Freeville/Homer Ave. UMC's - Fourth Sunday of Easter/Mother's Day - 05/11/14 Sermon - “Christian women: the torch bearers"

Sunday 05/11/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Christian women: the torch bearers”

Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 23

                                            

New Testament Scripture Lesson: Acts 2:42-47

Gospel Lesson: John 10:1-10

                            

Brothers and sisters, welcome once again this morning, on this the Fourth Sunday of the Easter Season or Eastertide, and this our Mother’s Day. Perhaps it is interesting that during the Easter Season, that we honor all of our mothers on this Sunday. The fact that women are the ones who physically bring forth life into this world has a special connection to me in this Easter Season. You see, the Easter Season is the season that we celebrate Jesus coming back to life, and this morning we celebrate mothers, who bring forth life, who protect life, and who preserve life. In all of these ways then, to me it is only fitting that we celebrate Mother’s Day in a season of new life, for without mothers we would have no life at all. The Easter Season, the season of the resurrection, is a season of new life.

In addition to this, I have found that when it comes to the Christian faith, that for the near two-thousand years of our history as a faith, that so often our faith was grown, propagated, and spread, not by me, but by women. You see many men have worked to propagate, spread, and grow the Christian faith, but I have found that so often our faith has grown more generally because of women, not men.

  Now don’t get me wrong, you might very well have men in your life, or men that you had in your life, that have gone on to glory, that had and have shared their faith with you. Yet it would seem that for many of us, we can remember grandma, an aunt, or our mother, insisting that we go to church. Insisting that we say our nightly prayers. Insisting that we read our Bibles. Insisting that we accept and put our full faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

You see as I said, many people know or have known men of great Christian faith, but to me Christian women, have always been the “torch bearers.”

When I think of a torch bearer, I think of the Olympics and how many people bear the Olympic Torch, which is carried to the place of that particular year’s Olympic Games. It is very interesting to me that the Olympics Games cannot begin until the light, the fire, the torch, has arrived. In the same way, we cannot truly know Jesus, until we accept the light and the fire that God so freely offers us through the Holy Spirit. For Jesus is the light of the world, but what I would ask you to think about, is who in your life told you about Jesus, the light of the world?

I remember when I pastored up in the Adirondack Park, how some of the men of the churches I served did not make it to church during hunting season. In fact, one man told me, “Pastor I will not be here in church for a while, because I will doing my hunting ministry on Sunday mornings.” I have heard people tell me stories such as, “Well dad went to church on Christmas and Easter, but mom went every Sunday.”

Maybe you were lucky enough to have had men in your life that went to church and took our faith seriously, but I would guess that if I took a poll in church here and now, most of you would say that the women of your family went to church and took the faith more seriously than some of the men in your lives.

For all of these reasons, on this our Mother’s Day, I want to thank all our women, both past and present, for being torch bearers. For insisting that your grandchildren come to church every Sunday, knowing full well that gospel of Jesus Christ will save their very souls and will make them better people. Yes, on this day we honor all “Christian women: the torch bearers.”

Many of us can think back to when we were children and to the women who were in our lives that were so formative with our Christian faiths. Women who gave everything they had, knowing the power and the saving grace of Jesus Christ. One of the great Christian songs that I remember hearing when I was younger, was a song called “Thank you” by Ray Boltz. In the song, Ray Boltz says “Thank you for giving to the Lord. I am a life that was changed.” So women of the church, God’s torch bearers, “thank for giving to the Lord, I am so glad that you gave.”

For me, I can honestly say that many “Christian women: the torch bearers” fed my faith and grew my relationship with God. So as I said, today we honor you, today we want to encourage you, and to tell you that what you do matters. That when you continue to carry the torch of our Christian faith, that you change lives, that people meet Jesus, that the world is better, and that one day all of the kids here will thank you and be so glad that you gave.

When looking at Psalm 23 from this morning, many of us have heard that famous Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me life down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.” My question to you though, is who read those words to you as a child, the men in your life, or the women? I have heard the words of this Psalm spoken many times, sometimes by men, but even more by women. In fact, I knew a woman once who had this Psalm memorized.

In our Book of the Acts of the Apostles scripture from this morning, the scripture begins by say, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachings and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Of course these people who “devoted themselves to the apostles” were the early Christians, but how many of you when you hear these word about devotion to God think of your aunt, or your grandma, or your mother?

I remember knowing one of my great grandmothers when I was really young, and if the weather was too bad to get to church, then she would read her German Bible, and try to listen to church on the radio. This deep faith was instilled in my father, who always went to church with his mother, my grandmother, who insisted that he go.

This reading from this Book of Acts reading goes on to say, “Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.” Many of us first of such things from the Bible, from the women that were in our lives.

This scripture goes on talk about how the early Christians would “sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” How many of you had mothers or grandmothers who went without, to make sure your needs were met? Sounds like we were taught about giving, sharing, and helping others, as it was often lived out by our mothers and grandmothers.  

This scripture from the Book of Acts goes to say, “Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts.” How many of you growing up needed to be home for dinner with the family? How many of you were expected to especially be at Sunday dinner, were expected to thank God for all your blessings, and were expected to have a generous attitude for all that God has done for you? “Christian women: the torch bearers,” the trailblazer, the back bones of our Christian faith, and of our churches. For this church would not be what it is without all of our strong, faithful, and devoted women.

In our gospel reading from this morning, Jesus says, “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit.” Jesus then says, “The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

Jesus is saying in this gospel reading, beware of false shepherds. Beware of those who claim to be him, but who are deceivers and liars. How many of us can say that our mothers or grandmothers did everything that they could to keep us away from such false shepherds as Jesus said to do?

Jesus goes to say in this reading from the gospel of John, “When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.” The question I have for us all this morning, is who in our lives taught us about Jesus, the good shepherd? Who in our lives taught us to follow him, to listen for his voice? Brothers and sisters, “Christian women: the torch bearers.”

Jesus then tells his disciples and other followers, that the gate that shepherd leads the sheep to, is him. Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.” Who told us and taught us growing up, who the gate to heaven was and is? Who told us and taught us growing up who to put our faith our trust in? Who told and taught us, that Jesus is the good shepherd?

Jesus then ends this gospel reading by saying, “I came that they may have live, and have it abundantly.” How many of can thank “Christian women: the torch bearers” that today we have faith and life everlasting, and have it abundantly? So Christian women, you who are the torch bearers of our faith, thank you for giving to the Lord, I am a life that was changed.

I would like to close this morning’s message with a story. This story is called, “The Mountain,” by Jim Stovall. Here is how it goes: “There were two warring tribes in the Andes, one that lived in the lowlands and the other high in the mountains. The mountain people invaded the lowlanders one day, and as part of their plundering of the people, they kidnapped a baby of one of the lowlander families and took the infant with them back up into the mountains.”

“The lowlanders didn’t know how to climb the mountain. They didn’t know any of the trails that the mountain people used, and they didn’t know where to find the mountain people or how to track them in the steep terrain. Even so, they sent out their best party of fighting men to climb the mountain and bring the baby home.”

“The men tried first one method of climbing and then another. They tried one trail and then another. After several days of effort, however, they had climbed only several hundred feet. Feeling hopeless and helpless, the lowlander men decided that the cause was lost, and they prepared to return to their village below.”

“As they were packing their gear for the descent, they saw the baby’s mother walking toward them. They realized that she was coming down the mountain that they hadn’t figured out how to climb. And then they saw that she had the baby strapped to her back. How could that be? One man greeted her and said, “We couldn’t climb this mountain. How did you do this when we, the strongest and most able men in the village, couldn’t do it?” “She shrugged her shoulders and said, “It wasn’t your baby.”

How many women here would do what this woman did for her children? This, is what makes Christian women: the torch bearers” of our Christian faith. Thank you to all women and mothers who give to us and teach us in Jesus’ name each and every day. Amen.