May 10 2020 Mother's Day "I Will Do It!"

May 10, 2020 Mother’s Day John 14.1-14 “I will Do It!” Pastor Jacqueline Hines

Blessed Mother’s Day to all on this seventh week of our quarantine! Hopefully, your overall experiences with having a mother and being a mother are wonderful. If your path with mother and mothering has been a difficult one, we pray God’s peace prevails and brings healing and hope where you need it most today!

We are especially mindful of those who have lost their mothers and any other loved ones and those who are caring for someone with Covid-19 as well as those most vulnerable to becoming infected. Lord have mercy.

We are looking at the gospel of John the 14^th chapter. Jesus tells the disciples, and if you are a disciple, his word is for you, too…he says if we ask anything in his name, he will do it. And he will. He will do it.

This conversation begins with Jesus commanding us with these words: “Do not, do not, do not…let your hearts be troubled. Jesus telling us not to let our hearts be troubled assumes we have something to do with controlling our own hearts. Well, if Jesus tells us do not let our hearts be troubled, we need to see what controlling our heart is all about, don’t we?  

We are very familiar with the words “Do Not.” We see those words often enough. Do not enter a certain door, 

do not park close to the fire hydrant, do not touch the delicate decorations on a store display, do not take more than the prescribed dosage, and we have heard mothers say, “Do not eat another cookie before dinner.”

Jesus tells us “Do not let your heart be troubled.” How in the world do we stop our hearts from being troubled when our feelings are so strong and our needs are so dire?

It reminds me of singer Al Green’s immortal questions, how can you mend a broken heart? How can you stop the rain from falling down? How can you stop the sun from shining? What makes the world go round?

Controlling our heart seems so impossible! The truth of the matter is that controlling our heart can be like trying to coral a bunch of kittens.

They go every which way and it becomes clear very quickly that the heart goes its own way, ducking, diving, hiding, hissing, scratching and cooing only we pet it. 

The prophet Jeremiah described the heart as deceitful, desperately wicked and hard to understand. God gives us each a heart, and that heart is our responsibility. And God is always with us to help us with our hearts desire as well as our broken hearts. There is a song called Tell Your Heart to Beat Again. 

It says

Close your eyes and breathe it in. Let the shadows fall away

Step into the light of grace. Yesterday's a closing door

You don't live there anymore. Say goodbye to where you've been

And tell your heart to beat again.

For a long time, every time that song played on the radio, it would begin with the story of a surgeon whose patient’s heart stopped beating in the middle of an operation. He spoke out loud to his unconscious patient and said, “Tell your heart to beat again!!” And her heart did start beating again.

Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled.” None of us has a blank check that reverses all of our troubles, that is why we have to listen to the voice of Jesus. That is why we must pray when the Spirit says pray, and sing when the Spirit says sing, and act when the Spirit says to act. That is why we must depend on God. We can’t just walk in front of a car and assume God will take care of us.

Years ago, when I drove through an ice storm to unite a man I knew with his wife who was in the hospital and had just lost a baby. I did not just decide to take a chance. I believed in my heart that God was sending me to help even when the whole city was being warned that the roads were extremely dangerous.

We hear the words of Jesus, especially for our mothers this day, for mothers know something about trouble. One mother said, “When children are born they are on your lap. When they get older, they are on your heart.” No matter our circumstances, Jesus tells us “Do not let YOUR heart be troubled, do not let your HEART be troubled.”

Our hearts can be like a ship without a sail, 

wandering into any old port in a storm. Our job is to guide our hearts, steering them with the help of the Holy Spirit. This is a spiritual discipline worth remembering. So, on a day when our children are at school or not around to make us smile, we need to smile anyway. When we don’t know where our next meal is coming from, we need to set the table and give thanks anyway. If the load gets too heavy for us to bear, we need to remember the Lord will help us anyway. When our hearts are broken and it seems like they will never mend, we need to look to the Lord to comfort and heal us anyway.

We live in a broken world. 

God did not break it, but God is with us in our trials and God is good all the time. This pandemic has brought many blessings. It has brought out the good in most of us. The pandemic has brought heartaches as well. Many criminals and unsavory characters are doing terrible things. Breaking into businesses that had to close. Selling rolls of toilet paper and hand sanitizer for ten times the normal price. It’s sad. We live in a broken world. But, whatever happens - whether good or evil – God has a purpose and a plan to work things out together for good.

In the last few months environmentalists have told us that the air is so much cleaner because we are driving less, flying less and companies are dumping fewer wastes to pollute the waterways. It seems our modern lifestyle of luxury is contaminating the earth.

Most of us would find it nearly impossible to go back to the days of living without plastic. Even using less plastic would be very frustrating and inconvenient. 

We have made some strides by recycling and using paper bags, but there is still much damage to the environment because of plastic. Glass is wonderful. It is the longest-lasting human-made material. After a thousand years glass does not decompose. We have to be more careful with glass than plastic. Then again, aren’t we better off if we take the necessary care and precautions and accept a few inconveniences that make for a healthier environment?

We cannot blame God for any mess we are in. We are reaping what we have sown. Still, we are loved by God, for God is love and God has a wonderful plan for our lives that is filled will enough love to make our troubles step aside.

As disciples, we have more than enough cause to praise God EVERY hour and repent every single day. That is all the more reason that Jesus commands us – let not your hearts be troubled. If we focus first on our trouble instead of God, we take a chance in blocking our blessings, and, of course, we need all of the blessings God has for us.

As we remember how God has blessed us through mothers on this day, we understand that mothers are made in the image of God. 

Aside from reminding us not to let our hearts be troubled, in verse 14 Jesus says if we disciples ask anything in his name, he will do it. Of course, Jesus’ name is a name above all names. We associate names with standards of either very high quality or very low quality, good character and bad character. A name can conger up sweet memories or memories that leave a bitter taste in our mouth. Names can have good reputations and not so good reputations.

If we ask in Jesus’ name, we would be asking for something majestic and miraculous, something of good quality and highly valuable. To ask something in the name of Jesus is to be in relationship to those God favors. Who does God favor? God favors the least, the last, and the lost. Keep in mind that at any moment, any of us can be the least, the last, or the lost. 

To ask in Jesus’ name means to be ready to participate in the answer to prayer by doing the right thing, living right, doing justice and loving mercy. Asking anything in the name of Jesus means we understand that our suffering is not in vain, for God has a purpose and a plan that is higher than any purpose or plan that we may have at the moment. Asking in the name of Jesus means we accept the fact that life is worth the living and the day of our death is the day we will be with Jesus in paradise.

The name of Jesus is not the name to call when we want some magic or when we need our mess to disappear. Jesus is not the name to call when we want only for our life to be perfect, comfortable or convenient. Jesus is the name to be called when we long for God’s holy and loving will to be done.

Like all God’s creation, Mothers are made in the image of God. When the world sees mothers, the world can see a glimpse of our almighty and magnificent God. When the world sees all disciples, they see that God made us. They see the God in us.  It is all the more reason for us to ask anything in the name of Jesus because he will do it and he will help us to do our part as well. He will help us with our hearts. 

Let us pray: 

God of the mysteries that are before us this day, we hear your voice telling us to not let our hearts be troubled. We are listening. We believe you, we trust you and we are asking in your name that you would help us to be holy like you are holy. Help us to use our words and our talents to bring comfort and to overcome evil with good. Deliver us from disease and distress and may all those around us know that we are Christians because of our love for others. We pray as you taught the disciples. Our father who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.  

May the word of God penetrate your heart and fill your life with love and healing today and always.

If you would like to make your contribution to the ministry and mission of Bethel, the website is bethelumchurch.com or send to 952 Bethel Church Road, Spring City, Pa. 19475

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