Love Casts Out Fear
Sermon preached by Rev. Patricia Farris
May 14, 2006

There is an old Jewish proverb that says: “God could not be everywhere at once, so he gave each child a mother.” — and as we well know, that could be a birth mother, an adoptive mother, a stepmother, a special aunt, a grandmother, or in some cases, a really great dad. And to many kids, God has given a loving, mothering congregation, as is this one, for so many kids and youth. The point is, we learn God’s amazing love for us through those adults who live it and make it real in our lives.

On Mother’s Day we lift up mothers of all kinds, all you who live out God’s love and do God’s work in bearing and nurturing and raising up each new generation of God’s people on this earth. Today we honor you and show our love for you and take time to simply pause and reflect and say “thank you.”

Our family was just blessed with the birth of a new baby. Our great-niece, Arlie, was born and thanks to the wonder of email photos, we’ve seen what she looked like just a few hours after she was born. She’s precious. Well, actually, she’s obviously the most beautiful baby on earth. Luckily that can be said of every baby and it’s always God’s truth.

We sent her a blanket crocheted by our United Methodist Women and a funny little soft stuffed bear that I got her when I was in Brazil. Even before she was born, you see, we loved her already. And the fierce love we feel for her, the same love you feel for every precious little one ever born, yet to be born, in your family, is a window into God’s great love for us. The love as of the Father for the Son. The love of brothers and sisters in the household of faith. The love that casts out fear and sets us free to love one another. It is God’s gift to us, as is a mother’s gift of love to her child. And it is this love that makes all the difference in the world.

The Scriptures of this Easter season keep telling us more things about God’s love as revealed to us in our Risen Lord. It is that love that lays down its life for others, as we heard last week, which is, of course, what mothers do, in ways big and small. It is the love that abides in us, as does a mother’s love, no matter what. And this love, you see, raises us up and makes us bold, John says, just like a mother’s love, because it makes us strong and it gives us courage, just like a mother’s love. As the African-American writer, Zora Neal Hurston, put it: “Mama (continued...)

"Love Casts Out Fear" by Rev. Patricia Farris, May 14, 2006

exhorted us children at every opportunity to jump at the sun. We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground!”

Love is willing to give everything. Love is constant and dependable. Love makes us bold and strong.

But it doesn’t happen by magic, or by wishful thinking does it, Moms??? Mothering, whoever does it, is probably the hardest work there is. A recent survey reports that employed mothers spend on average 44 hours a week on their outside job and 49.8 hours at their home job, while the stay-at-home mother worked 91.6 hours a week. Either way you add it up, it’s a lot of hours put into being housekeeper, baby-sitter, day-care teacher, cook, computer-operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, chief executive and psychologist all together!

How might we measure a mother’s work? A recent poll in Parenting magazine asked its readers: “If mothers got paid, what would be a fair salary?” The answers are quite revealing. About 2/3 of the respondents opted for salaries ranging from $22,000 a year to $100,000 a year. But a remarkable 1/3 of the respondents said: “How much does Bill Gates get? THAT’s what mother’s should be paid!”

Isn’t that a great answer? It’s really a way of saying that there’s no way to put a dollar figure on the most important work in the whole world, the work of raising up a child.

Perhaps no one knew this better than John Wesley’s mother, Susana, who had a baby a year for nineteen years. We commemorate her as the “Mother of Methodism” and, quite fortuitously, thanks to the vision and commitment of Ralph Hedges, we have a portrait of her in our stained glass window in the narthex. Be sure to salute her as you leave church today!

But lest we make her a saint, let’s remember that the Wesley parsonage in which John and his brother, Charles, grew up, was not a cushy place. The Wesleys were pretty poor, few of the locals could read or write and had little use for religion of any kind. The father, Samuel Wesley, had been trained at Oxford but the townspeople had little respect for him. It was not an easy setting into which Susana Wesley brought an incredible measure of dignity and purpose.

While managing all the affairs of the household, she placed religious education and formation at the center, spending time each week with each child separately. It is said that as soon as they could speak, she taught them the Lord’s Prayer and the Creeds of the church. She set up classes in the home, six hours a day six days a week, of academic subjects and Christian instruction. She required each child to read and write the Scriptures each day. (continued...)

"Love Casts Out Fear" by Rev. Patricia Farris, May 14, 2006

Moreover, she was quite forward thinking, not fearing to disagree with her husband when her views differed from his. And, because she didn’t like the sermons of his associate pastor, she herself took to reading from a book of sermons when her husband was out of town, drawing large crowds to their home to hear her.

Now I should add that she has also been described as “humorless” and some have observed that perhaps John had less than successful relationships with women as an adult due in part to his overbearing mother. But even so, it is clear that she influenced his theology and its reliance on grace and what we now call “practical divinity” and also on his model of disciplined class meetings and accountable discipleship. Most of the things that make Methodists unique, in style and in spirit, can be traced to her. John’s tireless pursuit of the gospel even into his eighties can be attributed to the message of “laying down one’s life” in love which she taught. And surely his amazing gift at going out preaching to huge crowds of the unchurched, for example, are a testament to the bold love that she instilled in him.

Therese of Lisieux once said that “the loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother.” It was true for Susana Wesley, and it made all the difference in her sons. From her mother’s heart, she insisted on good education for them, including education in Scripture and the Christian faith, and she loved her kids into faith, values and service.

You know, I don’t have to tell you that we live in a time when time and work pressures on parents are enormous. Thirty-nine percent indicate that concerns about quality schools are foremost. They worry about their kids’ exposure to sex and violence on TV and the internet. Seventy-seven percent express concern that children in America no longer feel safe in their schools. They worry about the impact of peer pressure on taking drugs or committing violence. And 45% of all parents report that educating children about rules and respect is the biggest problem facing families today.

We Methodists, heirs of John Wesley and his mother Susana, understand. That’s why we’re doing everything we can in this congregation and in our preschool to support our families and children. And that’s why we care about all schools. And why we care about social policies that deal with child care and education and family leave and health care. It’s why we have Sunday School and our youth group. It’s why we put so many resources into scholarship support for our kids and it’s why we get them involved in mission and stewardship so that they know what it means to serve others. (continued...)