what a witness we would be for the love of God!
ANOTHER VIEW
by Ron Love
John 15:9-17
THE WORLD
This past April 30, Susan Orellana-Clark was sitting comfortably in her in El Paso home, having a casual but loving Skype conversation with husband, Army nurse Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark. Suddenly his body lurched forward, and Susan could see behind him a bullet hole in the wall. She just witnessed the death of her husband, apparently executed by a sniper in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan. She is now a grieving single mother with two daughters, aged 3 and 9.
This death was dramatic. But perhaps it takes such unfortunate drama to waken us to the meaning of self-sacrifice. Though subsequent investigation revealed that Capt. Clark was not shot and instead probably died from natural causes, that doesn't change the shocking nature of what his wife thought she witnessed -- or of the sudden wake-up call it provides all of us to the ultimate sacrificial price paid by many of our soldiers. After all, there are countless unsung heroes who have given their lives or placed their lives in harm's way in order to protect another individual and to remain loyal to an oath of allegiance. Allow me to offer one personal example. My son, an Army captain in the combat engineers, had to remove six charred, unrecognizable bodies from an incinerated Humvee that had been exploded by an IED (improvised explosive device). The Humvee was on a back road. The explosion was not filmed. The incident and the names of the six soldiers were never made known to the public, because their deaths were a routine daily event in Iraq. Lacking public drama, were their deaths any less sacrificial? Lacking drama, did their deaths contribute any less to the war effort? Lacking Skype, were their deaths any less traumatic for their families?
THE WORD
Jesus said, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends" (John 15:13). Some Greek scholars propose that a word is missing from this modern translation and that it should really read, "No one has greater love than this love, to lay down one's life for one's friends." When reading the verse with the words "than this love," the passage seems to have even more significance, for it is even more specific.
This teaching follows shortly after Jesus taught the disciples that they must love each other as Jesus loved them, which can be seen in Jesus' understanding of his impending crucifixion. Jesus implied this when he stated: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." As we recognize that there is no greater love than a sinless man being crucified for a sinful world, we now understand the meaning of sacrificially loving others.
As Christians we tend to view sacrificial love only in the extreme, not in the mundane. It is imperative that we expand our horizon on the meaning of the phrase "than this love." The parent who gets up early every morning and goes to work daily for 40 years is practicing sacrificial love. The parent who does three loads of laundry each week is practicing sacrificial love. The child who brings an elderly parent into her home and cares for him for untold years is practicing sacrificial love. The schoolteacher who skips watching television in the evenings to prepare a lesson that may capture students' attention is practicing sacrificial love. The school principal that stays with a child long after the lights have been turned out, waiting for that errant parent to come, is practicing sacrificial love.
Any sacrifice for another is composed in these words: "No one has greater love than this love, to lay down one's life for one's friends."
CRAFTING THE SERMON
I. Describe incidents of sacrificial love, both dramatic and mundane.
II. Discuss the meaning of the Bible passage: "No one has greater love than this love, to lay down one's life for one's friends."
III. Share how we can be participants in Jesus' understanding of "love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
ILLUSTRATIONS
When my kids Ben and Sarah were in middle school, their friends would occasionally try to talk them into doing something that they didn't want to do. Sometimes it was just something they'd rather not do, but sometimes it was something that they didn't think they should do. Whichever it was, they didn't want to have to deal with their friends' disapproval if they said "No." What they needed was a parent who would say "No" when they asked if they could do something they didn't really want to do.
So we developed a code: If they said, "Can I..." they were genuinely asking for permission and wanted an honest answer. But if they asked, "May I..." my wife and I knew that we were supposed to say "No."
They could put on a show of protesting and pleading and feigned displeasure -- but they knew, to their relief, that the answer would still be "No."
The system worked all the way through high school.
-- Dean Feldmeyer
* * *
In the 1989 movie Parenthood, Gil, the father (played by Steve Martin), is complaining about the stresses and unpredictability of his life and of being a parent when his mother, Grandma, walks into the room. Up to this moment the audience has assumed (along with the characters in the film) that Grandma is suffering from dementia, but the following dialogue brings that assumption into question:
Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.
Gil: Oh?
Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh what a ride!
Gil: What a great story.
Grandma: I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.
* * *
When my kids Ben and Sarah were three and five years old, my wife went to a weeklong retreat, and I took a week of vacation to stay home and be a single dad.
I decided that this would be the best week of my children's lives, and I filled each day with fun activities. On the first day we went to the zoo, had a picnic, went to the swimming pool, went out for pizza for dinner, and watched their favorite TV shows before falling into bed. The second day was like unto the first, filled with their favorite activities. And so was the third.
On the fourth morning I went in to roust my sleeping kid from bed. The pancakes, I told them, were getting cold.
Ben rubbed his eyes and asked sleepily, "Daddy, do we have to have fun today?" Seeing my shocked face he explained: "We're kinda tired. Mommy only makes us do one fun thing a day."
-- Dean Feldmeyer
* * *
Mother's Day did not start out as a day to honor mothers. Rather, it was a day when mothers were called to stand for peace and justice.
Best known for being the poet/author of "The Battle Hymn of The Republic," Julia Ward Howe was also a strident feminist, anti-slavery activist, and campaigner for world peace. She was appalled and horrified by the carnage of the Civil War, and in 1870 she called women to join forces for disarmament with a proclamation that read:
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears!
Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them of charity, mercy, and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to 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 not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. 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 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 Caesars but of God.
In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.
* * *
Have you ever tried to tell someone what it is like to love another person, when the person you're talking to has never fallen in love? Have you ever tried to tell someone of your joy in the Lord, when the person you're talking to has never experienced God in their life? Words fail. Without a shared level of experience there can be no real communication; love and joy are not doctrines but experiences. Jesus speaks of love and joy as shared experiences -- a common language between Father, Son, and all believers. Jesus loves as the Father has loved. We love because we are loved by our Lord. Jesus does not command us to do that which we have not experienced already. Jesus knows what we will experience, for he has already experienced it with God.
* * *
When people who have just performed some heroic, life-threatening deed in order to save another are asked what they thought about what they were doing while they were doing it, the reply is usually "nothing." Here's a stranger who helped pull three children out of a burning house: "I didn't even think about it. It was happening so fast, and I knew we just had to get them out of there." Here's the mother who lifts a tree off her son's leg: "I didn't even stop to think that the tree was too heavy for me. I didn't feel how heavy it was -- until I put it down."
When love and compassion for another takes over completely, it is usually expressed through actions, not thoughts or feelings. You cannot gradually and cautiously feel your way toward a loving action. As the one mother in the Solomon story demonstrated, love is action. It's staying in the line of danger so your child won't have to face it alone. It's risking losing the child rather than the child losing its life. Love often leaps before it looks.
* * *
The novel A Thousand Splendid Suns follows the life of the two wives of an abusive man in Afghanistan. Mariam, the older, bitter wife, has had a life with one hardship after another and she has no children. Laila, the young wife, is an orphan left brokenhearted by war. As Laila bears the children Mariam never had, Mariam is bitter toward the young woman; however, constant abuse by their husband creates a necessary partnership between them. Their lives take a turn when their husband, Rasheed, finds out that Laila's childhood sweetheart Tariq is alive and has spoken to Laila. Rasheed nearly kills Laila, and it is Mariam who steps in and kills their husband to save Laila's life. In the end, in order for Laila and Tariq to escape, Mariam turns herself in to the police and sacrifices herself before the firing squad in hopes of a better future for the young woman who began as an enemy yet became a friend.
* * *
In the Acts text this week, the Holy Spirit falls upon those who heard Peter speaking with authority.
In an article for the Forbes magazine website titled "How to Speak with Authority", Jenna Goudreau, who writes for businesswomen, quotes Christine Jahnke, a speech coach and the author of The Well-Spoken Woman, who offers ten ways to give your spoken words a sense of authority:
1. Take possession of the room; act like you belong and deserve to be there.
2. Stand like a champion: one foot forward, weight on the back foot.
3. Sit forward with your elbows on the table.
4. Tailor your message to your audience.
5. Get to the point quickly.
6. Slow down and breathe.
7. Utilize vocal variety -- loud, soft, high, low, and so on.
8. Cut out fill-in words like "like," "you know," or "okay."
9. Use humor and warmth.
10. Let go of self-doubt.
* * *
Most people think of "Dog Whisperer" Cesar Millan as someone who trains dogs, but Millan insists that what he does is rehabilitate dogs and train dog owners. Part of this owner training process, he says, involves teaching them that dogs do not respond to unconditional love. Only humans understand and are moved by grace. Dogs understand and are moved by rewards or corrections from their pack leader. And rewards are made more effective by being withheld until earned.
One of the most effective and appreciated rewards a dog can receive, says the Dog Whisperer, is a command given in a calm, clear, consistent, authoritative voice. The leader of the pack does not scream or yell or ask or beg. The leader of the pack simply speaks with authority.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Let us sing to God a new song,
People: for God has done marvelous things.
Leader: God has remembered steadfast love and faithfulness for us.
People: All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.
Leader: Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
People: break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
OR
Leader: Come and know the love of our heavenly parent.
People: We come to receive the love of God.
Leader: The love of God is known in our loving one another.
People: Do we have to love those who don't think like us?
Leader: God has claimed them as God's own.
People: We are all God's children. We will learn to love them all!
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"God, Whose Love Is Reigning o'er Us"
found in:
UMH: 100
"How Can We Name a Love"
found in:
UMH: 111
"The King of Love My Shepherd Is"
found in:
UMH: 138
H82: 645/646
PH: 171
NCH: 248
LBW: 456
ELW: 502
Renew: 106
"The Gift of Love"
found in:
UMH: 408
AAHH: 522
CH: 526
Renew: 155
"Jesu, Jesu"
found in:
UMH: 432
H82: 602
PH: 367
NCH: 498
CH: 600
ELW: 708
Renew: 289
"Our Parent, by Whose Name"
found in:
UMH: 447
LBW: 357
ELW: 640
"Help Us Accept Each Other"
found in:
UMH: 560
PH: 358
NCH: 388
CH: 487
"Blest Be the Tie that Binds"
found in:
UMH: 557
PH: 438
AAHH: 341
NNBH: 298
NCH: 393
CH: 433
LBW: 370
ELW: 656
"I Am Loved"
found in:
CCB: 80
"They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love"
found in:
CCB: 78
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who loves us more than a mother loves her children: Grant us love for you as our Creator, for Jesus as our Savior and for each other as our sisters and brothers; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship and adore you, O God, because your love is stronger than the love of a mother for her infant. As we rejoice in the way in which you love us, help us to love you and one another that we may truly be your children. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways in which we fail to act with love and care for one another.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. Even though you have loved us with an eternal love, we have failed to love you with our whole being. Even though you gave yourself to us and for us, we have held ourselves back from you. Even though you have made us to be kin with all people, we have failed to love one another. Even though you have made us out of the dust of the earth and so have linked us with all creation, we have used and abused your world. Forgive us, O God, and so fill us with your Spirit that our love for you, for others, and for all creation may be evident to all who know us. Amen.
Leader: God's love is stronger than our sin. Know that God loves us and forgives us and opens the door for us to love one another.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We stand in awe at the depth of your love for all your creation, O God. Your eternal love is wider, higher, and deeper than anything we can imagine.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. Even though you have loved us with an eternal love, we have failed to love you with our whole being. Even though you gave yourself to us and for us, we have held ourselves back from you. Even though you have made us to be kin with all people, we have failed to love one another. Even though you have made us out of the dust of the earth and so have linked us with all creation, we have used and abused your world. Forgive us, O God, and so fill us with your Spirit that our love for you, for others, and for all creation may be evident to all who know us.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you have shown your love to us. We thank you for the faithfulness with which you have pursued us as you love and care for us. We thank you for your faithful children who have loved us when we have been unlovable. We especially give thanks to you for our mothers and those who have been like a mother to us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those who find it difficult to believe that you love them because they have suffered so in this life. We pray for the poor, the homeless, the abused, and those who been made fun of or who have been scoffed at. We ask that you would empower us with your love so that we can love those around us.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
What if someone told you they liked you and wanted to be friends with you, but they didn't want to be friends with your left hand? Or maybe your right ear? Or your nose? That would be silly, wouldn't it? God says that when we love God we will love all those who are part of God's family. If we love God, we will love one another.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Children of God
1 John 5:1-6
Good morning boys and girls! I brought (bring to the front an older member of the congregation and tell the children the person's name) with me this morning. (address your guest with the next two questions) Tell us how old you are. How long have you attended our church?
(ask the children and let them answer) How many of you believe that (name the older member) is a child? The truth is that (name the older member) is a child. This morning's lesson tells us that she/he is a child of God. I want you children to meet some more people who you never thought were children. I would like everyone in the congregation who is 70 or older (choose a number to fit your congregation's situation) to please stand. Everyone standing is also a child -- a child of God. Thank you, you may sit down. In fact, everyone here today is a child of God.
Our lesson this morning tells us that we are all God's creatures. But not everyone is a child of God. To be a child of God we must believe that Jesus is our Lord. Children of God love their Father and their brothers and sisters in Christ. Proof of this love of God is in our following of God's commandments. That means that we must do what God tells us. To be God's children we must, as Jesus taught us, be spiritually born again. This second birth comes when we believe Jesus is our Lord. After church today I want you to remember all of the persons here who are older than you. Even though some of them are very much older than you they are still children -- just like you. They are children of God because they have faith in God. They follow what God tells them to do. When you follow what God tells you -- when you love one another -- you are a child of God also.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, May 13, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
Team member Ron Love shares some additional thoughts on the gospel text and its call to sacrificial love. We're all familiar with the verse telling us that there is "no greater love than to lay down one's life" -- but while we associate that with the ultimate sacrifice, Ron reminds us that sacrificial love is demonstrated not only in the ways that capture our attention ("going out in a blaze of glory," if you will), but also in thousands of mundane, unseen ways too. While sometimes we need the shock of the ultimate sacrifice to jolt us out of our complacency, Ron notes that all the small, daily acts of sacrifice also demonstrate our understanding of Jesus' imperative to "love one another as I have loved you."
O God, It Is Mother's Day... OR Oh Gawd, It's Mother's Day
by George Reed
1 John 5:1-6
THE DISCLAIMER
Whichever attitude fits your state of mind as the preacher on Mother's Day, this week we are going to deal with the topic. While I prefer liturgical purity (whatever that means), I long ago gave up the fight against Mother's Day at church. If the congregation wants to make a big deal out of it, I let them. I usually include a thanksgiving for mothers and those who have been like mothers to us. Any reference to mothers is always looking back. We celebrate our mothers and mother figures (who sometimes are male). This means that everyone is included, since all of us have had biological mothers and almost all of us have had some sort of mothering figure in our lives (or we wouldn't have made it this far in life). So in the end, my Mother's Day sermons are altered from what I would preach on any day only by the inclusion of mother-related illustrations.
THE WORLD
This Sunday is Mother's Day. The topic of motherhood is in the center of many conversations currently, as the whole discussion of the relative merits of working vs. stay-at-home moms ("the mommy wars," in popular shorthand) has resurfaced in the news -- stoked by the recent publication in the U.S. of The Conflict: How Modern Motherhood Undermines the Status of Women by the French feminist Elisabeth Badinter, as well as by Ann Romney's indignant comments about how hard she worked raising her children (in response to criticism from a Democratic operative that Romney had never "worked a day in her life"). There has even been legislation proposed to classify the raising of young children as work for women on welfare who cannot afford child care in order to go to work outside the home. There are many different views of what it means to be a mother, as this excellent roundtable appearing in the New York Times last week indicates. So what does it mean to be a parent?
THE WORD
In First John we have the connection made between loving the parent and loving the child. The loving of Jesus as the Christ is proof that we love God, and loving God is a sign that we love all of God's children. There is no concept for loving in part.
The Gospel of John text also relates the circular nature of love: Jesus loves us as God has loved him, therefore we are to love one another. Love is a never-ending circle of God's activity. It is a result of and a proof of our being part of God's family.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
One could begin by talking about the incredible love of mothers for their children. Mothers have sacrificed themselves for their children, and many a mother as she looked upon her son who was being sentenced for heinous crimes could only exclaim, "But he's a good boy." Even the examples of bad mothering serve the point because they cause us such revulsion. (There are always abundant negative examples of parenting in the headlines; most recently we have the New Jersey "tanning mom" arrested for allegedly causing burns on her 5-year-old daughter by bringing her into a tanning booth. The mother's notoriety was sealed when she was lampooned in a Saturday Night Live sketch.)
But the love of God goes even beyond that of a loving mother, a loving parent. God's love is complete, eternal, and wider than all creation.
We are called to love God -- but we can only do that as we love one another. Just for today, you could suggest that we will set aside the idea of loving our enemies. (The command still stands, but we are going to deal with that another time.) Today we are just going to talk about loving those children of God who are part of the church. Just as it is said that one can choose one's friends but one cannot choose one's family, so that is also true when the family is the Family of God.
We don't get to say who can come in and sit at the family table. That is God's call. God is the parent, and only the parent can own or disown a child. If we could just learn to love one another in the church, what a witness we would be for the love of God!
ANOTHER VIEW
by Ron Love
John 15:9-17
THE WORLD
This past April 30, Susan Orellana-Clark was sitting comfortably in her in El Paso home, having a casual but loving Skype conversation with husband, Army nurse Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark. Suddenly his body lurched forward, and Susan could see behind him a bullet hole in the wall. She just witnessed the death of her husband, apparently executed by a sniper in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan. She is now a grieving single mother with two daughters, aged 3 and 9.
This death was dramatic. But perhaps it takes such unfortunate drama to waken us to the meaning of self-sacrifice. Though subsequent investigation revealed that Capt. Clark was not shot and instead probably died from natural causes, that doesn't change the shocking nature of what his wife thought she witnessed -- or of the sudden wake-up call it provides all of us to the ultimate sacrificial price paid by many of our soldiers. After all, there are countless unsung heroes who have given their lives or placed their lives in harm's way in order to protect another individual and to remain loyal to an oath of allegiance. Allow me to offer one personal example. My son, an Army captain in the combat engineers, had to remove six charred, unrecognizable bodies from an incinerated Humvee that had been exploded by an IED (improvised explosive device). The Humvee was on a back road. The explosion was not filmed. The incident and the names of the six soldiers were never made known to the public, because their deaths were a routine daily event in Iraq. Lacking public drama, were their deaths any less sacrificial? Lacking drama, did their deaths contribute any less to the war effort? Lacking Skype, were their deaths any less traumatic for their families?
THE WORD
Jesus said, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends" (John 15:13). Some Greek scholars propose that a word is missing from this modern translation and that it should really read, "No one has greater love than this love, to lay down one's life for one's friends." When reading the verse with the words "than this love," the passage seems to have even more significance, for it is even more specific.
This teaching follows shortly after Jesus taught the disciples that they must love each other as Jesus loved them, which can be seen in Jesus' understanding of his impending crucifixion. Jesus implied this when he stated: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." As we recognize that there is no greater love than a sinless man being crucified for a sinful world, we now understand the meaning of sacrificially loving others.
As Christians we tend to view sacrificial love only in the extreme, not in the mundane. It is imperative that we expand our horizon on the meaning of the phrase "than this love." The parent who gets up early every morning and goes to work daily for 40 years is practicing sacrificial love. The parent who does three loads of laundry each week is practicing sacrificial love. The child who brings an elderly parent into her home and cares for him for untold years is practicing sacrificial love. The schoolteacher who skips watching television in the evenings to prepare a lesson that may capture students' attention is practicing sacrificial love. The school principal that stays with a child long after the lights have been turned out, waiting for that errant parent to come, is practicing sacrificial love.
Any sacrifice for another is composed in these words: "No one has greater love than this love, to lay down one's life for one's friends."
CRAFTING THE SERMON
I. Describe incidents of sacrificial love, both dramatic and mundane.
II. Discuss the meaning of the Bible passage: "No one has greater love than this love, to lay down one's life for one's friends."
III. Share how we can be participants in Jesus' understanding of "love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
ILLUSTRATIONS
When my kids Ben and Sarah were in middle school, their friends would occasionally try to talk them into doing something that they didn't want to do. Sometimes it was just something they'd rather not do, but sometimes it was something that they didn't think they should do. Whichever it was, they didn't want to have to deal with their friends' disapproval if they said "No." What they needed was a parent who would say "No" when they asked if they could do something they didn't really want to do.
So we developed a code: If they said, "Can I..." they were genuinely asking for permission and wanted an honest answer. But if they asked, "May I..." my wife and I knew that we were supposed to say "No."
They could put on a show of protesting and pleading and feigned displeasure -- but they knew, to their relief, that the answer would still be "No."
The system worked all the way through high school.
-- Dean Feldmeyer
* * *
In the 1989 movie Parenthood, Gil, the father (played by Steve Martin), is complaining about the stresses and unpredictability of his life and of being a parent when his mother, Grandma, walks into the room. Up to this moment the audience has assumed (along with the characters in the film) that Grandma is suffering from dementia, but the following dialogue brings that assumption into question:
Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.
Gil: Oh?
Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh what a ride!
Gil: What a great story.
Grandma: I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.
* * *
When my kids Ben and Sarah were three and five years old, my wife went to a weeklong retreat, and I took a week of vacation to stay home and be a single dad.
I decided that this would be the best week of my children's lives, and I filled each day with fun activities. On the first day we went to the zoo, had a picnic, went to the swimming pool, went out for pizza for dinner, and watched their favorite TV shows before falling into bed. The second day was like unto the first, filled with their favorite activities. And so was the third.
On the fourth morning I went in to roust my sleeping kid from bed. The pancakes, I told them, were getting cold.
Ben rubbed his eyes and asked sleepily, "Daddy, do we have to have fun today?" Seeing my shocked face he explained: "We're kinda tired. Mommy only makes us do one fun thing a day."
-- Dean Feldmeyer
* * *
Mother's Day did not start out as a day to honor mothers. Rather, it was a day when mothers were called to stand for peace and justice.
Best known for being the poet/author of "The Battle Hymn of The Republic," Julia Ward Howe was also a strident feminist, anti-slavery activist, and campaigner for world peace. She was appalled and horrified by the carnage of the Civil War, and in 1870 she called women to join forces for disarmament with a proclamation that read:
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears!
Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them of charity, mercy, and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to 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 not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. 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 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 Caesars but of God.
In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.
* * *
Have you ever tried to tell someone what it is like to love another person, when the person you're talking to has never fallen in love? Have you ever tried to tell someone of your joy in the Lord, when the person you're talking to has never experienced God in their life? Words fail. Without a shared level of experience there can be no real communication; love and joy are not doctrines but experiences. Jesus speaks of love and joy as shared experiences -- a common language between Father, Son, and all believers. Jesus loves as the Father has loved. We love because we are loved by our Lord. Jesus does not command us to do that which we have not experienced already. Jesus knows what we will experience, for he has already experienced it with God.
* * *
When people who have just performed some heroic, life-threatening deed in order to save another are asked what they thought about what they were doing while they were doing it, the reply is usually "nothing." Here's a stranger who helped pull three children out of a burning house: "I didn't even think about it. It was happening so fast, and I knew we just had to get them out of there." Here's the mother who lifts a tree off her son's leg: "I didn't even stop to think that the tree was too heavy for me. I didn't feel how heavy it was -- until I put it down."
When love and compassion for another takes over completely, it is usually expressed through actions, not thoughts or feelings. You cannot gradually and cautiously feel your way toward a loving action. As the one mother in the Solomon story demonstrated, love is action. It's staying in the line of danger so your child won't have to face it alone. It's risking losing the child rather than the child losing its life. Love often leaps before it looks.
* * *
The novel A Thousand Splendid Suns follows the life of the two wives of an abusive man in Afghanistan. Mariam, the older, bitter wife, has had a life with one hardship after another and she has no children. Laila, the young wife, is an orphan left brokenhearted by war. As Laila bears the children Mariam never had, Mariam is bitter toward the young woman; however, constant abuse by their husband creates a necessary partnership between them. Their lives take a turn when their husband, Rasheed, finds out that Laila's childhood sweetheart Tariq is alive and has spoken to Laila. Rasheed nearly kills Laila, and it is Mariam who steps in and kills their husband to save Laila's life. In the end, in order for Laila and Tariq to escape, Mariam turns herself in to the police and sacrifices herself before the firing squad in hopes of a better future for the young woman who began as an enemy yet became a friend.
* * *
In the Acts text this week, the Holy Spirit falls upon those who heard Peter speaking with authority.
In an article for the Forbes magazine website titled "How to Speak with Authority", Jenna Goudreau, who writes for businesswomen, quotes Christine Jahnke, a speech coach and the author of The Well-Spoken Woman, who offers ten ways to give your spoken words a sense of authority:
1. Take possession of the room; act like you belong and deserve to be there.
2. Stand like a champion: one foot forward, weight on the back foot.
3. Sit forward with your elbows on the table.
4. Tailor your message to your audience.
5. Get to the point quickly.
6. Slow down and breathe.
7. Utilize vocal variety -- loud, soft, high, low, and so on.
8. Cut out fill-in words like "like," "you know," or "okay."
9. Use humor and warmth.
10. Let go of self-doubt.
* * *
Most people think of "Dog Whisperer" Cesar Millan as someone who trains dogs, but Millan insists that what he does is rehabilitate dogs and train dog owners. Part of this owner training process, he says, involves teaching them that dogs do not respond to unconditional love. Only humans understand and are moved by grace. Dogs understand and are moved by rewards or corrections from their pack leader. And rewards are made more effective by being withheld until earned.
One of the most effective and appreciated rewards a dog can receive, says the Dog Whisperer, is a command given in a calm, clear, consistent, authoritative voice. The leader of the pack does not scream or yell or ask or beg. The leader of the pack simply speaks with authority.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Let us sing to God a new song,
People: for God has done marvelous things.
Leader: God has remembered steadfast love and faithfulness for us.
People: All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.
Leader: Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
People: break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
OR
Leader: Come and know the love of our heavenly parent.
People: We come to receive the love of God.
Leader: The love of God is known in our loving one another.
People: Do we have to love those who don't think like us?
Leader: God has claimed them as God's own.
People: We are all God's children. We will learn to love them all!
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"God, Whose Love Is Reigning o'er Us"
found in:
UMH: 100
"How Can We Name a Love"
found in:
UMH: 111
"The King of Love My Shepherd Is"
found in:
UMH: 138
H82: 645/646
PH: 171
NCH: 248
LBW: 456
ELW: 502
Renew: 106
"The Gift of Love"
found in:
UMH: 408
AAHH: 522
CH: 526
Renew: 155
"Jesu, Jesu"
found in:
UMH: 432
H82: 602
PH: 367
NCH: 498
CH: 600
ELW: 708
Renew: 289
"Our Parent, by Whose Name"
found in:
UMH: 447
LBW: 357
ELW: 640
"Help Us Accept Each Other"
found in:
UMH: 560
PH: 358
NCH: 388
CH: 487
"Blest Be the Tie that Binds"
found in:
UMH: 557
PH: 438
AAHH: 341
NNBH: 298
NCH: 393
CH: 433
LBW: 370
ELW: 656
"I Am Loved"
found in:
CCB: 80
"They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love"
found in:
CCB: 78
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who loves us more than a mother loves her children: Grant us love for you as our Creator, for Jesus as our Savior and for each other as our sisters and brothers; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship and adore you, O God, because your love is stronger than the love of a mother for her infant. As we rejoice in the way in which you love us, help us to love you and one another that we may truly be your children. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways in which we fail to act with love and care for one another.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. Even though you have loved us with an eternal love, we have failed to love you with our whole being. Even though you gave yourself to us and for us, we have held ourselves back from you. Even though you have made us to be kin with all people, we have failed to love one another. Even though you have made us out of the dust of the earth and so have linked us with all creation, we have used and abused your world. Forgive us, O God, and so fill us with your Spirit that our love for you, for others, and for all creation may be evident to all who know us. Amen.
Leader: God's love is stronger than our sin. Know that God loves us and forgives us and opens the door for us to love one another.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We stand in awe at the depth of your love for all your creation, O God. Your eternal love is wider, higher, and deeper than anything we can imagine.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. Even though you have loved us with an eternal love, we have failed to love you with our whole being. Even though you gave yourself to us and for us, we have held ourselves back from you. Even though you have made us to be kin with all people, we have failed to love one another. Even though you have made us out of the dust of the earth and so have linked us with all creation, we have used and abused your world. Forgive us, O God, and so fill us with your Spirit that our love for you, for others, and for all creation may be evident to all who know us.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you have shown your love to us. We thank you for the faithfulness with which you have pursued us as you love and care for us. We thank you for your faithful children who have loved us when we have been unlovable. We especially give thanks to you for our mothers and those who have been like a mother to us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those who find it difficult to believe that you love them because they have suffered so in this life. We pray for the poor, the homeless, the abused, and those who been made fun of or who have been scoffed at. We ask that you would empower us with your love so that we can love those around us.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
What if someone told you they liked you and wanted to be friends with you, but they didn't want to be friends with your left hand? Or maybe your right ear? Or your nose? That would be silly, wouldn't it? God says that when we love God we will love all those who are part of God's family. If we love God, we will love one another.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Children of God
1 John 5:1-6
Good morning boys and girls! I brought (bring to the front an older member of the congregation and tell the children the person's name) with me this morning. (address your guest with the next two questions) Tell us how old you are. How long have you attended our church?
(ask the children and let them answer) How many of you believe that (name the older member) is a child? The truth is that (name the older member) is a child. This morning's lesson tells us that she/he is a child of God. I want you children to meet some more people who you never thought were children. I would like everyone in the congregation who is 70 or older (choose a number to fit your congregation's situation) to please stand. Everyone standing is also a child -- a child of God. Thank you, you may sit down. In fact, everyone here today is a child of God.
Our lesson this morning tells us that we are all God's creatures. But not everyone is a child of God. To be a child of God we must believe that Jesus is our Lord. Children of God love their Father and their brothers and sisters in Christ. Proof of this love of God is in our following of God's commandments. That means that we must do what God tells us. To be God's children we must, as Jesus taught us, be spiritually born again. This second birth comes when we believe Jesus is our Lord. After church today I want you to remember all of the persons here who are older than you. Even though some of them are very much older than you they are still children -- just like you. They are children of God because they have faith in God. They follow what God tells them to do. When you follow what God tells you -- when you love one another -- you are a child of God also.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, May 13, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
