Mother's Day Sermon - Muttertagspredigt (engl.)

Sermon illustration: Sinead O Connor - "This Is To Mother You" and this picture.

All of us have a mother. Some of our mothers are still around, some of our mothers are not. Some of us have biological mothers, some of us have stepmothers. Some of us love their mothers, some of us don’t. Some of us are or were loved by their mothers, some of us are or were not.
For some of us Mother’s Day is an opportunity to thank our mothers for all they have done for us. For some of us Mother’s Day is an unwelcome reminder of what our mothers failed to do.
I think in most cases moms are great! But moms aren’t perfect either. My mom certainly isn’t, but I love her to death! I am grateful for her love and efforts to raise me and help me grow into the person I am today. I most definitely wouldn’t want another mom!
Sinead O’Connor made different experiences. She grew up in a rather abusive environment and her song is her way of dealing with it. Sinead O’Connor is also a very religious person, even attempted to become a Roman Catholic Priest at one time although she is a woman. Her song is also her way of expressing her Christian faith.

Sinead O’Connor’s song tells us that the perfect parent exists.
God is the perfect parent. And it doesn’t really matter if we think of God as a father or a mother - male or female, because God is so much more than what we can grasp with our gender patterns. What matters is what God is about. 1John, chapter 4 puts it in simple words: God is love. And God is trying to get that message across to us.

God got it across to me with Sinead O’Connor’s song: This Is To Mother You. God is making a declaration of love through the words and voice of this Irish singer and song writer.

God is saying:
I am here to take care of you as a parent. I am here to feed you, love you, raise you, educate you and protect you.
God is saying:
I am here to comfort you and give you peace when you are lonely or sad. I am here when you can’t sleep at night when whatever is going on in your life worries you too much.
God is saying:
I am here to help you through difficult times. I am here to carry you when you are not able to stand on your own two feet anymore. I am here when your relationship to the people in your life is difficult. I am here when you get hurt by others who are just human and make mistakes.
God is saying:
I am here to take away your pain and guilt. I am here to heal and to mend what is broken. I am here to forgive when you make mistakes and fail to be the person I want you to be.

God is saying:
I am here when your relationship to your worldly parents isn’t what it’s supposed to be. I am here when you’ve lost your job. I am here when you are going through a divorce. I am here when you are being bullied. I am here when no one is there to listen to your problems. I am here when you are sick. I am here when you are dying. I am here when you’ve lost your home. I am here when you have lost a person you love. I am here when you experience violence. I am here when you can’t seem to deal with your addiction. I am here when you can’t seem to handle your life anymore.

God is saying:
I am even here when you turn away from me. If you are unable to find your way back to me, I will find you! I have ALREADY found you. You may not have been aware of it but you have always been in my embrace. And I will never let go of you. I always have been and I always will be here to mother you.

In God we have comfort, security, warmth and love.

I remember being 4 years old and playing with some other kids in the neighborhood. I don’t know what exactly happened during our play but all of a sudden the other kids changed their behavior. They started calling me names and saying mean things to me. They ripped my doll’s head off and they pulled some of my hair out. I was devastated. But I had enough courage left to tell them: I’ll go to my mom and tell her what you just did. And then you’re in big trouble! And that is exactly what I did. And my mom became my hero that day. Right after I had told her what happened she went over to the neighbors. To this day I have no idea if she actually was successful in getting through to the other kids or their parents. But that doesn’t matter. What mattered was that she was willing to protect me, and fight for me. What mattered was that fierce love for me that became visible. In that moment, when my mom went over to the neighbors, she was God for me. She was the most powerful person in the whole world.

And if you’ve had similar experiences you get an idea, a little glimpse of what God is about and what it’s like to be a child of God. It is just a glimpse because God is so much more. God is capable of so much more and God is doing so much more than we will ever be able to understand.

And yes: parents can be annoying too. Sometimes it’s frustrating with all the rules and boundaries they give us. But if we are honest: those rules and boundaries, as annoying as they are, are actually good for us. They are meant to protect us from harm. If mom or dad says: don’t put your hand on the burner, it’s not about bullying us around. It’s because they want to protect us from harm.

God does the same thing:

God also sets boundaries, and tries to teach us and guide us. God is also saying: don’t put your hand on the burner; it’s hot! Not literally of course, but God is telling us not to steal, not to kill, not to be envious, to keep the Sabbath Day holy and many more things. That isn’t harassment, that isn’t God bullying us. It is protection. It’ll keep us from getting hurt. All those rules and commandments which we find so difficult to obey sometimes are meant to prevent us from harm.

And what are we doing, once the commandment is out? Putting our hand on the burner of course. More than ever! And we are getting burned.
I don’t know about your moms, but I am lucky to have a mom who did not scold me or yell at me when I had touched the hot burner although she told me not to. The very first thing was rescue of course and holding my hand under cold water. The next thing she did was take me in her arms, comfort me and calm me down. She blew on the burned skin and kissed my hand and said: Mommy will kiss it away. And then she went to get some burn cream. There was no: I told you so! Or: This is what you get when you don’t listen to me!

It’s the same with God: rescue mission first, and then comfort and healing. As Sinead O’Connor puts it in her song:
All mistakes made in distress
All your unhappiness
I will take away with my kiss.

So, Mother’s Day is not just a reminder to be thankful that God gave us moms who gave birth to us and in most cases fed us, raised us and loved us. It is also a reminder that all of us have a mother in God. With God we have comfort, we have healing, and we have protection. We are safe and we are saved.
Amen.