Mothers of the Church Easter VI Yr C

+I’m sure the designers of our Lectionary didn’t consider Mother’s Day when choosing the readings for this sixth Sunday of Easter. But I find it very fitting that on this day we honor mothers and mother figures in our lives, we hear, in the Acts of the Apostles, about Lydia, who through her support of Paul and Silas helped establish the institutional church in Macedonia. Additionally, on this day when we honor the courage and tenacity of all those mothers who have stood up for peace, challenged the status quo and risked everything to give their children a better and safer life, it’s also fitting that we hear Jesus’ promise of peace and his assurance that he, through the Holy Spirit, will be with us always. For whether our own mothers and mother figures are with us in body, their spirits live on in our hearts and minds.

You may wonder why I equate Mother’s Day with peace, but, the original intent of Mother’s Day wasn’t to take mom to brunch, send her flowers and give her a Hallmark card---although all of that is very nice and if you haven’t done any of that yet you best get busy---but about women uniting across racial, political and cultural boundaries, seeking equality, justice and peace for all.

Julia Ward Howe who is credited with the initial concept of Mother’s Day, is best known as the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic-- the union army’s anthem of the Civil War. Indeed, it was the consequences of that war: the death, the injury, the widows and the orphans, which made Julia an ardent worker for peace. And it was out of that peace work that the initial concept of Mother’s Day was born. In 1870 she called for women to rise up and oppose war in all its forms. From all walks of life, nationalities, cultures and creeds Julia Ward Howe implored mothers to recognize that what held them in common was much greater than any difference. Her call to women, mothers in particular read in part:


Let us meet first, as women…
[to] take counsel with each other as to the means
whereby the great human family can live in peace...

Mother’s Day was originally designed to unite women through their innate desire to create life rather than destroy it; to say no to war , no to violence and no to hatred. The original intent of Mother’s Day was a saying yes to Christ’s message of peace and love to all.

Jesus spent a lot of time with women—and this usually got him into a lot of trouble—but scripture, as a whole, doesn’t have a lot to say about women.

The Bible is replete with extensive stories about men. But women, while mentioned, are usually only depicted in relationship to men….as mothers or widows or wives or concubines. A woman being shown as independent, as an individual, was uncommon. Even Mary Magdalene, clearly an independent, wealthy and influential woman has been, for years, wrongly depicted as a prostitute. It’s as if the editors of Holy Scripture couldn’t fathom a self-reliant female, unattached to any specific man, as one of Jesus’ most loyal disciples. Indeed, the very fact that scripture doesn’t name a woman among Jesus’ apostles fueled the argument against women priests in our own tradition for years.

Regardless of what scripture says, women have been stalwart supporters of Christianity from its inception. The world’s first Christian, the Virgin Mary, believed before Jesus was even born. She was confused, she was frightened but when Gabriel announced God’s plan for her, Mary said yes. Her faith was steadfast; from his birth, to his first miracle at Cana, to his death on the cross, Mary was there. She never fled, she never doubted, she simply supported her son and trusted in her God.

Now we don’t know if Lydia was a mother, we don’t know if she was married. Our reading from Acts only tells us that she was so moved by Paul’s teaching; she had her entire household baptized. So whether she was a wife, or whether she was a mother, Lydia was an independent and influential woman powerful enough to convince Paul that her home would make a perfect base of operations for his missionary work. So regardless of whether or not she was a birth mother, Lydia certainly mothered the young church, as it struggled to gain a foothold in the Philippi region of Macedonia.

The role of women in the church has been hidden for centuries. The women we hear about in scripture were on the fringes and behind the scenes, quiet supporters of Christ’s work. The women who stayed with Jesus at Calvary were off to the side unnoticed, watching the horror of the crucifixion in quiet agony. Women supported the establishment of the early church by secretly opening the doors of their homes to the travelling disciples, hiding them from view, protecting them from harm. But, even from the sidelines and behind the scenes, women heard the clarion call of the Gospel and spread its message far and wide.

Our readings throughout this Easter season have focused on two things: the unending Peace of God as proclaimed by Jesus Christ and the establishment of the institutional church. Across the centuries women have been instrumental in both these endeavors-- the nitty-gritty work of the church and the spread of Peace. Today, in a confluence of the secular and the religious, we give honor and praise to women like Lydia, whose hard work and faithful contributions have kept our churches running and we give praise and honor to the long line of mothers from the Virgin Mary to Julia Ward Howe and beyond who, from the unique perspective of motherhood, understood that the love and peace of Jesus cannot be preached in conjunction with war and destruction and that the growth of the church cannot be achieved through intimidation and power run amok. These women, our mothers and mothers of the church deserve our thanks, our praise and our love, for without them where would we be?