SERMON TITLE: Mother’s Love, God’s Love

Preached by the Rev. John Lee on May 13, 2007 at DPUC

SCRIPTURE READING: John 14:23-29

14:23   Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

14:24  Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

14:25  "I have said these things to you while I am still with you.

14:26   But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.

14:27   Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

14:28   You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.

14:29   And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

Mother’s Love, God’s Love

“Happy Mothers' Day to all you mothers.” One mother overheard two children talking.

One said, "What in the world can we do about our parents?" The other said, "There's really nothing we can do. By the time we get them, they are so old and set in their ways, you can't change them!" Well, let's not try to change them. Let's honor them. And today, and every day, remember to honor them. So today and every day, let's give special thanks and love to mothers.

Mother's Day is a day celebrated in many countries around the world, but not all nations celebrate on the same day. In Canada, Mother's Day is always celebrated on the second Sunday in May. Many other countries such as the United States, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia and Belgium also celebrate Mother's Day on the same day as Canada.

England, however, celebrates Mother's Day on the fourth Sunday of Lent, in Korea, May 8, and in Argentina it is the second Sunday in October. International Mother's Day is actually celebrated on May 11.

The earliest celebration honoring mothers dates back to the annual spring festival of ancient Greece dedicated to Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. The Greeks would pay tribute with honey-cakes and fine drinks and flowers at dawn. Much like our current Mother's Day tradition of breakfast in bed! Early Christians celebrated this festival on the fourth Sunday of Lent in honor of the Virgin Mary. Later, in England, an ecclesiastical order expanded the holiday to include all mothers, and decreed it as Mothering Sunday. Servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers.

When the first English colonists settled in America they didn't really have time for many celebrations. The tradition of Mothering Sunday was discontinued until 1872 when Julia Howe (1819-1910), the author of the lyrics to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, organized a day for mothers dedicated to peace. In 1907, Anna Jarvis (1864-1948), a Philadelphia schoolteacher, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day in honor of her mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis. She wrote hundreds of letters to legislators and prominent businessmen on both state and national levels asking them to create a special day to honor mothers.

On May 10, 1908, the third anniversary of the death of Anna's mother, the minister of the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia (the church her mother had attended) gave a special Mother's day sermon honoring Mrs. Jarvis' memory. Anna handed out her mother's favorite flower, the white carnation. In 1914, Anna's hard work finally paid off when President Woodrow Wilson made the official announcement proclaiming the second Sunday in May as a national holiday in honor of mothers.

What does it mean for us Christians to celebrate the mother’s day? First of all, in the ten commandments, the first one for human relationship is “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” (Eexodus 20:12) So celebrating Mother’s Day is honouring God’s commandment. Without dedicated Christian mothers, there cannot really be a Christian home. Without Christian homes, there cannot really be a Christian church. Without a genuine, prophetic Christian Church, the world cannot sustain peace.

Today is a special day, Mother’s day that celebrates mother’s love around the world.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus promises the disciples that the Holy Spirit would help them remember what he has been teaching them. The result of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives is a deep and lasting peace, which is confidence assured in any circumstance. The promise of Jesus to us is sending the Holy Spirit. Jesus wants us to remember his teaching, teaching of love, of justice, peace, reconciliation in the world.

Jesus wants us to love our God with our whole heart. He wants us to love our neighbours.

And the Holy Spirit’s work for us from the beginning of all Creation, I believe, is creating with God’s love. And we know that one of the best reminders of God’s love is mother’s love.

One day, a little child talked to God.  “Thank you, God, for the angels that care for people. I know the angels help people who are lonely, and bring peace to them. Dear God, but I have never met an angel in my life. Can you send me the angel to me one day?”  Immediately, God answered, “I’ve already sent an angel to you. That is your mother. And you’ve been living with the angel for years already.” It is merely a children’s story. However, the truth is that through mother’s love, we can peep into God’s grace, and God’s love, the love that is giving one’s whole self.

 “Honor your father and mother"-which is the first commandment with a promise-"that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”(Ephesians 6:1). I turn to this commandment because in it is embodied the very basis and essential significance of Mother's Day. Whatever we remember or not, we are with mother’s love from our time in her womb. This love continues in our lives so that we recognize the love of others and ourselves. A Chinese proverb expresses this most clearly: "When a child goes away from home, he carries his mother's hand with him."

The peace of the world begins with the peace of the home and neither the government, nor society can take its place. Without dedicated, consecrated Christian mothers, there cannot really be a peace in the world. It is because without Christian homes, there cannot really be a Christian church. There is no substitute for the home that is full of love. And without the Christian Church, there cannot really be a society with peace and love. Mothers and grandmothers, Jesus sends his Holy Spirit for the peace of the whole world.

In this Holy Spirit, with mother’s love in our heart, we will have deep joy in our homes and workplaces, our church and with neighbours. It is God’s blessing for us and for the world. And I would like to say again, “Happy Mother’s Day!” Thanks be to God! Amen.

 This site is prepared by the Rev. John Young-Jung Lee,

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Updated May 13, 2007