CRCF””5-9-10
Mother”™s Day
Frazzled Mom slide
“A Real Survivor”
Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and three kids each for six weeks. Each kid will play two sports and take either music or dance classes. Each man must take care of his three kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, complete science projects, cook (there is no fast food), do laundry, and pay a list of bills with not enough money. Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time. Each man must also take each child to a doctor’s appointment, a dentist appointment, and a haircut appointment. He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.
Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside, and keeping it presentable at all times. The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done. The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, adorn themselves with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep fingernails polished, and eyebrows groomed. During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties. They must attend weekly school meetings and church, and will need to read a book to the kids each night; and in the morning, feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair by 7:00 am.
A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: Each child’s birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size, doctor’s name, the child’s weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child’s favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear, and what they want to be when they grow up. The kids vote them off the island based on performance. The last man wins only if…he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment’s notice. If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years, eventually earning the right to be called “Mom.”
What man among us would be foolish enough to want to play that game?
Here”™s the truth of it all””SuperMom slide
“Happy Mother”™s Day to SuperMoms everywhere!”
Scriptures records an amazing encounter between Jesus and His mother. As Jesus hangs on the Cross, His mother, Mary, watches through tear-filled eyes and with a broken heart.
Listen to what Jesus said to her.
VIDEO Clip from “The Passion”
During the Lenten season, just before Easter, we looked at 6 of the 7 sayings of Jesus from the Cross in a series entitled, “The Heart of the Cross”.
I waited to deal with these words of Jesus from the Cross till Mother”™s Day for 2 reasons:
1) These words, the third statement of Jesus from the Cross, are, perhaps, the most difficult to figure out and I needed more time to think and pray over them.
2) Since Jesus said some of His dying words to His mother, there”™s probably something there for us to learn about family.
The Heart of the Cross
John 19:25-27
The heart of the Cross is this: there is something sacred about family relationships””especially, between a mother and her child””that can be honored by God”™s grace!
John 19:25-27 (MSG)
24-27While the soldiers were looking after themselves, Jesus’ mother, his aunt, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene stood at the foot of the cross. Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her. He said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that moment the disciple accepted her as his own mother.
The heart of the Cross is this: there is something sacred about family relationships””especially, between a mother and her child””that can be honored by God”™s grace!
Mary had been told that this moment would come. When Jesus was eight days old, Mary and Joseph took him to the Temple for circumcision and dedication to God. While they were there, an old man named Simeon, who believed the Messiah was coming soon, met up with them, led by the Holy Spirit.
Luke 2:33-35 (NLT)
33 Jesus”™ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby”™s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, but he will be a joy to many others. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. 35 As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”
Now, as she stood there watching her Son dying a slow, cruel, torturous death, it had to feel to Mary as if one of those spikes of crucifixion had been driven ruthlessly through her heart!
And so, to the heart that he knows is breaking, Jesus speaks words of love and protection and provision.
The heart of the Cross is this: there is something sacred about family relationships””especially, between a mother and her child””that can be honored by God”™s grace!
Ronnie McBrayer
“He took care of what family he had. He wasn”™t married; he had no children (regardless of what some conspiracy theorists propose). His brothers and sisters thought he was a lunatic. They aren”™t even present as His life passes away. Apparently Joseph, his earthly father is dead. The only family Jesus has left is His mother, and in death, he does what he can for her. It is a loving, thoughtful, unselfish act. The weight of the world is crashing down upon his shoulders, yet he cannot let this moment pass, until he knows Mary is in good hands.
This was a special woman: “Highly favored over all other women.” She was heaven”™s chosen vessel. In her womb, we believe, humanity intersected with divinity in a miraculous way. She should be honored.”
No, we should not worship her as if she was some sort of co-savior with Jesus, as some do. But on the other had, we should not fail to honor her as unique, because God the Father and Jesus, her Son, certainly did.
The heart of the Cross is this: there is something sacred about family relationships””especially, between a mother and her child””that can be honored by God”™s grace!
How many of you have picture-perfect families?
Everything is just like you planned it, just like you want it to be. There have never been any mistakes or hurts. From mom/dad to brothers/sisters to grandparents to cousins, whose family has it all together?
Anyone? No? Who here doesn”™t ever feel some sense of shame or guilt or regret, or just pain, with regards to your family?
You see, to whatever degree, we all have dysfunctional families. We”™ve all failed, to some degree or the other, to honor the sacredness of family, as Jesus did. Maybe you”™re a brother or sister who hasn”™t honored your relationships with your siblings as you should. Maybe you”™re a dad who can”™t provide the way you would like to for your family. Maybe you”™ve even failed to honor our mother. Or maybe you”™re a mother and you haven”™t been who God wants a mom to be. Maybe you”™re a mother who has sincerely done all you can but your child is so far from the Lord and from you.
This is the point in the sermon where we all start to feel bad and the pain, the guilt and the shame start rushing back in.
Just hang on for a minute, because there”™s hope! There”™s help! There”™s grace!
Ronnie McBrayer
“When God himself was hanging on a tree, he didn”™t recall again, how his brothers and sisters weren”™t there to help him. He didn”™t cry over the fact that Joseph didn”™t live long enough to see this day. He didn”™t say, “Oh I wish I had married that girl from Jericho.” All he could do was speak a few, kind, loving words to his mother ”“ that was it ”“ but it was enough.
“Jesus bore all the shame in the universe on that cross and there”™s no need for us carry it around any more ”“ not even the shame related to our families. Yes, we screwed up. So what ”“ everybody has. Family life hasn”™t gone the way you planned it ”“ get on the bus with everybody else. But if the cross of Jesus is about anything, it is about finding the grace to get on with it, whatever it may be, and do what you can, by God’s grace, with what you have left.”
I know you/we are all doing important work ”“ but none of us are saving the world ”“ Jesus was ”“ and he still did what he could do for the family he had.
So can YOU!
The heart of the Cross is this: there is something sacred about family relationships””especially, between a mother and her child””that can be honored by God”™s grace!
Depend on the grace Jesus brought through the Cross and in the Resurrection, and do what you can. If this is your third marriage, well, make this third one the charm. If one kid won”™t talk to you, talk to the ones who will, and keep praying for the one that won”™t. If your in-laws hate you, treat them with respect and get through the holidays every year and be glad you did. Quit analyzing, regretting, reliving, and wishing things were different. Just get on with it ”“ and do what you can do, by God”™s grace, with what you have. Determine, by God”™s grace, to honor the sacredness of family, like Jesus did!
And especially, by God”™s grace, make every effort to honor the sacredness of your relationship with your mother!
My friend, Ronnie, relates a story that ties it all together:
“A college history professor assigned my freshmen class the task of interviewing someone who had lived through the Depression and World War Two. Grandmother, as everyone called her, was the obvious choice. Her mother had died when she was barely weaned. As a child and teen she heard the stories of the Great War and a few of the farm boys she knew even went away to Europe to fight the Germans. She married my farmer grandfather at the height of this country”™s economic collapse, but she had no historical appreciation for the Depression. In her words, “Somebody said they was one, a depression, I mean. But I don”™t know about that. All I know is that it was bad before the thirties and bad after that too.”
“She gave birth to eight children, and only one, my mother, was born in a hospital. She had 19 grandchildren, of which I was the favorite. Electricity and indoor plumbing were luxuries that didn”™t arrive to her sharecropping home until this country and one of her sons was involved in a small Asian country called Vietnam. And through it all she was married to a man who could only be described as wretched. Floyd Bearden was plagued by the demons of depression, addiction, and alcoholism. He was given to violence and abuse. She was victimized by him and his wayward ways for decades. But for a southern woman living in the middle of the twentieth century with seven children on a cotton farm, escaping such a marriage was impossible. It was a prison. While she refused to speak ill of my grandfather, she often admitted it was after his death that she experienced the most peaceful days of her adult life.
“In that college interview on an October afternoon I grasped fully, how heroic this woman was. Sure, I had eaten at her table more than my own. I had spent every summer in her house. I had listened to her stories and her songs. I loved and admired her more than any other person on the planet. But now I saw her as much more than a blood relative, a doting old woman with an eighth grade education. She was a hero. She had survived the death of her mother, Reconstruction, two World Wars, the Depression, poverty, the burying of a child, years of living in poverty, domestic violence and exploitation, and God knows what else. So at the end of my interview I finally asked, “How did you do it? Raise these kids by yourself with no money, no help, and the world against you?” She stared out the window of her living room for a long time, like she was consulting with that massive oak tree in the front yard; the only thing on the property older than her. Finally, she chuckled and she said, “I just did what I could. God Almighty takes care of the rest.”
The heart of the Cross is this: there is something sacred about family relationships””especially, between a mother and her child””that can be honored by God”™s grace!
Celebration of the Lord”™s Supper