Even So, I Have Loved You
Mother's Day
PRELUDE
HYMN Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee # 14
CALL TO WORSHIP The Risen Christ promised, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." (Acts 1:8) WHAT IS THE POWER THAT HAS BEEN PROMISED TO FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST? This is the power of God's forgiving love in our lives, God's love frees us to act with power and with love. WE OPEN OUR HEARTS TO YOU, O HOLY SPIRIT: COME WITH GRACE, LOVE, AND POWER. SET US FREE TO BECOME THE PERSONS GOD INTENDS US TO BE. We open our hearts to the empowering presence of God's Holy Spirit in our midst.
INVOCATION AND LORD'S PRAYER Disturb us in our complacency, O God. Remove all that keeps us from seeing each other or ourselves as your wondrous children. In its place, give us your marvelous love. Teach us to reject all that would separate us from the rest of our brothers and sisters, from our truest selves, from your mercy. In the name of Jesus, who teaches us when praying to say as one family: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And, forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever. AMEN.
RESPONSIVE READING
Psalms 98 Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. 2 The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. 3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 4 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; 5 make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, 6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn-- shout for joy before the LORD, the King. 7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. 8 Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; 9 let them sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.
GLORIA PATRI
Young Peoples Moment Take out your key ring, and explain to the children what each key is used for. Ask them if any of them have a key to their house, and if so — when did they get it? Find out if any of them have a key to an office. Then ask them if any of them have a key to the family car, and if not — why not? Point out that we are given keys to different things at different times in our lives. Let them know that children are not bad people because they don’t have car keys; instead, it is because they are not old enough to drive. Encourage the children to take good care of the keys they have been given, and then to be ready to receive keys to new understandings and new opportunities, when the time is right.
Call to Prayer 2 Tim 1: 5I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; 7for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. 8Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, 9who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Prayer Hymn He leadth Me, O Blessed Thought # 431 v2
Prayer O Lord, our God, we praise you for your forgiving love. We praise you for your Holy Spirit, that through this gift we are not left powerless. We praise you for our families. Out of your great love you ordained the family for the welfare and happiness of humankind. We thank you for the nest for our incubation and for our fledgling years until we are strong enough to try our own wings. //On this day we praise you for the gift of mothers and grand-mothers, who in so many creative and imaginative ways have made and are making your love real to us. // Whatever our role in the family, grant to us a love that is patient and thoughtful, // not judgmental but forgiving; a love that affirms the other, believing the good rather than gloating over the evil; a love that is not easily discouraged, but perseveres through sickness and health, through good times and difficult, a love that never ends. // In the relationship of the family may children realize that parents are human, too. Being a parent may very well be the most difficult task in all the world. But you are parent to us all, and we would ask for the faith, love and hope equal to the task you have given to us. // We pray for the human family -- for families who are victimized by war, may our love work for peace rather than war. We pray for the healing of the nations through the power of your reconciling love in Christ, AMEN.
OFFERING II Corinthians 8:12 TEV If you are eager to give, God will accept your gift on the basis of what you have to give, not on what you don't have.
Offertory
Doxology
Prayer of Dedication Our heavenly Father, you have given us your best, your Son, our Brother and Lord. How can we withhold from you our love, our service, and our offerings? We love, because you first loved us, and we bring to you our very selves and the material tokens of our love, with the prayer that your glory may fill the whole earth. AMEN.
HYMN For The Beauty of the Earth # 49
SCRIPTURE Text John 15: 9 - 17
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
SERMON Even So, I Have Loved You
As you all know today is Mother's Day; as I worked on preparing this service I discovered that there are 239 references to "Mother" in 216 different verses in our Bible. Since that is a few too many references to cover today, I decided to talk with you about a few of the picture stories of mothers in the Bible. Mother's who loved their children even ...
We meet the first mother in the third chapter of Genesis. Her name is Eve, which resembles the Hebrew word for life or living. Can you imagine what it would be like to overhear Adam's speech to the Lord. He and Eve had rebelled against the Lord's authority and sovereignty. Adam blamed Eve for the whole problem: you know this woman you gave to me? She gave me the fruit from the tree. So I ate it. Eve was listening. Imagine how that kind of statement builds self-esteem and warm feelings toward your spouse! But that was just the beginning of Eve's problems. Now imagine what it would be like to have two sons. Eve wasn’t perfect, but she did love both of her sons. Then one, Cain, kills his brother, Abel. What a tragedy for any mother! How can one deal with the sorrow? How can she forgive one son who has killed another? // The Bible makes it clear that this murder is the result of the sin that has entered the world through human selfishness, pride, rebellion, and greed. Since then all children have been born in an imperfect, flawed and tragic world, which threatens children and in which children grow up to threaten and destroy each other.
--We keep on reading and come to chapter 21 where we find another mother at her wits' end. She was in the middle of a burning desert south of Beersheba in the wilderness of Judea. She was trying to get home, back to Egypt; but she wasn't going to make it. She had a little boy whose name was Ishmael. The bread was gone. The water skin was empty. Can you imagine a mother's agony at this point? // She did not want to watch her son dying, so she put Ishmael under a bush so that she did not have to see his agony. // Hagar sat at a distance and waited for death. Then there is this powerful word of hope, "for God heard the boy crying..." // There is a God who cares. God sent a messenger who told Hagar to help the boy up. To take him by the hand, for God would make his descendents into a great nation. Then, after Hagar obeyed, he showed her a well of water. Genesis 21:20 tells us that God was with Ishmael as he grew up.
I am convinced that God is calling us to be messengers of hope today. That is one reason for my trips to South Africa. We can say to other mothers "God has heard the cries of your babies. Don't give up. Don't abandon them. Look! There is a well! There is food! There is help to get you through this crisis! That is what mission is all about.
As we continue to read the Bible we get a picture of another mother. Feel the deep concern and anxiety which are written across her face. The male children of her people are being murdered. Watch them being thrown into the Nile by a cruel and oppressive government. Her son is now three months old, and can no longer be hidden at home. // She is working on a little basket made of bulrushes and sealed with bitumen and pitch so that it is waterproof and will float. Early in the morning she puts it in the reeds at the river's edge and leaves the baby's sister to watch him from a distance. You've heard the story, you know that Pharoah's daughter discovered the child, raising him as her own. Moses grew up in Pharaoh's palace, with the luxury and splendor of the greatest empire of the ancient world. But his real mother was called to be his nurse, or nanny, and she taught him faith and true identity. When it came time for him to make a decision, he turned his back on the wealth, power and ease of Egypt and cast his lot with the oppressed people of the Hebrews. We cannot explain Moses or understand the contribution of his life apart from the story of his mother, who refused to give up. She kept her faith. She used her creative imagination. She taught her child. Even with the threat of death she loved her son.
Finally, we come across the most famous mother of the whole Bible. How do you think Mary felt when she saw Joseph coming back shaking his head and saying, "There is no room in any of the inns."? Mothers, do you remember what it is to be in labor and hope that you will be able to make it to the hospital in time? Was Mary in labor when she was led back to that little cave where the animals where kept -- where she knew that her first child would be born? // Feel how it would be fleeing to escape the mad fury and wrath of Herod. // Imagine how it felt to travel all day long, then at night discover that your son was not with your husband, not with any of his friends that are travelling with you. Mary experienced this fear. // Mary also fretted over her son the same way after he had entered his adult life and mission as she did when the boy Jesus was left behind in the Temple. He had to be about the Father's business as a boy, and he had to respond to a higher calling as a man.
Mary was there at the foot of the cross. She saw her son die. She was a witness to the resurrection and was present in the little gathering in the upper room in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Mary knew what it was to weep and to rejoice, to have her heart torn and then healed, to be filled with praise and joy, and to continue loving even when...
These are not "once upon a time" stories with fairy tale endings. They are some of the stresses and strains that actual people have actually gone through. Although they were hard to bear, they were not the end of the story. We are heirs to the promise that even so, God loves us. We have been chosen by God for joy. However hard the way is, as Christians there is joy in doing the right thing, // as a redeemed sinner there is joy in walking the ways of life with Jesus. // We have been chosen by God for love. Each of us is sent into the world to love one another. As Christians we are to live in such a way that we show what is meant by loving others. // Jesus called us to be his friends. The title Doulos, slave of God was a title of highest honor, yet Jesus tells us "I have something greater for you, you are no longer slaves, you are friends." Christ offers intimacy with God which not even the greatest men knew before he came into the world. It means that we do not need to gaze longingly at God from a distance. We are not like slaves who have no right to enter into the presence of the master; we are not like a crowd whose only glimpse of the king is in passing on some state occasion. Jesus gave us, you and I, this intimacy with God, so that he is no longer a distant stranger, but our close friend. Jesus chose us to be his partners. He has shared his mind with us and opened his heart to us. We can accept or refuse partnership with Christ in the work of leading the world to Christ -- a job that starts right here, in our church and in our home. Jesus chose us to be ambassadors. Jesus chose us, first to come in to him, and then to go out to the world. Jesus chose us to be advertisements. Talk about bad press! Jesus doesn't send us out to argue people into Christianity, still less to threaten them into it, but to attract them into it; to live so that our fruit may be so wonderful that others will desire it for themselves. Jesus chose us to be privileged members of the family of God. Even so, God loves you.
1 John 5:1-6 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 6 This is the one who came by water and blood--Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
Let us pray: Almighty God, you have created us, called us, chosen us to be your people. We wait now to receive your word of guidance and blessing. ///// Grant us ears to hear, eyes to see, and faith to respond to your love and leadership. In the name of Christ we pray. AMEN.
HYMN Jesus Is All the World to Me # 310
BENEDICTION May the peace of God fill our hearts, minds, and activities all this day long. AMEN.
POSTLUDE