Message for the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, June 2, 2024 on Deuteronomy 5:12-15 given at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Richardson, Texas
I met Regina in Detroit while serving my first congregation. Even though she had served as a minister in a non-denominational church, she brought her grandson to the church I was serving because she and Eric lived in the neighborhood and could walk. We became fast friends and Regina became an important mentor for me—both in ministry since I was a new pastor, and as a white pastor serving in an African American neighborhood.
Regina is one of the most peaceful people you ever want to meet. If I called her up right now and had her on speaker phone, I promise you she would answer the phone by saying “peace and love.” Regina was the first person I knew with whom the Holy Spirit spoke directly; she would share with me what the Holy Spirit told her to do. I thought I just didn’t have this spiritual gift, but over time, I realized that I just had not learned how sit still and quiet my mind enough to listen.
One day, Regina, my husband, Dan—also a pastor, and I were talking, and she could hear how we were running around like a couple of chickens with our heads cut off. We didn’t have any kids, yet, so it was easy to work 70 hours/week trying to do everything possible to get things going at our congregations. Dan was frustrated that some things he was working on were not coming together.
Regina looked straight at us and said—with love—“You don’t believe in Jesus.”
We were stunned into silence –for about 3 seconds. “Don’t believe in Jesus? I have a Master of Divinity degree that says I do—I am a professional believer in Jesus!” We’re spouting and sputtering and defending. We wouldn’t work so hard if we didn’t believe in Jesus. All we want is, what Jesus wants….and so on. Regina stayed peaceful and calm and loving while she chuckled and smiled knowingly.
Then she said, again, with love, “We already have a Savior, and you’re not it. Jesus died on the cross, so you don’t have to. You’re killing yourselves trying to tell folks about it.”
It’s hard for us to rest sometimes. To slow down and smell the roses, as the saying goes. It doesn’t matter what your vocation is—there is a lot of pressure to always be busy. Certainly, your job will take all the extra hours you’re willing to give them for free. In fact, most jobs today do expect you to work all the time, to respond to email and texts at all hours of the night and early morning, and on the weekends. Kids schedules, school plays, sports, spending time with family, often involving travel on weekends—every hour of the day is filled.
I’ve noticed it doesn’t really change in retirement—if that’s you, you’re as busy as ever—helping with grandchildren, learning how to play pickle ball, staying fit, managing health appointments, and doing incredible volunteer work, visiting your children, even taking care of elderly parents.
Every day feels like a lot to manage, that it’s not okay to put anything down, because we live in culture that glorifies busyness as a sign of importance, of ego gratification, or social status. Or something, like it makes it worthy of using up space, and taking in air.
But isn’t true that some days, for some moments, it feels good, or it would feel good, to just sit and do nothing? To soak up the sun, or sit in the cool air between the rains (if we had that in Texas right now!), to listen to the birds, to look at the intricacies of a single flower, to lie on a blanket and watch the clouds?
Our bible passage from Deuteronomy says, Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work.
The word “Sabbath” literally means “to rest.” To not work. To not do anything; to take time out and worship the Lord, to give thanks; and then to take nap, enjoy creation, give yourself and your body some peace and love, as Regina says.
This 3rd of the 10 Commandments from God, bears significance, not just because it is a day to worship and give thanks to God, but because when the Israelites were in Egypt, they were slaves—they had no rest, no day off, no chance to recover from their work, no time to enjoy creation, family, or the fruit of their labors. Their life as slaves was work, work, work, burden, and more labor, often enforced with violence.
So, God says, I have liberated you from slavery, I have freed you from the shackles, so do not treat yourselves or each other as slaves who take no rest. Do not put yourself back in bondage to anything, or anyone, or to any idol, be it success, money, or possessions that prevents you from a day off from your labors. Observe the sabbath, a day of rest and worship, a day when you treat yourself, your body, your animals, those you care for, with peace and love, and treat me, your God, with worship and gratitude.
This can be easier said than done, which is why God commanded it. It’s a great set-up really. "I gotta take a nap this afternoon—God said I had to do it!" You can blame God.
Summer is a great season to tweak our schedules and practice taking a Sabbath day of rest each week. We put on the church calendar that my day of rest is Friday—it’s also on my voicemail greeting. So, unless it’s a hospital emergency, funeral, or wedding rehearsal, I try not to work on that day, and to rest, and spend time with Dan. Of course, it doesn’t always work out, but it is part of my weekly plan. I would never rest, it wasn’t planned as part of my schedule (and you know I wouldn't do it!).
This summer, I invite you to slow the pace and have some fun in the sun to nourish your body, soul, heart. And if a whole day is too difficult, start with a half a day, or begin even with a complete hour or two of rest.
One of the best ways to replenish the soul and have fun before or after your nap is getting out in God’s beautiful creation. Have fun with your friends or family, go on a hike, visit some of the nature preserves and parks in the area, explore new terrains when you travel.
I read an article recently in Psychology Today (we've known this for centuries in the church!), and even there they identified 5 spiritual practices that contribute to our well-being, and we can do 3 of them easily outside, having fun in the sun.
The five practices are meditation, awe, gratitude, forgiveness, and compassion. Meditation, awe and gratitude are all great practices to do outside—whether you are on vacation or staycation.
Meditation: You can meditate listening to the birds sing, water moving, or just sitting outside being present and listening to your own breath.
Awe: It is most often amazing vistas in God’s creation that gives us a sense of awe and wonder. In fact, wonder is the very first spiritual expression we have as humans—it’s what babies do with their big eyes looking around and it's why we put the mobile above the crib—because an infant’s first spiritual expression is wonder and awe. Being in God’s creation helps evoke this very basic spiritual instinct we all have, but tend to ignore in the busyness of life.
Gratitude: Having fun in the sun—doing some gardening, going to the zoo, being on vacation, or just walking through our neighborhood and noticing new plants, and neighbors is a natural time to express gratitude for the many ways God surrounds us with blessings.
These small moments of meditation, awe, and gratitude remind us God created us for a spiritual life as part of creation—we are wired for rest and holy connection since God is in all things, and is always present with us.
Our hand-out today is this bookmark which Erin and I made this week—we have enough for one per household this morning, including large print.
This has our Summer Faith, Summer Fun schedule on it as well as a reminder to bring me a bulletin from another church you visit on your summer travels, or from a Saturday night service if you’re on staycation—that’s a nice of saying you can visit another church, but don’t skip St. Luke’s when you’re in town!! Put your name on the bulletin, and I will put your name in a drawing for a movie gift card!
On the back of the bookmark are fun outdoor spiritual practices I call, “Wild Wonders” that you can do alone with friends, family, or kids. These are ways to have fun in the sun, to pause from busyness, stay connected to your faith, your spirituality, and those you are with.
There’s a Meditation Walk, Bird Listening, a Rainbow Scavenger Hunt, which you could turn into a game with a timer and teams; there’s also a Water Reflection, and Stone Balancing. There are also a few other suggestions when you click on the QR code and go to the link.
Any and all spiritual practices give God the opening to work in us the other two spiritual components of our well-being—forgiveness and compassion—both of which can grow by spending time with God and one another in outdoor summer fun!
The next time we saw Regina, she brought us a sign to post up in our home office. It looked like this:
God is in Control!
Admittedly, we still struggle with over-work, but every week, when we take our Sabbath rest, every day when we end our work at a reasonable hour, we affirm our faith—that God is in control, and he sent us our true Savior in Jesus Christ.
Jesus has already died for us and rose again, that we might have life, and have it abundantly! So let’s take our rest this summer, St. Luke’s, and have some fun in the sun!
Message for Holy Trinity on May 26, 2024 on John 3:1-17 given at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Richardson, Texas
My senior year of college, I did an Urban Studies semester in Chicago. My family moved frequently growing up, but always to white middle class suburbs. I thought that if I were actually to become a pastor, I had better learn something about living in a city with more diversity and poverty.
All students in the program had to do and Independent Study project and for mine, I thought I would live as a homeless person for a weekend. I had heard this idea from another student at my school who had done it the year before (this little escapade was brought to mind when preparing for Mother’s Day and thinking about all the worry I caused my Mom!).
It was early November, so it was chilly, but not yet Chicago-frigid. I put on old clothes, left my cash in the apartment and headed downtown. I wasn’t too worried about finding a place to stay that night because I just thought I would go to the Salvation Army center downtown.
The problem was that the shelter was already full, and there was no room for me. This possibility had never crossed my mind. It was dark and cold—now what was I going to do? Suddenly my so-called learning project became very real—I was many miles from my apartment in Uptown—I had no money, no bus pass, no nothing, and in 1984—no cell phones. I was truly alone in the dark in downtown Chicago.
Perhaps you too, have had experiences—whether chosen or not—when you have felt alone and in the dark quite unexpectedly. You may have been physically at a loss like me, or really lost. Perhaps you felt in the dark emotionally at the end of a break-up, spiritually alone struggling with faith questions, or psychologically disconnected from everyone when in a new place without a familiar touchstone to keep you grounded.
We have all had times when we feel afraid and alone—with no idea how to move forward, we start spiraling into anxiety and worst-case- scenarios. Alone and in the dark is the last place any of us want to be.
Nicodemus, a Pharisee, also comes to Jesus alone and in the dark. We can call him “Nick at night” –he is spiritually alone and confused about God. What a dreadful feeling to be such a learned man and to be in the dark about something he supposed to be an expert in—God and religion!
No one can see that he is sneaking out to seek answers from this upstart Rabbi named Jesus. If he could just get some clarity from Jesus, if he can just fit this Jesus-guy and all his healing, preaching and miracles into his own religious system and structure—well then, he could get out of this awful dark place of confusion and inner conflict.
But Jesus isn’t much help—in fact, he confuses Nick at night even more with talk about being born from above, of being born anew, and being born of water and the Spirit. “What are you talking about?” wonders Nicodemus. Jesus’ words make no sense to him, so he takes them literally. How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born again?
Of course, Jesus is not talking about an earthly birth, but rather a spiritual one. God calls us to be born again spiritually—into a relationship with the God who made us. Don’t you see, Nicodemus? says Jesus. God wants a relationship with you. That’s why God sent Me, the Son of Man, so that through a relationship with me, you would give yourself—not just your mind and your correct doctrines, not just your adherence to the law, and your good behaviors—but that you would give God your heart, your love, your devotion, your deep trust.
Jesus uses birth imagery to evoke the experience of love and trust between a parent and child. God loves us the same way a father and mother love their child. God deeply desires for that love and trust to be returned. When our kids were little, Dan and I did what all parents do—we taught our three children how to read, and to count to 100. We taught them how to look both ways before they crossed the street, how to share toys, and how to dress themselves.
But if our whole interaction with them ended with giving them correct information and getting them to behave properly (most of the time!), it would not have been a very satisfying relationship. The moments that made all the dirty diapers and sleepless nights worth it were when our kids wrapped their arms around our neck and gave us sticky kisses; when they climbed into our laps and snuggled in for love and comfort, and when they jumped into our arms with total trust from the edge of the swimming pool.
Jesus says to Nicodemus, You’ve got the information about Scripture and the law, and your behavior is stellar, but you haven’t yet jumped into God’s arms from the edge of the pool with love and complete trust. God keeps holding out these strong, loving, inviting arms with a desire to give you all that need, but you haven’t given God your heart. Jump into the pool, Nicodemus— be born of water and Spirit as God’s very own child who loves you, embraces you, and who desires to give you everything you need for fullness of life. That’s why I came – I came so that you would know that all of God (the Creator who made you, and me—the Word made flesh, and the Spirit who renews you and lives inside you) wants a loving relationship with you, with all of you.
Jump into the pool, Nicodemus—give God your love, your heart, not just your head and your good behavior. For God so loved the ‘cosmos’—that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
That’s why we can jump into God’s arms and follow Jesus—
• He took the first jump, the first leap into human skin, trusting that God would catch him.
• Jesus jumped into the fullness of human life, experiencing everything from love, family, and friendship to abandonment, grief and betrayal, trusting that God would catch him.
• Jesus willingly fell onto the cross, trusting that even in suffering and death, God would catch him.
• Jesus jumped from the grave showing us and the whole cosmos that no matter what happens in this life, God will catch us.
When the Salvation Army turned me away, they told me of another shelter at a church west of downtown, about a mile away. They said I could ask a police officer to drop me off at the shelter. But I was too stubborn and naïve to do something smart like that. I felt like that was a “copout” and that would ruin the point of the whole experience. I knew the grid system of how Chicago was laid out, so I decided to walk…in the dark…alone…in a part of town I did not know. Stupid. I was more scared at that moment than I had ever been in my life.
It didn’t matter how much knowledge I had, it didn’t matter whether it was the right thing to do, or if it was a great learning experience. At that moment I needed
• a God I could love and trust with my whole life and heart;
• I needed Jesus who knew what this abandoned, alone feeling was like;
• I needed the Holy Spirit to give me the courage to put one foot in front of the other.
• I jumped into God’s arms like I never had before.
God gave me a song--in my mind I sang, Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, rejoice! over and over, as I walked in the dark through this deserted industrial area where I was afraid someone was lurking around every corner. I made it through the creepiest walk I have ever been on in my life, to the shelter. I have never been so happy to see a group of homeless people waiting outside a church door! I was safe in God’s arms.
What do you need to jump into God’s arms today, not just with your thoughts and your acts of service, but with your whole heart, and all of your love and trust? I have 3 suggestions—you may have other ideas:
1. Listen to Christian Music – God gave me a song to get through being alone and in the dark. Sometimes I listen to hymns on Spotify; you can listen to contemporary Christian music - KLTY 94.9 FM: KJON 101.7 FM'
2. Find a Summer Prayer Partner – try it for 3 months—check in once a week and pray for each other daily. Prayer and relationships bring us closer to trusting God with our whole life, and so does having an accountability for this prayer life and knowing someone is praying for us;
3. Use Summer Bible Story and Activity Packet – This packet has one page bible story with a short spiritual practice, a one-sentence prayer, and then each story has activities—bake bread, make slime, do puzzles. Adults can do this too—a great way to get to know Bible stories if you have not read the Bible much. For Luke’s Learners Sunday School, this will be a great review of the stories they heard the last 3 months. Do this with kids, grandkids or adults—good way to bring fun back into Bible reading.
I am starting a sermon series - Summer Faith-Summer Fun—You’ll receive a Faith Tool every week –and we are even going to have some prizes so come back next week and bring a friend! These tools are all ways to spend time with Jesus, to hear from God and be moved the Holy Spirit!
Spending time with Jesus makes a difference! Nick at Night became Nick at Noontime after spending time with Jesus. Later in the Gospel of John we hear the end of Nicodemus’s story. As he hung dying on the cross, Jesus could see Nicodemus walking up the hill toward him—no longer alone at night—but at noon in the light of mid-day. He was weighed down with 100 pounds of aloes and myrrh to anoint Jesus’s body for burial, an act of love and devotion, for no law-abiding Pharisee would touch a dead body. But Nicodemus had jumped. He leapt into God’s loving arms with his whole heart, offering himself, his love and his trust to the God he met in Jesus Christ, who washed him in the Spirit’s power.
I wonder what Nicodemus would say if he were among us today. I’d like to think it would be this: “Jump in, St. Luke’s, the love is deep and the water is fine!”
Image: unsplash.com
Message for Pentecost with a Confirmation Service on Acts 2:1-11 given on May 19, 2024 at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Richardson, Texas
There have been times in my life when I felt inadequate.
I have certainly felt inadequate as a pastor, especially early on in my first parish in Detroit. Once I was doing a funeral for a 60-year old man, and his elderly mother had a stroke during the service. She refused to get in the ambulance until I finished the service for her son. Two of my members were killed from gun violence—there is just no training for these things.
We all have times, relationships, and moments where we feel inadequate to the situations that we face. For many of us, it happens at work—you can do the tasks, but you cannot manage the personalities or the culture of the place; or we can do our job, but then someone leaves and they don’t replace them, and you’re doing two and three jobs.
Some of us feel inadequate in our families or other relationships where we feel helpless in the face of chronic illness, anxiety, or other big issues. We feel at a loss to know the best thing to say, or the right thing to do, so sometimes we do nothing, and that feels worse. Sometimes we can feel inadequate just dealing with life right now—there’s so much going on in the world it’s tempting to shut it out and not to do anything.
Imagine how inadequate the disciples felt when Jesus left them. They had actually gotten Jesus back after he died—that must have been the most amazing experience! But then after 40 days, he was gone again—he was lifted up back into heaven---(this is called the Ascension). As Jesus disappeared, he said the wildest thing—he told the disciples to stay in Jerusalem, wait for the Holy Spirit so they could be his witnesses, not just in Jerusalem but to the ends of the earth!
What now? How were they—this motley crew of people, rejected by their religion, and some by their families—supposed to fulfill a mission that included spreading news about Jesus across the whole world? How far was that anyway? How many languages could that be?
Their numbers—down to 120 if you included the women and those who stuck by them. That’s not many when you remember Jesus fed and preached to thousands. Their training, time with Jesus, and language skills—were all woefully inadequate. Sure, they prayed, had faith, and were even doing what Jesus told them to do, but they were not world travelers. How were they going to carry the news of Jesus to the around the world? This made even less sense than seeing Jesus float up into heaven!
But amazingly, Jesus did not leave the disciples, feeling bereft and inadequate for his mission of spreading his good news to the ends of the earth. With the rush of a violent wind and tongues of fire, the Holy Spirit blew into the house where the believers prayed and pushed them out into the city, where travelers from all over were gathered for the harvest festival that took place 50 days after Passover—or for us—50 days after Easter. (Pentecost means "fiftieth").
The Holy Spirit gave them ability to speak in different languages, so everyone heard the good news of Jesus’ forgiveness and victory over death in their own mother tongue. Isn’t that amazing? —I love the symmetry of the story--The tongues of fire gave them new tongues to speak.
The Spirit gave the disciples all the words they needed; the Holy Spirit gave them power beyond their abilities. Far from inadequate, the power of God that made them more than adequate—it made them powerful beyond their skills! It was not their own experience, insight or skill set that mattered—they just needed to receive and respond to the Holy Spirit given to them!
In other words, if Jesus calls you to it, the Spirit will get you through it—the Spirit will make you adequate to the task Jesus has called you to. This is hard to wrap our heads around since we are so focused on training, competencies, tests, quizzes, personality inventories, and all those measurables. They have their place—but when it comes to loving and serving people, and sharing Jesus’ forgiveness—God’s got you covered with a lot of Holy Spirit-wind-and-fire-power which you cannot test, bottle, measure, or quantify.
You simply do what the disciples did—pray and trust the Spirit to show up when you need it! Because if Jesus calls you to it, the Spirit will get you through it! Another way to say this is that God does not call the qualified, God qualifies the called!
When I was in my first congregation in Detroit, where I experienced the most feelings of inadequacy, I had a member named Alex who was an angel for me. Alex taught me that I needed to trust the Holy Spirit was with me and would show up for me--and that this was true whether I was in the middle of funeral where the mom was having a stroke, or leading one for someone who was killed by violence or other hardships.
Alex had Down Syndrome and had such a joyful, encouraging spirit—and he loved to sing in the choir. Some of you may have heard this story before, but I want Brynn to hear on her Confirmation. One Sunday after worship, we were all in the fellowship hall and Alex said he wanted to give me something. He took me by the shoulders and positioned me in the middle of the room, and then backed up about 5 feet, put out his arm, and began to sing, “You are so beautiful, to you…”
For you young people, the words are You are so beautiful to me—a song by Joe Cocker from 1974.
But I realized that Alex actually got the words right for me that day—because I needed to believe that the Holy Spirit was landing on me—I was acting as if I was on my own—and that wasn’t true at all! I needed to trust that God would give me the words I needed, that the Holy Spirit could make me more than I was, that if Jesus called me to it, the Spirit would get me through it. That it wasn’t about whether my training was adequate or inadequate, it was about what the Holy Spirit was doing through me.
Here the Pentecost story in Acts is extremely specific: “a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.” That is, all 120 people – not just the disciples--all 120 of the women, and the crowd of believers who stuck by them. Each and every one of them had a tongue of Holy Spirit fire and power on them!
Today for your Confirmation Brynn, we celebrate that there is a tongue of fire, and the gift of the Holy Spirit on you, and dwelling in you, specifically! We laid hands on you and prayed for you, and we make a big deal out of YOU today because we want you to internalize the message that, “you are so beautiful, to you!”
You are beautiful and full of the Holy Spirit to us, to God, to your family and to everyone who knows and loves you. But most of all, we want you to believe this for yourself! We all have moments when we feel inadequate, but Brynn, we want you to remember this day, and that feeling of the people who love you surrounding you, and the weight of their love on your shoulders and back as we laid hands you on and prayed for you.
Remember that God has chosen you, that Jesus loves you, that the Spirit of Pentecost is afire in you, and works through you, making you even more than you already are, which is pretty great! Brynn, we see the Holy Spirit working in you as help with Luke’s Learners Sunday School and VBS, and we see the Holy Spirit in all of your creativity and smarts.
At the same time, we affirm that the Holy Spirit of Pentecost is on each one of you here! Remember that God has chosen you, that Jesus loves you, that the Spirit of Pentecost is afire in you and works through you, making you even more than you already are, which is pretty great!
You are not just adequate, you are empowered beyond your abilities, skills, and training to be an instrument of God’s love and joy in the world! How God is leading you to share love and forgiveness, hope and encouragement in your circle of influence, in your neighborhood, and in this congregation’s mission? If you are not sure, I invite you to meet with me so we can discover your spiritual gifts together.
None of us have the gifts to do everything, but all of us have a gift to do something, something vital, something essential. St. Luke’s needs your something, your gift, your life that has been touched by the flame of the Holy Spirit.
Author Marianne Williamson writes,
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us;
It's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.
As God sends the Holy Spirit of Pentecost anew to us today, God says to each one of us, “you are so beautiful to me.”
Embrace the power of the Holy Spirit in you, as you also affirm: “you are so beautiful to you!”
Message for the 7th Sunday of Easter & Mother's Day on John 17:6-19 given on May 12, 2024 at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Richardson, Texas.
I hope you have not caused your mom as much heartache and worry as I did at certain moments in my life. I think the worst time was when I was in seminary and went on an exchange program to study in Harare, Zimbabwe.
This was in the late 80’s before cell phones and email. I would write letters, but to talk on the phone, we had to take a local ride-share car downtown and put 3 Zimbabwean dollars in coins into the payphone to talk for 1 minute.
After about 3 months there, I got malaria. I had been taking anti-malaria pills, but the local strain had already developed a resistance to them, and I needed the local antivirals. The university doctor loaded me up with quinine and other meds and I was on strict bed-rest. No one called my parents since I didn’t want to worry them.
But, one of the other students called a friend at seminary and word got out that I had malaria. One of my friends there called my parents to find out how I was doing, and you can imagine how well that went over.
Fortunately, the medicine worked. After 4 days I went back to the doctor—an elderly white Rhodesian lady, and she was much relieved that I had improved. She said, “you were a sick girl!”
Then I asked if malaria would stay in my system and recur every five years or so, because that’s what I’d heard. She slid her thick cat-eye glasses down her nose, leaned forward and said, “No honey, with the kind of malaria we have in Zimbabwe, your either cured, or your killed!” I'm really glad I didn't know that earlier! I skipped that part of the story when I was well enough to go downtown with a purse full of change to call my parents.
Maybe you have caused your mom undue worry. Maybe you still do! Or maybe now, it’s your spouse or partner or children who worry about your schedule, your travel, the kind of work you do, the kind of stress you carry, or your health issues. Or perhaps you are the worrier. You are the mom, the dad, grandparent, the oldest child, or the designated worrier, who is tracking every kid, parent, grandchild, in-law, neighbor, and friend with what’s going on.
One hopes as we grow older and wiser, we make choices that cause less worry, but not always. My 88-year-old dad thought it was a good idea to get on a ladder this past week and he now has 6 stitches in his arm. Please, do not try this at home.
I certainly understood my mom’s perspective much better when I became a parent. But we do not have to be a parent to stress and worry about those we love, and we do not need a living parent or a relationship with one, to cause those who love us anxiety and worry about our well-being, no matter what kind of relationships we have.
Maternal love can be expressed by any gender, in any type of relationship.
Even Jesus seems to worry and pray with maternal love. We can hear how much Jesus loves his disciples and all who follow them—including us. Jesus speaks this prayer aloud in the Gospel of John so we can hear him pleading with God as he prepares for his departure into death, resurrection, and ascension—he knows he is returning to God.
Jesus worries about sending us into the world without his physical presence, just like what any of us with maternal love, might pray for on the first day of kindergarten, at graduation, going on a big trip, or starting a new job. Jesus wants to know that God will always be with the disciples, that they find community with others, that they experience joy, that God will protect them, and that God has a purpose for them to discover and fulfill.
Loving us like a mother, Jesus prays for all these gifts for each one of us as he intercedes for us with God, the Creator.
As I describe the power of Jesus’ maternal prayer, I invite you to reflect on which of these you need most from God right now:
1. Jesus’ first maternal prayer is for us to remain close with God and in community with others:
I am asking on their behalf; because they are yours. 10All mine are yours, and yours are mine; Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.
Any faithful mother knows her children are not hers to keep; they belong to God. Jesus has shared God’s love with us, and brought all of us into the love and union that Jesus and the Creator share—not as possession, but literally as “co-mmunion.” Jesus asks God to hold this union with us close in his heart—for God always to hang on to us in love.
The second part of this is to keep us in union with each other—as One “communion” here—a community of heart and mind that loves and supports one another as fellow believers. Jesus is like a maternal parent praying for all the children to stay together, to stay relationship, to be a unified body without allowing the divisions, and hatred of the world split them apart.
Is this a prayer you need Jesus’ praying for you today?—to keep you close to God’s heart, to keep you connected to other believers, to help you experience community and love?
2. Secondly, Jesus maternal love leads him to pray for us to experience joy--But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.
Jesus speaks these things in the world—not off alone in private like he often prayed; he prayed in the face of death, in the presence of difficulty, and hardship, so we know that nothing in this life is more powerful than Jesus!
Jesus knows his mission is to defeat death and rise to new life, so he knows our joy is made complete in him! Our worst enemy is defeated!
So don’t let the world steal your joy. Do not let this present difficulty—whatever it is—allow you to doubt what Jesus Christ has done, and can do through you! Claim the power of resurrection! Tell whatever is blocking your path, your goals, or your trust in Jesus’ “get behind me Satan! My life is claimed, the battle is won! You cannot steal my joy!”
Every single day when my kids went off to school I said: “You are loveable, capable and valuable, and I believe in you, so make it a great day! I love you!” That was my version of “don’t let anyone steal your joy—you are already complete!” You are enough.
Do you need Jesus to pray for your joy, for you to know you are enough, for you to claim joy and experience it?
3. Third, Jesus maternal love leads him to pray for our protection from evil- I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
I can imagine that every single day, multiple times a day, my mom was praying for my protection and safety when I was in Zimbabwe, and she did that everyday no matter where I was. Jesus prays for our protection—not from a single evil being, but from everything in the world and of the world that is opposed to God and God’s kingdom of love and justice.
This includes anything whether civil, religious, social, or cultural, that promotes division, hatred, violence, hunger, and other ills contrary to the beloved community. This is not just so that evil will pass us by, but so that we are freed to live out and embody God’s dream for our life—thy will be done, thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Eternal life began with Jesus’ resurrection, and this Spirit fills us today! The love, joy and peace of eternal life is now.
Do you need Jesus to pray for your protection? To shift or end relationships, or work, or activities that are not life-giving so that you can live in the peace, love and joy of God’s unconditional love today?
4. Finally, Jesus maternal love leads him to pray for God to help us know the Word and fulfill our mission
As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Jesus prays for us to know the truth of God’s of Word. Jesus himself is God’s Word made flesh and he was “sanctified” that is, set apart to reveal the truth of God’s love for us.
Now he has set apart his followers—today that’s you and me—to fulfill that same mission. Jesus sends us into the world with a purpose—to make it known that God loves everybody!---No exceptions!
We all can share God’s love in different ways in line with our gifts and purpose. It may be in our parenting, or in the integrity and honesty with which we do our work, in our willingness to serve others, and certainly by how we live as this community of Christ.
Do you need Jesus praying for you about your purpose and how God calls you to share this tremendous unconditional love?
Jesus loves us like a mother. And in so doing, he shows us how to turn our worries into prayers.
Jesus is praying for you today. No matter what you need—whether it is one of these four blessings or something else—let Jesus know about it now, as you come to the table.
This is where Jesus feeds us with his own body (talk about motherly love!); Jesus envelops us with maternal love, and no matter where we have been or what we have done, Jesus always welcomes us home.
So, (try to) stop worrying, and come to the table. It’s time for supper—Our Lord’s Supper, where life is abundant, and love and grace overflow.
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Linda Anderson-Little