Bless Them and Keep Them, We Pray
A Homily given to St. Charles Avenue
Baptist Church
May 12, 2013
This is my first chance to speak in front of the whole church
since our little Logan came into our family.
I have truly been overwhelmed, in the most positive sense of the word,
by the generosity of my church family.
The number of meals that you all brought to us caused me to be one of
the few women who actually gained weight on maternity leave. This baby will not be without diapers for a
few more months and will not be without clothes for at least a year. I was so happy when we dedicated both Annie
and Logan here three weeks ago because I knew that this church would be such a
large part of the foundation of their faith.
With all sincerity I say, “thank you.”
The other day, I was talking to my dad on the phone and
telling him that since we stopped getting cable television at the apartment I have
found myself watching more and more PBS shows.
“PBS has really improved their programming, Dad” I said to him. His reply to me, “maybe you’re just getting
older.” My mind briefly thought of
arguing and then I confessed, “I’ve been listening to NPR too and watching the
Dick Van Dyke show at 9:30 PM…from my bed because I’m already in bed at
9:30!” He offered no comfort, just a
knowing, “Mmm hmm.”
Distraught, and yet not too embarrassed, I realized that my
life had changed. I noticed this too
walking around campus the other day. I
was pushing a double stroller, my attire only thought out in terms of what could
easily be washed and what would be comfortable, even to the sandals on my
feet. I have to this point, refrained
from wearing socks with my sandals, but probably on a cold day, I would be
tempted. Surely, hopefully, shame will
keep me from participating in that particular fashion statement.
Life has changed. I am
in a new realm. My days are no longer my
own. I am tired all the time, I never
leave home without having to run back in at least once because I’ve forgotten
something, and my dreams are now of watching a full television show and my
nightmares are now about the piles of laundry turning into attacking monsters. I have a husband but I haven’t seen him in a
while. Between his schoolwork and the
need to often “divide and conquer” to make evenings go more smoothly, we are
lucky if we can squeeze in a “hello, how are you, fine”-type conversation.
I am a mother. Life
has changed.
On Thursday evenings, I have discovered a bit of an
oasis. It’s called PJ’s coffee on Maple
Street. It’s not my order that changes
my perspective—I have to get hot chocolate because I can no longer drink
caffeine after lunch, and it’s not the proximal company of the college students
who I sit near—their backpacks and textbooks are a decade-old memory. But one by one, a high school student comes
in, sits next to me, and starts talking about school and music and all things
modern. It could be intimidating, but
luckily, each one that comes in has great patience with me. They make me smile, they make me laugh, and
they give me energy. Maybe it’s because
they aren’t my children.
Yet, they are my children.
I am a minister to youth and to children. Life is exciting.
My first theology class in seminary focused on finding
theological themes in artwork, cinema, and any number of other
productions. For a long time after the
class ended I couldn’t watch a TV show or movie without breaking it down
theologically. I thought I saw theological
themes and Christ images everywhere. It
was both a curse and a blessing. I had
to accept the fact that the lens through which I observed and interpreted life
had changed.
Again I find myself with a new lens. Motherhood, whether I am consciously using
that lens or not, has changed the way I view the world as well as the way I
operate in the world. This occurs in the
mundane parts of life—grocery buying, for instance—and the more moral aspects too—such
as violence in commercials on television.
And of course, this lens has changed the way I read scripture. I just can’t help it. Luckily, I picked the right day to preach. As I sit more and more with this role of
minister to youth and children, I have found that my motherhood lens is only
broadened and strengthened.
My brain reads this passage from John and knows that this is
a prayer from Jesus for his disciples, but I can’t read these verses and not
hear a parental tone, a loving tone, in his words. Jesus knows that he is about to die on the
cross, but he isn’t thinking about himself.
Much like a parent, he is thinking outside of himself, concerned about
those he loves, concerned for their safety, and concerned for their everlasting
relationship with God.
Read with me a few verses from chapter 17:
Verse 6: “I have made your name known to those whom
you gave me from the world. They were
yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”
Verse 11: “And now I am no longer in the world, but
they are in the world, and I am coming to you.
Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that
they may be one, as we are one. While I
was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost
except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be
fulfilled. But now I am coming to you,
and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete
in themselves.”
Verse 15: “…I ask you to protect them from the evil
one.”
Verse 17: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is
truth.”
Verse 20: “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also
on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all
be one.”
It’s a prayer that we would have said and will say again for
our children—those we have birthed and those whom we love regardless of their
biological beginnings. We pray for our
children because they are part of the church and because they will be the
church. We pray thanksgiving for our
children because they give us a space for our love.
I pray this prayer for my children because it rings
true. You pray this prayer for my
children because you are the church—you are doing what the church should be
doing. And that, I think, is the heart
of this prayer of Jesus for his disciples and the heart of Jesus’ message for
the church.
Jesus Christ, the teacher through word and illustration is
doing so to his very end. Pray, he says. Be sanctified, be made holy, be set apart in
and because of the truth of God’s love.
Pray to God as I taught you to pray.
Pray to God for each other as I pray for you to God.
When the body of Christ, the church, prays that its children
become one, we are praying that we, the body of Christ, become one. And in that unity, we take part in the active
miracle that is God’s love through Jesus Christ. We are active participants in the completion
of the circle that goes from God to Christ to Creation. Hear that in verse 26: “I made your name known to them, and I will
make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them,
and I in them.”
What more does a mother want for her child but for that child
to know that she is loved, that he is loved?
What more does a mother want but for her child to know that the love of
Christ resides within his or her own heart?
But I have to tell you that while those are my desires for my children,
I want nothing more for these youth, who are not, but who are, my children to
know the very same things. And I don’t
know that that desire comes solely from me being a mom or a minister; I think that
the desire comes mostly from me being a member in the body of Christ. Why is that?
I believe it’s because of my beginnings, my foundation in the
church. Love has always been a part of
the lesson. Love has always been the
story. Blessed be the tie that binds our
hearts in Christian love.
And so today, I pray, for the youth and children:
Our God,
creator of every hair on their heads, I pray that we have made your name known
to these, your children. You have shared
them with us and we are thankful for their presence. Holy Lord, protect them. Holy Lord, guide them. Holy Lord, make them one and make us
one. Give them joy and be with them when
they cry. Consecrate them, bless them,
and keep them in your truth. Most of
all, let them know that they are loved and let them feel the love of Christ
that has resided in them from their beginning.
Grant them the strength and the courage to pass it on.
Giver of
Life, we praise your name. Amen.
Beautiful!
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