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May
9, 2004 Fifth
Sunday of Easter Acts
11:1-18 John
13:31-35 “Oh, Mom!” “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Sounds like my mother. I’d have some big fight with my brother (often involving bruises and blood) and my mother would remind us of her commandment. We were to love one another, even if we didn’t like each other. Sometimes that commandment was reinforced when our father got home. “Your mother and I punish you only because we love you,” he would say. I always wondered about the logic behind that statement. When I became a father myself, I began to understand what he meant. My mother expected us to grow up to be responsible, honest and caring people but there were times when that was the last thing we wanted to do. There were times we wanted to kill each other, or at least get close to it. “Share with your sister”, she would say, or, “Tell your brother you are sorry”, or, “If you do something dishonest people will remember you for it forever”, or, “Eat all your peas because there are starving children in Africa!” How many thousand times did we whine in response, “Oh, Mom!” Begrudgingly, we would go through the motions doing what she expected of us. My mother had high expectations of us (still does). It was her way of saying she loved us, that she wanted us to be good people who grew up to live good lives.
When love is sincere and true, it gets
passed on from parent to child. Certainly,
we should take more than one day, more than just an annual “Hallmark Moment”
to express our appreciation for this best of all gifts.
We are at our best when we do what
Christ commands. We are at our best
when we love each other as he loved us.
And we are at our worst when we fail
to do this.
The tragic and disturbing photos in
the news this week from the prisons of Iraq show graphically what happens when
people fail to love as Christ commands. Some
are now arguing they were only following commands, but they must have either
forgotten or did not know the higher commandments of God.
Maybe they forgot what their mothers taught them or maybe their mothers
are just like them. What we know is that love did not happen when it was needed
most. Christ’s command was
ignored. His disciples were absent.
Most certainly, as one of our guests at yesterday’s Community Dinner
said, the One who wept over Jerusalem is weeping now.
War is hell and that’s what it all
too often brings out of people. “I
have met the enemy,” said the old Pogo cartoon, “and he is us.”
God help us. God help us expect responsible behavior of one another.
God help us act with justice. God
help us forgive. God help us love
one another.
I think maybe I have a solution.
I suggest we fire, vote out, impeach (whatever) all the world leaders and
put in their places, Moms. We need
leaders who will say, “Get along with your brother.
Love your sister. Do the
right thing even if you don’t like them.”
Maybe mothers could turn this around.
Back around Christmastime a joke
circulated on the Internet about how much better off we’d be if there had been
three wise women instead of three wise men.
It went something like this: Do
you know what would have happened if there had been three wise women instead of
three wise men? They would have asked
directions,
There might be some truth to that,
especially if those women were Moms!
On this day when we pause briefly to
thank our mothers, either our biological mothers or another person who mothered
us through the years of growing up, we are thankful for the love that got
through to us in spite of us and in spite of them. Because of those who have loved us in years past and those
who love us now, we know that life can be good, filled with hope, filled with
promise. Love makes life worth
living. We know that love makes all
things possible, even peace on earth. It
is God’s greatest gift and greatest commandment.
We are not perfect and consequently,
our love is not perfect, but the One who is perfect is the source of love and
can renew and sustain us. God’s
love we know in Christ. It does not
fail us, even when people grieve the heart of God.
Even when Jesus weeps, his love does not fail us.
Even as he dies on the cross, his love does not fail us.
If we can but catch a glimpse of this
love on Mother’s Day, believe it to be possible, believe it to be true, then
we will have the answer to the troubles of today.
Evil does not stand a chance in the presence of such love. The
darkness passes and the night evaporates in saving light, in the dawn of a new
day.
As Christ’s disciples, we have been
entrusted with this great gift and this great hope. It’s what the world aches for now. It can defeat prejudice and hatred and promote dignity and
respect and honor for all people.
In the reading from the book of Acts
today we heard of Peter’s revelation, the day he began to see the world
through new eyes. It was a vision
of food (what a great vision!). He
was shown that the unique religious laws about prohibited foods that had so
defined the close-knit Jewish community were to be let go.
Peter was to see there were people beyond the Jews who also needed to
hear the Good News of Jesus. They
were to be welcomed and affirmed as equals.
It was a radical new vision for such a traditional Jew, but it was
God’s vision, Christ calling, and Peter’s heart and mind were opened and the
Gospel broke out upon the world.
Our United Church of Christ has
identified with such vision. The
hallmark of our denomination is welcome and affirmation.
And although this may make the stance of the church a bit controversial
at times, I think in these times this is the voice that must be heard.
I believe the two United Church of Christ churches in this city, Second
and First Congregational Churches, have a great and common mission now, to
challenge the growing misguided assumption that religious and/or political
beliefs are justification to divide and conquer.
Such a fractured world is not what God wants.
Such a broken family is not what the One who has borne and nurtured this
world with a mother’s love wants.
So God continues to encourage us to do
the right thing. God continues to
challenge us to look beyond our own traditions and preconceptions.
God continues to prod our growth. God
continues to offer forgiveness.
None of our mothers are or were
perfect. Still, I hope you are able
to find many reasons to be thankful that love got through to you just the same.
This is God’s plan – that love gets through to you and makes a good
person of you and as a consequence brings goodness into the lives of those you
meet. When such love abounds, life
can be good for all people, no matter their religious, political, national or
cultural orientations.
“Love one another as I have loved
you”, said Jesus, “Get along with your sisters and your brothers.
Love them even if you don’t like what they do. Forgive them.
Feed them. Give your life
for them. Love one another as I
have loved you.”
This is the key.
This is the commandment.
Can we allow ourselves with Peter to
see such a vision of inclusiveness? Can
we allow such love to happen in our lives?
Can we, as Christ’s disciples in this time accept anything less than
peace on earth?
Love the Lord your God with all your
heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. |
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