It's So Easy.... It's So Complicated

Sunday is Mother's Day... that's easy... honor your mother. After all, everyone has one. But, it's also complicated... some of us can be with our mothers on Sunday, many cannot. Some of us are (or were) close to our mothers and some of us aren't (or weren't). Some of our mothers did yoga with us or read to us or baked cookies with us or played soccer with us and some of them were not so present..... You get the point.

In Sunday's Gospel text, we are called to 'love one another'...that's easy....just be kind, thoughtful and generous. After all, we are people who care about loving. But, it's also complicated. Some people are really difficult to love: they are self-centered or need to run things, or have awful ideas or are just not kind themselves.... You get the point.

Parenting and loving are aspects of human life that are easy to talk about and easy to lift up as values - after all, every human on earth has experienced parent-child relationships and hopefully, most of humanity has experienced love at some point. This is probably why Jesus often described God as a parent and why he talked about loving a great deal. But, Jesus also knew that parenting relationships and loving are often very complicated, conflicted and difficult. And, so we can see his parenting metaphors and talk of loving as an invitation to acknowledge and struggle through the complications with grace and faith.

So, on this Mother's Day, think of your own mothers (and if you're a mother - your own children) and pray....To God who is the simplest and most complicated parent; for love which is the easiest and hardest thing to do; and for the life you have been given by God and by your own mothers (and fathers).

Hoping to see you on Sunday, Laura Lee

Texts for This Week:

+Acts 10:44-48

Psalm 98

I John 5:1-6

*John 15:9-17

Note: The texts in bold type will be read in the worship service and the one with an asterisk will be used as the focus for the proclamation of the word.