Scripture reading: John 3:16
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Sermon Title: "WHATEVER IT TAKES" Sunday, May 11, 2008
PASTOR HUDSON: Today is Mother's Day,
but it's appropriate, even as we honor and esteem Mom,
to remember that the very best that speaks to us out
of the image of a loving mom, a loving mother, is
first and foremost because it was God's characteristic
before it was hers.
We can say that same thing for the dads, for you
see, we love because God's attribute of love was
impressed upon us as individuals when we were made in
the image of God. In a real sense of the word that's
the way moms are because that's the way God is,
a “whatever it takes” kind of love.
A few days ago as we moved into spring time, I
was watching a mother bird in our neighborhood manage
a nest. In moving through that process of laying eggs
and getting that spring rite of passage underway, some
crows in our neighborhood decided that the eggs would be
easy pickings, and would
make a tempting morsel.
I watched in amazement and admiration as this
little momma bird took on that crow and just
absolutely let that crow have it. She didn't back
down an inch. The last I saw of him, the crow was
sailing over the treetops with Mom in hot pursuit. It
looked kind of like a World War II fighter diving at a
bomber. Feathers were flying. Whatever it takes.
Isn't that the way moms are? Guys have a little
bit of trouble understanding the mom thing. I found
that out a number of years ago, but you know, we
understand that we're half of the equation. It's true
dads are important, but we don't
really understand the mom thing.
That came home to me when Marilyn and I were
expecting our first son, Jeremy. We were very young,
and this was back in the day before the really
elaborate birthing suites they have now. We were
sitting in what really kind of amounted to an
exam-type room. Marilyn was deep into the process,
and they had given her this inhaler. It basically had
in it something to deaden the pain. She could put it
over her nose and mouth and breathe it in, kind of
like a nitrous-oxide treatment.
At one point as she was going through that
process, I had the opportunity to look at this thing
very closely. This inhaler had a chrome face mask
with a metal canister. I noticed that the canister
had dents all over it, very badly beaten up. Just for
a moment I found myself wondering how do you suppose
all those dents got there? As the evening went on, I
found out. Guys don't really have a clue, ladies,
I've got to tell you.
You know, the crazy part about it is moms seem to
be willing to step up and do that. One person said in
a facetious tongue-and-cheek way a few years
back that moms must be the most loving creatures in
the universe, or the entire human race would die out
in one generation. They're willing to step up and do
whatever it takes time and time again.
They're tenacious, they're loving, but isn't that
just like God? God loved you and me so much that he
gave heaven's greatest gift. He gave his son to lay
down his life, yield himself voluntarily, empty
himself out to be a sacrifice, a redeeming work for
us.
I remember talking to a young woman not too many
years ago that never knew her mom. She grew up in a
series of foster homes. While some of them were very
good foster homes, there were others that were maybe
not as good where the dynamic was problematic. As a
young woman, that was something that kind of haunted
her in a very significant way.
On one particular occasion we were in a small
group Sunday school study, and we were talking about
the role of being parents. She lamented as an
individual that she struggled with those images. She
didn't know quite how to relate. Her mom was always
kind of a fixture on the side, an attachment, a
live-in guest, and she never really had the kind of
experience that probably most of us in the sanctuary
take for granted, a mom that would be like that little
bird, a mom that would do whatever it takes to make
sure that things turn out well for you.
I always found it sad the idea that perhaps for
some they never understand that that's the way God
loves us as well. No matter how uneasy you might feel
about your mom, you may never have reached a point
where you can really accept within yourself that God
loves you just that much.
I remember a couple of years ago we had a wreath
on the door of our house, and if you're like me, you
don't use the front door as much as you do the back
door. So about April our Christmas wreath is still on
the front door, and it dawns on Marilyn that a couple
of finches from our neighborhood have built a nest in
our wreath.
So I think, oh, maybe we ought to get the wreath
down and put it away. Marilyn looked at me and said,
No, you're not, there is a nest in there, and Mom is
raising her babies. So sure enough, the nest stayed
until Mom had
successfully launched that family of little birds.
Truth of the matter is God is just like Mom, whatever
it takes. We left the wreath on the door.
God is wired to do whatever it takes to reach my
life and your life with the grace that transforms and
changes who we are. In the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit, amen.