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First Parish
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An Invitation |
Linda B. Hirst
Scripture: Acts
Ah Mother’s Day - aside from Christmas and Easter
this is one of the most well attended Sundays throughout the world, when it’s
not raining. I guarantee you that wherever the sun is shining today churches
are overflowing because it’s Mother’s Day. It’s kind of funny but predictable.
When women are asked what they want for Mother’s day they say, "I just
want you to go to church with me." Or I want to go to church as a
family." And when fathers are asked what they want for father’s day they
say, "I just want to stay home and read the paper. But women, we want our
loved ones with us on this day - and we’ll do what we have to get them here -
to get you here - we’ll plead, we’ll beg, we’ll bribe - you name it we’ll do
it.
We begin by asking nicely...honey, I’d really
like it if you’d go to church with me this Sunday...and if that doesn’t work
we’ll try something else; you know if you loved me you would go with me to
church. We negotiate - if you go to church with me I’ll cook dinner all week or
at the very least, make sure that my pink sweater doesn’t get mixed in with the
whites while doing the laundry. We convince: you won’t believe what we’re doing
in church these days - the music, the sermons, the parish concerns and
celebrations - they’re awesome - you really need to come and hear them! And
we’ve been known to use guilt. After all the things I do for you, you can’t go
to church with me just this once?
And if necessary, we bribe; if you come with
me to church I’ll take you to Norma’s for breakfast and Browns for ice cream
afterwards. Food is a great incentive especially for children. And sometimes
we’re even a little sneaky but we’re so good at it you won’t even notice it.
You know, it’s such a lovely day, let’s get out of the house early, maybe go
for a walk, have a nice breakfast, stop by church.....We’ll do just about
anything!
And why would we women, and I am speaking of
all women here - go to such great lengths to get our spouses, our partners, our
children, our friends - to get you here with us on Sunday mornings? Why would
we spend all that time, month after month, year after year, begging, pleading,
cajoling, just so you can spend an hour here with us each Sunday morning? The
answer is simple, really.
Because, we want you to have what we have.
Now, I’m not talking about our natural good
lucks, our inner beauty, our common sense, our wisdom, our women’s intuition,
our compassion, our incredible sense of humor, our loyalty, our kindness and
generosity, our positive attitudes, our the innate ability we have to see what
children are doing without actually looking at them, that amazing ability we
have to multi-task while multi-tasking. Did I leave anything out? We just come
with these things - God created us with this way.
What we want you to have are those
things that we get... from our worship together, from our faith, from our
church.
Things like peace which surpasses all
understanding, the kind that stays with you through the week, the kind that you
can call upon in a time of crisis when work is making you crazy, when your kids
are making you crazy, when your family is making you crazy...the kind that will
sustain you, help you breathe when you need to, help you find that center, that
happy place you so desperately need and just when it’s about to run out, when
it starts to run thin, it’s Sunday again and you get some more. We women have
this and we want you to have it, too.
And we want you to have hope, real hope, not
just optimism but the kind of hope that comes from trusting in God, from seeing
what God has done in the world, from seeing what God is doing, and knowing God
is with us, and we can ride out any storm, face any adversity, deal with
whatever life throws us because we know whose hands we’re in and we know that
when all is said and done we’ll be o.k. That kind of hope.
And we want you to experience the kinds of
things we experience; things like grace and gratitude and purpose. Things like
joy, the kind that you feel deep down in your soul - the kind that comes from
knowing who you are a child of God and what can be better than that; an exuberant
joy, and a quiet, steadfast joy. We want you to know happiness - the kind you
get when you step out of yourself and begin to serve, really serve others, to
help your brother and sister in need. Albert Schweitzer said, the only really
happy people are those who have learned to serve.’ We want you to experience
this joy, this happiness.
We want you to know forgiveness - real
forgiveness - there are two kinds of forgiveness you know, the first is the
surfacey and shallow kind, the kind you offer and accept because you have to,
because you know you should. I was watching Nanny 911 the other night - I watch
it for two reasons; the first is I find I’m strangely addicted to reality shows
and the second is I’m intrigued by her child rearing techniques. While it is 10
years too late for my kids I watch to see how badly I’ve messed them up and
what kind of scars they will have for life.
So I was watching Nanny 911 - Nanny Deb - and
what she does when a child misbehaves, throws something at his mother, or hits
his sister and makes her shriek, she puts him in the time out spot and after a
suitable amount of time she lets him out and has him apologize to the person he
offended. And the apology is always forced and petulant. "I’m sorry"
the child says though you know he doesn’t mean it, and the offended child
offers forgiveness in an equally forced and petulant manner: "I forgive
you." she says though you know she doesn’t really mean it either. I’ve
heard that little exchange before in my house.
Have even said it a few times myself.
Shallow, not real. Even as adults, sometimes we find ourselves asking for
forgiveness and offering it in that same shallow way, we do it because we know
it’s right and we have to.
But the kind of forgiveness God offers
is very different. When you open your heart to God, to God’s mercy and grace
and compassion, when you confess those things you have done or those things you
should have done, those things you can’t speak openly, can only speak to God,
when your spirit is ready and willing to receive God’s forgiveness and you do,
it is unlike anything you have ever known.
And though you may not actually hear
the words spoken they are there: My child, you are forgiven. This is what we
know and we want you to know this, too.
And we want you to have other things - things
that you naturally begin to develop the more time you spend in church, in
worship, the more time you spend nurturing your faith; like the ability to see
God all around us, even in unexpected places, and the ability to see miracles where
others might not.
Martin Copenhaver, in a book he wrote
with Anthony Robinson, a book of letters to their children, wrote a letter to
his son about just this thing, about being able to see God around us, about
being able to see miracles. And this is what he tells his son:
Dear Todd, Occasionally I am asked if I
believe in miracles. Often the person asking such a question has just read
something in the Bible that he or she finds hard to believe: God parts the
water of the Red Sea so that the people of Israel can escape slavery in Egypt;
Jesus feeds thousands of people gathered on a hillside with a couple of fish
and a few loaves of bread. Often, people want to know, did such things really
happen or are they just made-up stories? And if they really did happen, why
don’t we ever see miracles like that today? Has God gone out of the miracle
business?
When I am asked if I believe in miracles
usually I get the impression that people want a simple "yes" or
"no" answer. So, in case you’re wondering, yes, I do believe in
miracles. In one sense, I don’t think it is particularly difficult to believe
in miracles. The word "miracle" literally means, "a sign that
points to God." A miracle is anything that reveals God to us. So we are
surrounded by miracles every day.
Some people are so open to the presence of
God in the world that they are able to see miracles - signs that point to God -
all around them. But most of us are not that attentive and receptive.
Even Jesus’ closest followers seemed to miss
a lot along the way. They were present when Jesus multiplied the loaves and
fish so that the crowd could be fed. They had picked up the baskets of scraps
that were left over after everyone had their fill. And yet the disciples seemed
not to catch on. Later, when Jesus asked them to recall what happened, they
simply reported the facts: there were five loaves for five thousand people and
they took up 12 baskets of scraps. In other words, they could do the math, but
they didn’t pick up on what else was going on.
Jesus had given them a stunning glimpse of
God’s power and all they could remember was a picnic in the sun. God’s miracles
don’t always impress us. Perhaps it’s not that God doesn’t do miracles anymore
but that we simply don’t see the miracles God performs. It may be more our
problem than God’s!
I hope, he concludes in his letter to his
son, that you will have the kind of open and receptive faith that will allow
you to see something wondrous that many people miss - God at work in the world,
in the story that is told in the Bible, and in your own life, miracles all
around.
We have this uncanny ability to see God
at work in the world and miracles all around us, and we want you to have it,
too.
And we want you to know that feeling you get
when you know you belong to someone and something bigger than yourself - when
you belong to a community of faith.
This came up just the other night on one my
favorite TV shows: Everyone Loves Raymond. The show, if you don’t know, is
about this sports columnist Ray Barone and his fairly dysfunctional and
neurotic family. Ray, by all accounts, is a good husband, a good father,
occasionally clueless, but he does the best he can.
In this particular episode he and his wife
Deborah are having a discussion about church, specifically why he doesn’t go
while she takes the three kids to catholic mass each Sunday. Do you consider
yourself Catholic? she asks. Yes, I do, he answers, I go Christmas and Easter.
His wife, of course explains that to be a religious person, to get something
out of church, it takes more than going to twice a year.
To which Raymond says: why do I have to go?
I’m a good person. All day long I do good things. I do good things here, around
the house, at work. I try really hard. Why can’t I just be a good person, isn’t
that enough? Why do I have to go? To which his wife Deborah says, "I have
an idea. Why don’t we all gather here on Sunday mornings and sit around
you."
But then he asks her the question: the
question you’ve probably been asked before - by family members, by friends,
maybe you’ve even asked the question yourself? Why do you go to church, he asks
his wife.
And she says, Well, I go to give thanks for
my family, for you, for the kids. And I go to pray for strength to get through
another week with you, and the kids. And she continues, I go for the community
- I go because when I’m there I know I’m part of something bigger than me and
there are people who love you and care about you. I like being part of a
community.
We want you to know what it’s like to be part
of a community of faith - to have people pray for you and encourage you - to
have them clap for you when it’s your birthday or anniversary, to give you a
hug when it’s needed, to weep with you when you are weeping, and to share your
joys as well. To praise God and give God thanks for our many blessings, to
worship God together - it’s an amazing thing. We want you to know what it’s
like to be part of a community - to belong to one another.
And we want you to know what it’s like to
belong to God. To know that you are loved even when you’re feeling unlovable,
forgiven when you’re feeling unforgivable, that there is someone you can trust
and count on at all times in your life, even when everyone else around you has
let you down, that there is someone walking with you on your journey, that you
are special and precious in God’s sight, so much so that God sent his only Son
to die and rise for you so that you may have new and eternal life.
These are some of the things we women
have and we want you to have them, too.
And how do you get these things? By being the
church together. By doing church together. By doing all those things the
apostles and their followers began doing after Jesus ascended into heaven. It’s
right there in the book of Acts.
They devoted themselves to the apostle’s
teaching - the words, the teachings of Jesus, which is now our Bible - and to
fellowship - to the breaking of bread - celebrating communion - by devoting
themselves to prayer.
And awe came upon everyone because many
wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were
together - they were a community - and they had all things in common; they
would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as
any had need - serving their brothers and sisters. Day by day, as they spent
much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home - the first church
suppers - and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and
having the goodwill of all people. And day by the day, the Lord added to their
number those who were being saved. The church grew. And here we are, today.
This is what we want for you.
Now, I should point out, now that I’m almost
done, that here at
But for the rest of you, consider this
an invitation from all of us women - mothers, grandmothers, aunts, great aunts,
sisters, spouses, friends. Won’t you join us next Sunday? We want you to have
what we have, what we get from our church, our worship, our faith. This is what
we want for you and for all of God’s people.
Let us pray: Dear God, we know what a
difference you make, you have made in our lives - what a difference you can
make in all of our lives. We thank you for all your gifts - for your love and
faithfulness and we ask you to embrace all of your children in your loving arms
- bring us closer to you, help us and those we love grow in faith this day and
evermore.