Blessed Is She

Blessed Is She

A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson

May 13, 2018

at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Zuni, Virginia

Genesis 3: 16, 20; 4:1

Luke 1: 39-45

Let us pray,

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside of our minds

Help us to be more than our lives

For your eyes show the way

Your mind knows the truth

Your being is the life.

Amen.

Mother’s Day Sermon Essentials

        Thank Mom’s, thank all ladies because it isn’t just birth moms

        Keep it short so every one can get Mom to lunch and get a good table before the rush

I want to look at a familiar story

Eve – bad press, blame, but if she gets the blame, maybe she should have some credit as well

But look at this text- - - three individual verses, we know the rest of the story so well

Fruit has been eaten,

Nakedness known

Hiding has happened

Blame game has been played

And now the punishments are being given out, we are skipping over Adam and the Serpent to get to Eve. . .

Genesis 3: 16, 20; 4:1

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
    with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
    and he will rule over you.”

Very familiar. . . Pain at child birth. . . desire for husband

But look what else she gets. . .

²⁰ Adam^[c] named his wife Eve,^[d] because she would become the mother of all the living.

Her name, as Eve is given here, up to this point she has just been woman or wife. . . ever noticed that? . .

kinda like how Adam is just Man---but technically it is Ha-Adam, which means THE MAN

in Hebrew its kinda like English, woman, out of man m-iess, and. . . issha is Hebrew for woman. . .

But here Eve's name, mother, is given, and we know how important naming is in Genesis. . . 

Here is the third line I want to look at, this, the beginning of chapter 4, the first chapter outside of the garden. . . 

Adam^[a] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.^[b] She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth^[c] a man.”

Made love, ha ha in the KJV and NRSV it is knew, even Hebrew has its euphemisms

But it makes you wonder about whether there would have been motherhood in the Garden?

Population would grow pretty rapidly if there was Birth with out Death

Fruit with no flowers. . . was then the Fall a part of the plan

Which is hard to swallow with all the evil in the world, but Motherhood and Jesus redeem it some don’t they

Pretty remarkable to still feel God is sovereign and in control.  .. . 

Look at

Luke 1: 39-45

³⁹ At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, ⁴⁰ where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ⁴³ But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

Blessed is she!, without birth, no Jesus, no Mary, no rest of the story. . . 

I was looking at what I wanted to say to Mothers today, and found it in country music. . . was thinking maybe with the success of our festival, maybe we could create a worship service with country music and try something no one else is. . . 

And I was thinking I would make a cd of me singing some "mom" songs, 

I found that they said in many ways, everything I wanted to say

Look at some of them: 

Have you heard the Garth Brooks song Mom, about the kid talking to God and he saying that don't worry about life on Earth because you'll have this person who will take care of you: Listen to these words:

MOM

A little baby told God, Hey I'm kinda scared

Don't really know if I wanna go down there

Because from here it looks like a little blue ball

But that's a great big place and I'm so small

Why can't I just stay here with you

Did I make you mad, don't you want me, too

And God said, 'Oh child, of course I do

But there's somebody special that's waiting for you

Chorus:

So hush now baby, don't you cry

Cause there's someone down there waiting who's only goal in life

Is making sure you're always gonna be alright

A loving angel, tender touch is strong

It's almost time to go and meet your Mom

Bridge:

Now when she's talkin' to you, make sure you listen close

Cause she's gonna teach you everything you'll ever need to know

Like how to mind your manners, to love and laugh and dream

And she'll put you on the path that'll bring you back to me

Then there are the classics like. . . 

Don’t Take your Guns to Town

Mama Tried

Mama’s Don’t Let Your Babies

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys

Don't let them pick guitars and drive them old trucks

Make them be doctors and lawyers and such

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys

They'll never stay home and they're always alone

Even with someone they love

When I first did the Good Friday, service I used this song, Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be Cowboys",  to go with  Jesus saying "Woman be hold your son, son behold your mother. . . " powerful to think about the similarities, never stay home and always alone. . . 

but then recently I switched to "Nothin" by Townes Van Zandt

Nothin’

 Hey mama, when you leave

Don't leave a thing behind
I don't want nothin'
I can't use nothin'

Take care into the hall
And if you see my friends
Tell them I'm fine
Not using nothin'

So much more bleak, and poignant, with crucifixion, but in that moment of pain, to have mom there is so important. . . 

Then I found this other one that I hadn't heard before, about how Mama seems to know everything about you. . .

Mama Knows

Me and Jimmy Chrowder and a single cigarette

Crouched down in a stall out in the barn

Three puffs later we were sick as we could get

praying we get better before we got home

she saw me comin' through the back door screen

I knew the minute that she looked at me

Mama knows, Mama knows

somehow I think she's got a window to my soul

Mama knows, Mama knows

Even when I think it doesn't show

Mama knows, mama knows

And though she knows, her love never goes away, no matter what. . .  what a mirror to the love God has for us. . . 

The Sweetest Gift
One day a mother came to a prison
To see an erring but precious son
She told the warden how much she loved him
It did not matter what he had done
           
She did not bring (bring to him) a parole or pardon (pardon plea)        
She brought no silver (brought no gold) no pomp or style (none to see)   
It was a halo (halo bright) sent down from heaven (heaven's light)
The sweetest gift a mother's smile    

She left a smile you can remember
She's gone to heaven from heartache's grief
Those walls around you will never change her
You were her baby and ever will be

Then I found one about Mom's being like angels. . . you see gifts from God, who show us what life and love truly are about. . . our first glimpses. 

Angels
Me and some of the boys were sitting around the other night
Started talking about politics religion love and life
And what a shame it was about 9/11
And what about hell and what about heaven
And is there or isn't there angels here on earth
And then one guy said well you can take that for what it's worth
If it's something I can see or something I can touch
Well I might believe in all that stuff
So I just had to say to him

Are you telling me that you've never seen an angel
Never felt the presence of one standing by
No robe of white no halo in sight
Well you missed the most obvious thing
Man are you blind just look in your mothers eyes

Spoken:
And then I said who went through the pain
And smiled through the tears on the day of your birth
She counted your fingers and toes and thanked God you were whole
Son you outta know who loved you first that's right
And who always came running every time you cried out
And how many more things have you forgotten about
And who tried their best to teach you wrong from right
And how many nights did she leave on the light
While she waited and prayed that you came in
And who'd be there for you right up to the end

Think about it tonight
Aww man are you blind just look in your mothers eyes
That's right

And then there is what we learn from them about life. . . 

This next song is by Justin Townes Earle, who is the son of a legendary singer songwriter, and he himself has become like his father, but it is his mother he wants to be like, she taught him wrong from right. . . 

Justin Townes Earle - Mama's Eyes

I am my father's son

I've never known when to shut up

I ain't fooling no one no more

I am my father's son

We don't see eye to eye

And I'll be the first to admit I've never tried

It sure hurts me, but it should hurt sometime

We don't see eye to eye

I was a young man when

I first found the pleasure and the feel of a sin

I went down the same road as my old man

I was younger then

Now its three am and I'm standing in the kitchen

Holding my last cigarette

Strike a match and I see my reflection in the mirror in the hall

And I say to myself

I've got my mama's eyes

Her long thin frame and her smile

And I still see wrong from right

Cuz I've got my mama's eyes

And there might not be anything more excruciatingly painful than someone you love leaving you, and who would you go to, but Mom? Listen at the words of this classic. . .  

SO MUCH LIKE MY DAD 

I know that I surprised you coming home

It's not my usual time of year

But I've got myself a problem

And I know that I might find the answer here

Remember when I was dad's pride and joy

And your little man

Everytime that I got hurt

You were there to give a hand

Even pick me up

And you'd kiss my hurt away

Remember what she'd say

Boy you're getting more like him each and every day

Can we have a talk like it was yesterday

Your boy's back in trouble and he needs you right away

She said she's gonna leave me mama

And nothing on God's green Earth will make her stay

I can't live without her mama

But this time you can't kiss the hurt away

But if I'm so much like my dad

There must have been times you felt her way

So tell me word for word what he said

That always made you stay

And to know that life is about love and loss, and as a parent we learn that lesson because success as a parent is having your children move on, but that doesn't make it any easier. . . this song always gets me, because the teaching of it, is no doubt helping the mother learn it as well, through the progress of the song. . . 

HOW CAN I HELP YOU SAY GOODBYE

Through the back window of our '59 wagon

I watched my best friend Jamie slipping further away

I kept on waving till I couldn't see her

And through my tears I asked again why we couldn't stay

Mama whispered softly, time will ease your pain

Life's about changing, nothing ever stays the same

And she said, how can I help you to say goodbye

It's okay to hurt, and it's okay to cry

Come let me hold you, and I will try

How can I help you         to say goodbye

I sat on our bed, he packed his suitcase

I held a picture of our wedding day

His hands were trembling, we both were crying

He kissed me gently, and then he quickly walked away

I called up Mama, she said, time will ease your pain

Life's about changing, nothing ever stays the same

And she said, how can I help you to say goodbye

It's okay to hurt, and it's okay to cry

Come let me hold you, and I will try

How can I help you to say goodbye

Sitting with Mama, alone in her bedroom

She opened her eyes, and then squeezed my hand

She said, I have to go now, my time here is over

And with her final words she tried to help me understand

Mama whispered softly, time will ease your pain

Life's about changing, nothing ever stays the same

And she said, how can I help you to say goodbye

It's okay to hurt, and it's okay to cry

Come let me hold you, and I will try

How can I help you to say goodbye

And then some are just sweet, with mom on a pedestal, if only all people could be as lucky. . .

 Mother Like Mine

Verse 1

She's the sky that holds the clouds; she's the lady of the house  

A blind believer in all I dare to be            

There's no safer place I've found than the shoulder of her white night gown

Oh I've got the best and the worst of her in me

I'd share her if I could         

So the wars would all be over 'cause she'd raise us all as friends

And no one would ever wonder if somebody wanted them

We'd walk on grass that's greener and our cares would all be freer

If the world had a mother like mine

She's our father's one great love, she's the one he wanted most

She's the light in the window of the house I grew up in

She takes the midnight call, she's the bravest of us all

Still she sings in the garden she lets her hair down in

Don't go away, don't go away from me

Oh I understand she is a helping hand, still I have to say

She's the sky that holds the clouds; she's the lady of our house

We all need her but no one more than me

But probably the sweetest and most meaningful to me is  Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors" as I have a Mom who loves to sew. . . listen to these words. . . 

Coat of Many Colors by Dolly Parton

  Back through the years

I go wonderin once again

Back to the seasons of my youth

I recall a box of rags that someone gave us

And how my momma put the rags to use

There were rags of many colors

Every piece was small

And I didn't have a coat

And it was way down in the fall

Momma sewed the rags together

Sewin every piece with love

She made my coat of many colors

That I was so proud of

  

As she sewed, she told a story

From the bible, she had read

About a coat of many colors

Joseph wore and then she said

Perhaps this coat will bring you

Good luck and happiness

And I just couldn't wait to wear it

And momma blessed it with a kiss

  

My coat of many colors

That my momma made for me

Made only from rags

But I wore it so proudly

Although we had no money

Well I was rich as I could be

In my coat of many colors

My momma made for me

So with patches on my britches

and holes in both my shoes

In my coat of many colors

I hurried off to school

Just to find the others laughing

And making fun of me

in my coat of many colors

My momma made for me

And oh I couldn't understand it

For I felt I was rich

And I told them of the love

My momma sewed in every stitch

And I told em all the story

Momma told me while she sewed

And how my coat of many colors

Was worth more than all their clothes

But they didn't understand it

And I tried to make them see

That one is only poor

Only if they choose to be

Now I know we had no money

But I was rich as I could be

In my coat of many colors

My momma made for me

Made just for me

And for that reason years ago I wrote this for my Mom, the power of a made gift given. . . priceless

Hymn of a Quilt

for Mom

I lie beneath and am warmed by each careful stitch,

Made in the slowness of time, though always were 

You rushing against some deadline, some memorial

Celebration, a moment you sought to capture with

And through and in each loving stitch. Each stitch 

Contains the meaning of the moments you spent 

Crafting: your mind, your hands, the years given

To develop your skills, the mother who taught you,

The mother who taught her, the wind, whose chill 

First gave birth to the necessity, events long forgotten:

What memories filled your mind while you made it?

Mother and child share many moments: I entered

This world, leaving the world contained within you,

Screaming, and you offered me a blanket then, too.

It gave me security, a surrogate to fill your absence,

Though you have never really been gone, always there

To read me books, to tuck me in, to calm the fears

Of night and day. Side by side, lying on another such

Creation, I was lost, crying, seeking something solid

To hold as the world around me changed as it does.

You didn’t take me from it, pulling me out to some 

Fantasy that could not be, but instead, like your quilts,

You wrapped me in your love, like armor to wear

To face whatever must come. Each stitch holds together

Scraps of cloth, purposed elsewhere, the lonely extra

Put to new use, redeemed. I cannot help but see the hope

Embedded, tied together by loving work, that beyond

What our minds’ envision, exist purposes we could never

Dream of, even in our warmest deepest sleep. Yet there

We feel in body and soul, and so know, though words 

Fail, and they are the stuff of the mind, there is more. 

This attempt at filling the silent hymn of a quilt can but

Scratch the surface of meaning, and so can never define,

Instead can only give witness, as one can only do to love,

As one should only do to God, for such gifts reside where

The flowing rivers of life never cease enough to grasp,

Instead you let them warm your every night with enough

Sacred given love to spread to others in your every day,

Passing on the love you gave with each careful stitch.

Still gets me. . . let us pray. . . 

Thank you for Moms!