Message of Love with Rev. Mary White
Good Afternoon and Blessings
Tomorrow is Mothering Sunday and whether we had an encouraging mother or not (some people are not natural nurturers), let us remember those who in our village/community who nurtured and inspired us with Love. We are who we are today because of the relationships developed with the caring influence of others. Let us remember that all mothering people are “GEMs” –Good Enough Mother’s.
Keep safe, Keep connected.
Blessings and the strength of Love be with you.
Rev. Mary
Reading: Mother from “Beyond Words” by Walter Buechner
Jesus was by no means sentimental on the subject of mothers. He said that people who love their mothers more than they loved him were not worthy of him (Matthew 10: 37), indicating that duty comes first. And when they told him his mother was outside waiting while he spoke to some group or other, he said that his mother was anybody who did God’s will (Matthew 12:50) indicating that his fellow believers came a close second.
To his own mother he could be very abrupt. When she came to him at the wedding in Cana to tell him the wine had given out, he said “Oh woman what has that to do with me? My hour has not yet come” (John 2: 4), meaning perhaps that she was to let him alone and at that early point in his ministry he wasn’t ready to be known as a miracle worker. He was speaking his heart to her if not exactly reprimanding her and it was just “woman” he called her not mother.
Some of the last words he ever spoke were on her behalf, however. She was standing at the foot of his cross when he told her that from then on, his disciple John would look after her. “Behold your son” he said, indicating him to her (John 19: 26). Again, it was just “woman” he called her, but it was her welfare and safekeeping that were among the last thoughts he ever had.
Our mothers, like our fathers, are to be honored, the good book says. But if Jesus is to be our guide, honouring them doesn’t mean either idealizing or idolizing them. It means seeing them both for who they are and for who they are not. It means speaking the truth to them. It means the best way of repaying them for their love is to love God and our neighbour as faithfully and selflessly as at their best our parents have tried to love us. It means saying they are taken care of to the end of their days.
Prayer
Mothering God,
We are grateful for all the encouraging, supportive people who journey with us along our life path.
We pray for them. May they remain healthy so that their good works continue.
With them in our life, we have been truly blessed and we give thanks. In the name of the nurturing Love of the Spirit, we pray.
Amen