For as long as I have been serving as a pastor, I have had
to face how much diversity there is in how people feel about Mother’s Day.
There is no one-size-fits-all description of either expectations, experiences,
or emotions surrounding this day.
In the church we are told to, “Rejoice with those who rejoice,” and “weep with those who weep.”[1]
This means that, when the world’s annual day of recognition to mothers rolls
around, the church will rejoice with those mothers and children who rejoice in
their relationships with each other, and weep with those mothers and children
whose relationships are filled with sorrow and disappointment.[2]
As I pondered these things this morning, standing in
brokenhearted wonder at God’s gift of his own Holy Spirit as the guarantee of
our salvation,[3]
I felt this gentle reminder of a verse that has long held incredible comfort to
my soul.
“O Lord, all my longing is before you;my sighing is not hidden from you.”[4]
I first learned this verse in the NIV, and it reads like
this:
“All my longings lie open before you, Lord;
my sighing is not hidden from you.”[5]
How is this a comfort to the church on a day when the
primary focus of the Mother’s Day celebration exacerbates losses, and sorrows,
and disappointments in some of those who want to know the love of God in the
midst of the congregation? How can this be a comfort, a uniting focus of the
church, when some families are filled with celebration, while other families
have mothers, and children, and the motherless, struggling through the day
simply because someone felt they had to remind them of everything they have
lost?
The answer is that there is no greater comfort in the world
than the children of God laying before their Father in heaven every longing in
their hearts. We do not even need to know how to put our longings into words.
They already lie open before our heavenly Father, and he takes note of even our
sighs of grief and disappointment.
When we come together as the church, with all the menagerie
of thoughts, feelings, and experiences of family relationships, every child of
God is on level ground regarding our need for comfort, and the Father who is
ready to meet our need.
So, while some celebrate, we can celebrate with them that
they have felt the goodness of what God has made in relationships between
parents and children. When others grieve, we can grieve with them that a sinful
world has caused so much damage to what God had made very good.
Together, we can bring our longings and sighs into our
worship, joining Paul’s words of praise and thanksgiving:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”[6]
Whether our affliction is because we follow Christ, as it
was with Paul, or because the world’s sin and darkness have caused us more
trouble than we know how to bear, God comforts us so that we can join his work
of comforting others.
Even those among God’s children who have cause to celebrate
what their family has experienced between mother and child, everyone has their
own share of troubles and afflictions to bear. We simply must apply what it
means to “Bear one another's burdens, and
so fulfill the law of Christ,”[7]
however it is required on Mother’s Day, and keep on doing so through every day
ahead. Someone will need it.
© 2016 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
[1]
Romans 12:15
[2]
I do not say this as though the church or its members have any obligation whatsoever
to participate in worldly celebrations. I only mean it as understanding that
the people in our congregations are affected by such events, both in their
comings and goings, and whatever happens in-between.
[3]
Ephesians 1:13
[4]
Psalm 38:9
[5]
Psalm 38:9 (NIV)
[6]
II Corinthians 1:3-4
[7]
Galatians 6:2
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