There are certain moments one does not forget. When Peter was born, we were not allowed to hold him at first. As a result, he and I held hands long before I held him in many hands. Over New Year’s Eve, I watched small little hands of an early infant, my son, knowing that those hands were not only crafted by God, but those little hands, no larger than a small lime, were also the hands of God. Those hands may one day throw baseballs, but they may also one day craft cures to cancer. Those hands may grasp rattles, but may also one day feed the hungry. Those small hands that could not even soothe himself, when he was first born are growing into the very hands of God.
Today, we find ourselves in the small place, seeking to be the hands of Christ. As the children explored, there are many things we could do with our hands. In offering our hands and selves for God’s purposes, we are never sure exactly how God might use, expect that our God will always be on the side of justice and peace, love and compassion. We know that we can be on God’s side of holding the whole world in our hands as we serve God with our hands, however God chooses to use us.
In the prophet Hosea, we hear the story of Hosea, who is called by God to marry Gomer, a prostitute, so that he can live out the relationship between God and Israel in this time of Israel turning to other gods. Throughout the book of Hosea, the prophet calls the people back again and again to God. In the verses, we read this morning; we heard the tenderness of the prophet and of God. The prophet uses the imagery of taking lifting up a child who is learning to walk, lifting an infant against your check, and feeding a little one. The prophet reminds the people of Israel that this is how God is with us. Even when we have sought the ways of other Gods again and again. God seeks us with tenderness and commitment. God seeks us with love that does not give up easily. Like with the love of a parent, the commitment of a spouse, the veracity of one who wants good for the one they have taught to walk, God remains faithful in the face of unfaithfulness. God calls us to the same active love.
Did you know that Mother’s Day has Methodist roots? Ann Jarvis started during the Civil War to organize women’s clubs to serve suffering women and children. Using her hands, she sought to serve those closest to her in the coalmines of West Virginia. She brought called attention to the needs of those who were oppressed. She taught about hydration for fevered babies, about sanitation and nutrition. During the Civil War, they staffed the field hospital right outside Grafton, West Virginia. Their desire was to bring attention to the women and children in need of the attention for peace and justice, compassion and love. In time, Ann moved to Philadelphia and began to attended Old St. George’s Methodist-Episcopal Church. She collaborated with George Wanamaker to get Woodrow Wilson to sign the declaration for a national Mother’s Day out of “love and reverence for the mothers of our country1”
At its heart, Mother’s Day is less about being a mother, and more about having a mother. Mother’s Day is about lifting up the causes of compassion and love, justice and peace. When the Jarvises sought to develop Mother’s Day they wanted to honor mothers in a deeper way. They were thinking about the work of women and the significant testimony that women could give about the need for peace. After Ann died, her daughter Anna (who was never a mother herself) was committed to the purpose of the celebration. She envisioned Mother’s Day as a “time to write a personal letter to your mother, a time to send her an inexpensive carnation (a flower in which the petals hold tight like a mother’s love) and a time to visit or attend church together.2”
Anna, the daughter, later became an outspoken critic when the special day turned too commercial. When she made carnations the symbol of Mother’s Day, they sold for pennies. Over time companies began to exploit the holiday and raise the price in the 1920s to $1.50 or $2.00 apiece for a carnation, because people found they could make money off of it. She also comments about Hallmark; she says, “How lazy can you be to buy somebody else’s sentiments for your mother? One day out of the year sit down and tell your mother what you really think of her.” Anna would have insisted that those would be words of gratitude and love for a mother or mothering figure who showed you the ways of living peaceably in the world.
In this spirit of Mother’s Day, I want to invite you to offer your hands for God’s use for peace and justice, love and compassion. There is no doubt as we look at the world around us that there are needs – there is a need for justice and for peace. There is a need for compassion and for love. It would be easy to say that the needs are too great and the impact of one is too small. It would easy to say that we are easily overwhelmed by the vastness of the challenge. It would be easy to nod assent that there are needs but allow our hands to fall idle to the challenge. But this is not what the God who calls us to love one another would have us do with our hands.
In the light of conflict, riots, protests, and living in Baltimore, we saw hands in the news captured in moments of division and peace, destruction and restoration, disregard and compassion. My sister works for the Maryland Food Bank, heart of Maryland’s food assistance structure, providing food to a network of more than 900 soup kitchens, pantries, shelters and other community-based organizations across the state3. She shared with me yesterday that in the last eleven days, they have distributed for emergency food drops (which would be in addition to regular distribution) 151,564 pounds of food. In addition, they have supplied the Salvation Army with 5330 pounds of bottled water, for a total distribution of 156,894 pounds in West Baltimore. That is the result of many hands offering compassion and justice.4
When we offer our hands to be the hands of God in the world, we are never offering alone. Each time we serve another, every time we care for our brother or sister, each time love is lived out through our hands, we know that God has been with us in the process. The God of Hosea who reminds us that God rejoices with us like a parent who lifts a child to their check as we offer peace and justice, compassion and love to all of God’s children. The God of the Gospels who delights every time we understand that loving one another, means all of the ‘one anothers’, not just the few who delight us beyond measure.
As we have new members joining the church today, we will be reminded again of the vows each member takes as they join the church – we pledge to faithfully participate in the ministries of the church by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness. We actively engage, not just silently nod. In fact, we are reminded it is not enough to just show up – although we are always delighted when the people of God gather. It is not enough pray – although we are always enriched when the people of God pray. It is not enough to just tell our stories of God has been present in our lives – although we are always encouraged by God’s presence among us. It is not enough to give our gifts – although we are enhanced by the generosity of God’s people. It is the fullness of our commitments in prayers, presence, gifts, and witness alongside the offering of our hands that brings compassion, justice, and God’s way in the world. It is through offering our hands again and again to God that seeds of the kingdom of God are planted in this world. God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. The hands of God for the coming of the kingdom of God.
This is the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, thanks be to God, Amen.
1President Woodrow Wilson’s Mother’s Day Proclamation of May 9, 1914.
2http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/transcript-the-founding-mothers-of-mothers-day
3https://www.mdfoodbank.org/about-us/our-history/
4https://www.mdfoodbank.org/news-events/press-room/
Old Testament Lesson: Hosea 11:3-4
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
I led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love.
I was to them like those
who lift infants to their cheeks.
I bent down to them and fed them.
Gospel Lesson: John 15:9-17
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.