“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.” John 10:27-28
As we celebrate Mother’s Day weekend, we take time to pause and reflect on the gift of mothering in all of its forms. We acknowledge biological mothers, women who offer a mothering care, along with those who shepherd the maternal spirit everywhere.
Motherhood is a challenging venture, both for those who have given birth, and those who sustain loving relationships with the young and vulnerable. Mothering in its most basic form requires a unique strength; the risk of giving life, the challenge of mentoring that life, then, surrendering the outcome of that life; ultimately something only a mother really knows. I do not ascribe the role of mothers as that of perfection. Mothers, and those who give mothering care are prone to mistakes, have frailty, and live with the same blessing and burden of being human, as all people do.
Yet, there are dimensions of motherhood that echo God’s love. One of a shepherd tending a flock of sheep in a vast pasture of uncertainty, danger, and wonder. Jesus, surrendering life on the cross out of simple and pure love, is a mothering, shepherding action. There is also fierce strength in giving birth, then doing one’s best to nurture the life of another human being. Then, like resurrection, open to experience “new life” unfold.
Our scripture reminds us this weekend, it is God who has “given us to Jesus.” We are birthed into this world, invited to experience Christ’s forgiveness and love within community. It remains our ongoing task to “live into God’s nurturing grace,” stewarding our fragile planet and shepherding those we encounter in it.
Pastor Brian Gutzmann