Sixth Sunday of Easter
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Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 9, 2010
St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran church
Anita C. Hill, Co-Pastor
Love Like a Mother Would
Acts 16:9-15; John 14:23-29
“When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple with a red hat.” Now that’s a Mother’s Day vision that can catch our attention. It’s the opening line of a poem that ends with the woman saying: “But maybe I ought to practice a little now? So people are not too shocked and surprised when suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.”
The poem has been around since the 1980s and has spawned many a “Red Hat Ladies group. It seemed fitting to begin with it on this Mother’s Day when our first reading from Acts introduces us to Lydia, a respected dealer of purple cloth, a wealthy business woman with a network of connections and the head of her household. The text tells us Lydia was from Thyatira, which is in Europe. The story doesn’t say if she wore a red hat.
Our reading begins with Paul having a vision that caused him to set sail immediately for Macedonia. Walter Bruggemann says Paul was seeking a new way of ministry. That new way arrived ‘in a vision’ – a perception of ministry ‘out of no way’ or outside the box.
In our reading from Acts, we have Lydia as a woman outside the box. She was a foreigner. And as surely “as we see our own culture made up of haves and have-nots, insiders and outsiders, those in the mainstream and on the margins, Lydia represents Them all.
It could be said that Lydia was an immigrant merchant in Philippi, a seller of purple cloth. Lydia had to be a risk taker. Her clientele would have been rich people, since she sold purple cloth, the color of royalty. Lydia’s listening to Paul and opening herself to the Spirit would have been unpopular and certainly risky for her. Yet, she not only asked to be baptized along with her household, but also to ask Paul and his crew to risk receiving her hospitality if they “judged her to be faithful.”
Paul’s respect for Lydia even to the point of going to her home, which presumably became a center for the church’s growth, speaks volumes about her faithfulness.
“Lydia gave truth to Jesus’ beautiful promise: “Those who love me will keep my word, and God my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them (John 14:23). They beckon us to follow their example, offering hearts and homes for faith.”
Our faith is about living in relationship with Jesus. “Those who love me will keep my word, and God my Father and Mother will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” It is about loving Jesus and keeping his word. It is about God loving us, and dwelling with us through the Spirit!
Loving Jesus, keeping his word, dwelling with Jesus – is about living in a vibrant grace filled relationship with God. It is where God’s grace flows into and through us as we go about our daily lives. Jesus promises and the Spirit will remind us of all that he taught.
Jesus calls us to be disciples. Jesus calls us to live in loving relationship as we keep God’s word close in our hearts and actions. It is a grace filled calling to love and serve others and thereby to love and serve God with all our heart and mind and spirit.
Today, we recognize mothers and the ways women work to nurture and sustain relationships and family. Mother’s Day is a time to celebrate and be thankful for the love Mothers have shown us, to appreciate the sacrifices they’ve made, and to acknowledge the witness that women make regarding matters of faith and caring, peace and love. Jesus said, “Those who love me will keep my word.”
What does it mean to “keep” Jesus’ word? The basic meanings of the Greek word are: to keep watch over, to guard; to hold, reserve; to preserve someone or something; to observe, and pay attention to; and to protect and not lose. Doesn’t that sound like a list of what a Mother does? We have heard that Jesus’ word to his disciples is to “love one another.”
The temptation for us is to hear “Love one another” and to pat ourselves on the back because there is a great feeling of community here. We have fun together. We’ve put ourselves on the line for justice. We are doing lots of things—health care reform, supporting the food shelf, ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Relief, going global with Sister Parishes in two countries, helping the ELCA live into a deeper inclusiveness. Our church members are working with Isaiah on racial and economic justice, including transportation and affordable housing. Even with all this, we still have room to grow in loving as Jesus loved.
Pastor Keith and I recently attended the Gamaliel Foundation’s national training for clergy. Much of the focus was about the need for comprehensive immigration reform in our country. We heard stories from undocumented immigrants, including two who were small children when they came to this country with their parents. As young adults who have known only life in the United States, they are unable to get a job legally. College loans are out of the question.
Last fall we welcomed a mother and child seeking asylum, and immigration concerns are close to my heart. Given recent actions in Arizona, I know I am being called to get involved so our state doesn’t go the way of legislating cruel inhospitality in our immigration laws. Most families here have roots that go back to immigrants. Will you take the role of mothering immigrants in Jesus’ name?
God is like a Mother who brings us face to face with the reality that every human being is family to us and that we are to love them. Jesus commanded us to love one another, especially the foreigners who sojourn here. Like the woman who intends to wear purple with a red hat, there is no need to wait. We can offer mothering love to our immigrant neighbors right now. Amen.
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Warning: Poem by Jenny Joseph
Acts 16:15 NRSV
Women of the Cloth” Jim Rice of Sojourners, 1998
Joyce Hollyday, Sojourners, 1995
John 14:23 NRSV
Ibid.
Crossmakrs.com Commentary by Brian Stoffregen
