Mothering

by Rev. Dr. Amy Chilton on 05/09/24

Mother’s Day is one of those Sundays that promises to be a whole lot of fun and oftentimes turns out to be complicated for a whole lot of folks. When I was a kid my church would have “contests” during service and give prizes away to moms. They changed the categories each year, but they would ask things like “Who has the most kids?” (always my mom, of course), “which mom came from the furthest away?,” etc. But, not all of the women in our church who wanted to be moms could be moms. So, for some women in our congregation Mother’s Day was painful. And I imagine that some of the women without children didn’t want to be moms and had to answer a lot of questions about when they were going to get married or have kids.

The mothers of the Bible show us all kinds of ways of being a mother. Some of them desperately wanted children and couldn’t have them easily (e.g., Sarah, Rachel, Rebecca, Elizabeth), many of them lost their children (e.g., Bathsheba and Rizpah), some of them taught their children (the mother of Proverbs 31), some had to resort to desperate means to have children (e.g., Lot’s daughters and Tamar), some had children who fought (e.g., Eve, Rachel, and Rebecca),and some of them raised their children in poverty (e.g., the widow of Zarephath). While we have some stories of women who just couldn’t have children, we can safely assume that those stories happened then just as they do now. There have always been many ways to be a woman and a mother.

What we don’t have in Scripture are clear teachings telling women to be mothers. What we do have in Scripture are maternal images used to describe God as both nurturing and fighting for the safety of God’s children. Even God has many ways of being a mother to creation! (Want to hear more? Come to service this Sunday!)

So, where am I going with this? This weekend, as we celebrate Mother’s Day, I encourage you to expand your definition of a “mother.” Who in your life has been like God, who has nurtured and fought for you? No matter their gender or relationship to you, if they did those things they “mothered” you. Perhaps, in addition to spending time with your own mothers or children, reach out to all who have mothered you and thank them for being God’s presence in your life.

Blessings,

Pastor Amy

Blessing the Mothers

            By Jan Richardson

 Who are our

first sanctuary.

Who fashion

a space of blessing

with their own being:

 

with the belly

the bone and

the blood

or,

if not with these,

then with the

durable heart

that offers itself

to break

and grow wide,

to gather itself

around another

as refuge,

as home

 

Who lean into

the wonder and terror

of loving what

they can hold

but cannot contain.

 

Who remain

in some part of themselves

always awake,

a corner of consciousness

keeping perpetual vigil.

 

Who know

that the story

is what endures

is what binds us

is what runs deeper

even than blood

 

and so they spin them

in celebration

of what abides

and benediction

on what remains:

 

a simple gladness

that latch onto us

and graces us

on our way.