Well, today is Mother's Day...but, while we recognize and remember Mothers on this day, we should remember that this is, after all, really a secular holiday. In truth...Mother's Day exists primarily for the benefit of florists, greeting card makers and long-distance phone services.
And let's be honest. While we might wish that all mothers were like those seen through the years on "Ozzie and Harriet," "Leave It To Beaver," "The Brady Bunch" or "Happy Days" (everyone can choose your particular era!), we know that just isn't so! Real life "moms" are not always wonderful.
And even the best ofmothers, like those T.V. incarnations, can be...well, shall we say, a little "pushy." Like the mother of the kid who sat diligently practicing the piano in the living room on a beautiful summer afternoon while other kids were outside playing and having fun. A solicitor came up to the door and looked in through the screen. Seeing the child at the piano, the salesperson called out, "Excuse me! Is your mother home?" The little kid stopped in mid-scale, looked up and said, "What do you think?!"
But so you don't think that I'm "picking on" moms, let me point out that good, healthy mothers usually have good reasons for being a little "pushy" about some things. In most cases, it's because they love us. They want the best for us.
God can act like that in our lives. Sometimes, out oflove and a desire to see us be all that we are capable of being, God can be a little pushy...in a motherly kind of way! Now those who grew up in traditional churches are very familiar with the concept of God as "Father" and that's a wonderful image for many. But did you know that there are also many images in the Bible of God as being our "Mother" and doing things that are considered to be "maternal."
The most commonly used but unacknowledged passage is in the 3rd chapter of the Gospel of John where Jesus says we must be "born again" by the Spirit. That is a favorite verse ofmany churches, but I have yet to hear a single one of them acknowledge that giving birth is something mothers do, not fathers. The prophet Isaiah talks about God "nursing" Israel.
The Bible has many other feminine images as well. "Ruach," the Hebrew word for the Spirit, or wind, is a feminine noun. The very first image the Bible presents of God...in Genesis, chapter 1, where the Spirit of God is said to "brood over the face of the deep," in the original language, a feminine noun and verb are used to refer to God.
Jesus described God as being like a woman looking for a lost coin. He described himself as being like a mother hen longing to gather her chicks under her wings. Specifically, in the lesson reading we heard from Deuteronomy, we find a description of God as being like a mother eagle teaching her young to fly.
You see, unlike most birds, who may produce several hatchlings, eagles commonly only hatch one or two eggs at a time. Feeding only one or two small eagles is an exhaustingjob for the parents...and their nests, which are build with strong sticks and branches at the highest point they can find, must be able to support the weight of four of these great birds.
The father eagle often takes the lead in building the nest. When it's finished, he gathers straw, feathers, and bits of cloth or string to line the nest and make it soft and warm. Later, when the offspring have hatched and grown to adolescence, it's the mother eagle who teaches them to fly.
Now she does this in a very unusual way. First, she starts by removing all the soft stuff from the nest. The sticks and thorns are left exposed to poke and prod the young eaglets. Not even a bird will leave a nest that's too comfy and cozy. The youngsters aren't injured, but the nest becomes mighty uncomfortable.
Then, when she's ready to have them try flying, the mother will hover over the nest and flap her mighty wings...harder and harder. The force of the wind she creates literally sweeps the eaglets out ofthe nest. (That's the eagle version of a very pushy mother! !) Suddenly, the startled young birds are plunging down, wildly flapping their wings...their hearts racing as they fall. No doubt, they believe they're about to be dashed on the cliffs below. (They must wonder about their mother who, after caring for them all this time, is now obviously trying to kill them!)
Then, just when those young eagles must be crossing themselves and chirping their final prayers, the mother swoops beneath them, catching them on her back. Their claws clutch her pinions - the tips of her large feathers - and she carries them on her wings back to the safety ofthe nest. Even without the padding, the nest feels pretty comfortable now!
While the young ones rest, the mother goes to hunt for food. The eaglets eat their fill and lean back, finally relaxed and glad that mom has come to her senses when, suddenly, she starts to hover and flap her wings and the whole episode is repeated! Down, down, down they fall until, just before certain death, the mother eagle catches them. Again, she carried them up and the process is repeated...again and again.
Finally, when both the mother and the young are almost exhausted, the falling eaglets wildly flapping wings suddenly catch the wind...they level out...they start to rise...and then, they begin to soar! Imagine the exhilaration ofthat moment. How excited the young birds must be; Mom wasn't trying to kill them after all. And hey...they can fly! Cool! How proud the mother eagle must feel...as she then proceeds to teach them to navigate, hunt and survive on their own.
We might observe this process fiom afar and wonder at the grace and wisdom of the mother eagle. We can recognize that is would be a tragedy for the mother to continue bringing food to the nest while the muscles of those young wings atrophy and wither to uselessness. This good mother knows they must be pushed to reach their potential. What an awful thing is she allowed them to choose the familiarity of an uncomfortable nest over the freedom and glory of the sky.
It makes so much sense for eagles. And yet, there are those among us, who prefer the nest to the sky. As a pastor, I see people all the time who prefer the discomfort, pain and constraints of life as they know it to the powerful freedom God has intended for them. Life has become pretty miserable for some folks, but rather than take the risk of learning to fly, they simply grumble and complain about how awful the nest has become.
Much of our feelings of being separated from God comes from this very tendency. Many of us have internalized a very negative image of God. We can admire the process of learning to fly in eagles, but when it happens to us...when the winds of circumstance suddenly push us out of our comfort zone, we turn our faces heavenward and question whether God even exists. When we start to fall, we're convinced that God must not really love us or else God wouldn't allow us to plunge toward death this way! When something goes wrong in our lives and we suddenly grow uncomfortable or feel like we're falling, the first thing we think is that God must be punishing us for something.
What if we considered the possibility that God is simply trying to use the circumstances of our lives to teach us how to fly? Like a good, healthy mother, God is concerned that we develop all of the gifts and strengths that are within us. That will never happen in the safety of the nest with all our needs being met for us. Now please hear me clearly: I am not suggesting that God sends problems or struggles into our lives to force us to grow. The evil in this world will always supply all the problems we can ever handle. What I am suggesting is that, if we would trust God like a good mother, we might find that God can use our circumstances as tools to teach us how to fly.
Consider Peter, in the reading we heard from the Gospel of John. Peter and the other disciples were still frightened and grief-stricken by the death ofJesus. You would think that the Resurrection - and their encounters with the Risen Christ - would have made them ready to continue on in their ministry with renewed enthusiasm. But without Jesus physically present with them, every day, as He had been before, their strength had wavered and they didn't know how to continue on. Finally, in total frustration, Peter announced that he was going back to something familiar and comfortable...his life as a fisherman. Everyone agreed and went with him.
Just before the encounter we heard about in our reading, Peter and the others had fished all night, but didn't catch anything. In their minds, they had failed as disciples and were now failing at fishing. It was then...in their moment of deepest discouragement.. .that Jesus called to them from the shore. He suggested that they cast their nets on the other side of the boat. When they did...they hauled in an amazing number of fish. Peter recognized that it was Jesus who was helping them and his confidence returned. Can't you just see Peter standing among that enormous catch of fish, saying, "Oh, I'm back, baby!!"
A little later Jesus and Peter went for a walk along the beach. That's when the conversation we heard in our reading occurred. Remember that, when Jesus had been arrested, Peter had denied three times that he even knew Jesus! Now, Jesus gave Peter an opportunity to redeem himself by confessing, three times, his love for Christ. But notice that with each confession of love, Jesus gave Peter ministry to do. Jesus didn't want Peter to retreat to his old, familiar life; he wanted him to stretch his wings and fly. Thanks to Jesus' "pushiness", Peter went on to be one of the great leaders of the early church.
Jesus also knows that if we are really going to fly in our relationships with God, we're not going to be able to do it from the warm, cozy, comfort of our familiar nests. God doesn't want us to just sit in the midst of uncomfortable circumstances, bemoaning our fate, reconciled to an existence that keeps us to ourselves. God wants us to experience the exhilaration of learning to fly...to get out there and risk ourselves on behalf of others. We were made for the skies...not the nest.
Believe me..l'm very familiar with the feeling of falling from the nest...having been lovingly shoved out by our pushy mother God. One year ago at this time, Lorraine and I were packing and preparing to move to a strange place, to live among strange people. Well, the good news was you're not quite as strange as I was afraid you might be! The hard news was that anytime we go into a situation of mostly "unknowns," it makes that "learning to fly" thing awfully real! ut last year was not the first time I had ever experienced the feeling of falling. A while back, I ran across a journal 1 had written in 1991, when I first started the process of being a pastor. I had quit my secular job and changed the course of my whole life to pursue this challenge. At that time, I wrote: "I have purposely dragged my life up to the edge of a cliff and pushed it over - I needed to get it airborne. I knew I would never grow wings sitting safely on the ground, so I went with the option ofwatching the ground come hurtling toward my face. And you know what?... I think I feel some sprouting going on!"
And through these years, God has caught me up on mighty wings every time I was sure I was about to crash and burn! I know that, when we think we're falling out of control, the wind of the Spirit - the Ruach of God - can lift us up and take us higher.
What about you? Have circumstances blown you out of the safety of your familiar nest and plunged you into a fear-filled free fall? I know it's painful and scary...and it may seem like God is far away. But I urge you today to trust that when God gives a loving shove and you go falling out into the air, either God will catch you or you'll learn to fly. Either way...it's better than just sitting in the nest. Amen.
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