Worship May 7, 2021
Let us worship!
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of melody.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who live in it.
Let the floods clap their hands;
let the hills sing together for joy
at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming
to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.
Psalm 98:4-9
A prayer to center you
God of all love and compassion
We come to you this morning from all different place.
Some of us are here with joy and praise at all that is marvelous in our lives,
Others come full of confusion, seeking direction, hope and a return of joy.
Yet other come broken hearted, seeking comfort and strength.
You come meet us wherever we are, with open arms, calling to us to find all that we are seeking through you.
Speak to us this hour.
Open our hearts and our minds to your moving spirit.
May all those who have come with joy, find a place to sing praises.
May those who have come seeking direction and hope, find answers and may their joy be restored.
May those who are broken hearted find your comfort and strength and a moment of peace in your loving presence.
Amen.
Holy Words from John 15:9-17
9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants[a] any longer, because the servant[b] does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Reflection:
We are at the time of year when we celebrate Mother’s Day. Commercials on TV are swamped with sappy commercials. The morning news shows are sharing heart felt stories of mothers and their children. There tends to be a strong focus throughout these few short weeks on the roles of mothering. While it would be nice to think that we all live into the life of a Hallmark card in the role of motherhood, that is not true for many of us.
Mother’s Day is a complicated day for many. For those who longed to be mothers but were never able to carry children, it is hard. For mothers whose children were taken from them far too early, it is hard. For mothers that had to make hard choices for their children, it is hard. For mothers and children who find themselves in difficult and tense relationships, it is hard. For children who find themselves motherless no matter their age, it is hard. For mothers who find themselves childless, it is hard. For mothers still hoping and trying to hold their first baby, it is hard. There is much joy, pain, sorrow and hope that comes with this day.
Motherhood in and of itself is a difficult thing. My children are wonderful, if I do say so myself, but they are not always easy. The role of motherhood itself it is not always easy to navigate, children are not always easy. We have ideals set before of what it should be, ideals often too hard to live up and ultimately unrealistic. Ideals often hard for both mother and children, leaving everyone longing for this unattainable relationship. If motherhood is hard under the best of circumstances, this past year has thrown in all kinds of difficulties raising the difficulty tenfold.
Mothers everywhere have spent the past many months just trying to hold it together. They have worked to keep their children mentally healthy while being teachers and technology guru’s. They have had to figure out how to balance the ever-changing school schedule with working from home and in the office when need be. It has been a long and difficult year, and the reality is that mothers have put a large amount of stress on themselves as they have struggled to reach that unattainable level of perfection in motherhood.
All those who are mothers, need to take a deep breath this morning and have grace with ourselves. The good news is that no matter how we feel, we have done enough. We have loved as best we can, no matter how it looked. It was messy and slopy and ugly at time. But everyone in this time did the best they could. All of those sacrifices of time, of career, of selfcare, we did out of love, which made them perfect in this totally imperfect time.
For all those who have a difficult time with Mother’s Day, this day shall pass. The heart ache, the hurt, the grief that this day brings will disappear just to reappear next year in May. It is one of those difficult parts of life. But no matter your relationship with your mother or with you children or your lack of children, none of that determines your worth or value. While those issues weigh you down at times, they are not who you are. There is a loving God who stands beside you no matter what. A loving God who sees all the hurt, the heart ache and the grief, a God who knows your struggles and your worries, and loves you, chooses you even with all the baggage that you carry. No matter the hurt and pain that mothers or motherhood may have caused you, God loves you and calls you to love others. The love of a mother does not have to be just between biological children and their parents. God does not call us to just love our own flesh and blood. God calls us to love one another as Christ has loved us.
So, wherever you are this Mother’s Day, know that you have one who loves you—a loving God in heaven. Know that you have a community here that loves you—God’s community. Know that you have a place to give the love that you wish to share—here in God’s community. Know that each of you are loved and have love to give. Amen
Thinking it through….
Think of someone who loved you well in life.
What was their name?
Who were they to you?
What did that do that made you feel loved?
What did you learn about giving and receiving love from them?
Did you feel the love of Christ in their actions? How?
Action Challenge.
Share your love this week!!
Who can you share a small piece of God’s love with this week?
Make an action plan..
Who:
What action:
When will you do this:
What do you hope they feel from this action:
Prayer of Sending
Holy God,
You have called us to love one another as you have loved us.
Those are heavy and hard words to live up to.
Help us to strive to live into your commandment.
You have loved us from the beginning of time,
you knit us together in our mother’s wombs
and have stood beside us in our moments of great joy and in our deepest sorrow.
Help us to do so with all those around us, being carries of your love and your light.
Amen
Going out.
Go out into the world, seeking the light of Christ Jesus and may you see all around you the love, compassion, joy, generosity, and hope in the Kingdom of God.
and in all that you do, may the love of Christ Jesus uphold you,
the peace of God sustain you and may the Holy Spirit guide you each step of the way
Let all God’s people say: AMEN
