05/09/2021
Let me begin this morning by sharing a story with you from Robert Munsch’s children’s book, Love You Forever.
Love You Forever begins with a mother holding her new baby. She rocks him and sings a little song:
I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living,
My baby you’ll be.
As the years go by, of course, the baby grows. He becomes a toddler, and gets into everything, and his mother says; “This kid is driving me CRAZY! But at night she still sings him their special song:
I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living,
My baby you’ll be.
The baby grows some more, he is nine years old, never wants to take a bath, and says bad words when his grandma visits. His mother feels like selling him to the Zoo. But still, at night, she sings their song:
I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living,
My baby you’ll be.
The boy becomes a teenager, and of course, that’s the worst! He has strange friends and he wears strange clothes, and he listens to strange music. His mother feels like she lives in a Zoo! But guess what? At night, when he is safely asleep, she still sings to him:
I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living,
My baby you’ll be.
Finally, the boy is all grown up and moves into his own house. But sometimes on dark nights, his mother drives across town to his house, creeps into his house, and sings – well, you know what she sings:
I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living,
My baby you’ll be.
At last, the mother is old and sick. She sings to the boy, but she isn’t able to finish the song. Her son, however, has learned his lesson well. He knows what to do. Holding his mother close, he rocks her in his arms and sings to her:
I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living,
My mommy you’ll be.
And when he returns home that night, he stands for a long time at the top of the stairs. Then, going into the room where his own new baby daughter is sleeping, he takes her in his arms and sings:
I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living,
My baby you’ll be.
And we can see the cycle of love between parent and child beginning all over again.
Today’s Gospel reading comes from those chapters of St. John’s Gospel known as “The Last Discourse.” It takes place at and after the Last Supper, on the night before Jesus went to the cross. In these chapters, Jesus has urgent messages for his Apostles, and for you and I; things that he wants to tell us before he goes away. “I am with you only a little longer,” he says, and “you will look for me, but where I am going you cannot come.” And because the Apostles could not follow at that time, he gives them a new commandment: that they should love one another!
Now what makes this a new commandment? It is certainly not the first time in Holy Scripture that we are told to love one another. We are to love, not just with natural, human love, but as a sign of divine love. And this commandment is so important, Jesus says, that it is the hallmark of being a Christian. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus’ commandment is that we must love one another. And he gives this commandment because he is going away, because we will look for him but cannot follow where he is going. But we find him in the love that we share. We will find him whenever the love of our brothers and sisters becomes a sign of God’s love for us.
Today, on this Sixth Sunday of Easter, we in the United States are also celebrating Mother’s Day or the Festival of the Christian Home. We can find a deep connection between the kind of mother’s love that is reflected in Robert Mansch’s story and the new commandment that Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel.
Most of us first experienced love in the arms of our mothers, of those who chose to mother us – of both of our parents. The effect of a parent’s love on the growing child cannot be overestimated. Any pastor, priest, or rabbi can tell you that an adult who has experienced unconditional love, as a child, finds it much easier, even as an adult, to believe in and accept God’s love. It is the adult who did not receive this kind of love, who winds up in the pastor’s office saying, “God couldn’t love ME,” or “God couldn’t forgive ME.” Unfortunately, they may never visit the pastor at all and just go through life feeling unloved and unworthy.
Mothers, and fathers, are not perfect. Even the most loving of parents have no doubt made mistakes with their children. If we grew up in a loving environment, then we are fortunate. If we didn’t receive the kind of love, we needed when we were young, it is never too late. God’s love is always available. God does indeed say to us, “I’ll love your forever, for always – my child you will be!” And God calls us to be instruments of God’s love for our brothers and sisters.
At a past meeting of the bishops of the Episcopal Church, the Primates of Papua New Guinea and Central Africa had joined to participate in worship and Holy Communion. The Archbishop Bernard Malango of Central Africa was particularly interested in the way the churches in American would pass the peace: “The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be always with you” was often repeated one to another. He found this very meaningful and shared how it was done in his country. He told them, the custom was to take the hand of the person next to you, to look into their eyes and say, “I love the face of Christ I see!” I LOVE THE FACE OF CHRIST I SEE!
On this Mother’s Day/Festival of the Christian Home, perhaps we should call to mind the faces of our mothers, or fathers, and those whose love has been a reflection of Christ’s love for us. Let us thank God for them and pray that God may use us also as icons, as windows, of God’s love for others. Let us look into the eyes of our brothers and sisters both here in person and virtually in ZOOM or even at ourselves in a mirror and love the face of Christ we find there! For by this everyone will know that we are Christ’s disciples; “that we have love for one another.”