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How wonderful on Mothers Day that we had the opportunity to celebrate Miyas

baptism. One of the reasons I love being a Presbyterian is we celebrate Infant Baptism. When

we baptized children like Miya we are celebrating what God has done for us. Baptism is a

Sacrament, which means it is a sign and seal of grace. Its this seal of grace that is so important.

God has sealed grace in Miya. She will carry that with her for the rest of her existence. Today

as we baptized an infant we celebrated God. Though we love Miah and how adorable she is and

we celebrate with David and Tiah this new gift of a daughter we are ultimately celebrating God.

One of the images of God is that of a mother hen gathering her brood under her wings.

Today we celebrated that God has gathered Miya. Yay, God!

Today Im continuing asermon series called, Caring with the heart of Jesus. Were

doing things a bit different in this series. Im starting off by doing a teaching on a quality of

Jesus heart. This will be a teaching with content and not a lot of illustrations. Then well sing a

song. Then Ill help us apply that quality of Jesus heart into a particular situation.

Last week I taught on wisdom. We looked at how to maintain a relationship when were

having a conflict with a family member.

Today were looking at gentleness. Were applying it by looking at being gentle with our

moms.

Next week were looking at compassion. After the teaching well look at how to be

compassionate with people suffering from cancer. After worship well have a panel discussion

made up of folks whove had cancer. They are going to share with us what is helpful to them as

people have cared for them and what hasnt been helpful.

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I want to encourage you to get out this brochure that is in the bulletin. This week I wrote

a Bible Study for you on gentleness. In the middle you have a place to take notes. God might

say something to you that youll want to write down.

One of my favorite Scriptures is the second one that Nancy read today. I often share this

Scripture before we celebrate Communion. If you like memorizing Scripture its worth

memorizing.

SLIDE

Come unto me all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Takemy yoke upon me and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest

for your souls. Matthew 11:28-29

There is is. I am gentle and humble in heart.

Gentleness is part of the heart of Jesus.

Other words that are similar to gentle are meek and humble. Jesus used these words in

many places. One place was the Sermon on the Mount

SLIDE

Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5

One of the greatest examples of the gentleness of Jesus was when he was dying on the

cross. He had been whipped, stripped naked, and then had his wrists and feet nailed to a tree.

He had been abandoned by most of his followers. Jesus could have reigned down destruction on

the people who were killing him. Instead he responded with gentleness. Father, forgive them

for they know not what they do.

The Greek word translated as gentle is praus. Praus was part of the Fruit of the Spirit

shared by the apostle Paul in Galatians.

SLIDE

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Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, praus or gentleness, and self-

control.

The Apostle Paul did some teaching on gentleness. Youll read about that in the devotion

this week. In the letter we know of as 2 Corinthians he was defending his own ministry. Its the

way he went about his defense that I want to lift up. He wrote this:

SLIDE

I myself, Paul, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of ChristI who am humble when

face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away. 2 Corinthians 10:1

When we are trying to persuade people of something. Are we gentle or do we come on

aggressive. Paul used gentleness to appeal to the people who were reading this letter.

Our wider culture often doesnt value gentleness. Our culture is looking for leaders who

are strong and opinionated and aggressive. This is a definition of power that is put forth.

Were not taught that gentleness and power go hand in hand. Were taught that the people who

are loudest and the most boisterous are the ones who get their way.

A stereotype of gentleness is that people who are gentle are weak and pushovers.

I believe that Jesus teaches us that a combination of gentleness and conviction can change

the world.

Being gentle does not mean that we give in to what another person wants. A gentle

person can be powerfully firm and strong. Just like Jesus.

We remember people who combine gentleness and conviction. Again Jesus is an

example. I think one of the reasons Jesus is so powerful to us is he didnt retaliate while he was

dying on the cross. If Jesus had responded with violence he would have been just another leader

who gave in to violence. Jesus didnt give in. We remember him. We remember him because

of his gentleness.

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When we care for others with gentleness our actions will be long lasting.

For some of us gentleness doesnt come naturally. Were not wired that way. When we

feel strong emotions we have a hard time containing our emotions. When were upset we get

aggressivewe might fly off the handle. Some of us Minnesotans get passive aggressive. If

someone makes a comment that we dont like we might fight back or by saying, Whatever.

Our intent is clear. Thats not gentle.

There were times that Jesus did got angry. However if we read the stories of Jesus being

angry we learn that when Jesus became angry when powerful people acted in an unjust way.

Mostly he became angry when religious leaders put unnecessary burdens on people. But with

the people of his daythe poor, the outcasts, those who needed healing, those who the systems

of his day didnt celebrateJesus was gentle.

When we care for others with gentleness, we experience something beautiful. Jesus

shared this beauty in todays passage. Remember. Say it with me.

SLIDE

Come unto me all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Takemy yoke upon me and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart.

What is the result? You will find rest for your souls.

When we live with gentleness and care for others with gentleness we find rest for our

souls.

When were quarrelsome and agitated and aggressive we dont experience a sense of

peacethe peace that passes all understanding.

When were gentle we reduce the tension in a situation. Gentleness is a terrific response

to anxietyand even our own anxiety. If we feel anxious or worried or concerned focus on

gentleness. When our hearts are full of gentleness our hearts will find rest. Our hearts will find

peace. Our hearts will be connected to the heart of Jesus.

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Its so obvious to say that were called to be gentle with our moms that we might not

even need to say it. Its like saying gravity exists, or F=MCsquared, or God love us.

But its worth remembering how hard it is to be a mother and how mothers deserve the

gentleness of their children.

Its hard to be a mom. Just look at Mary, the mother of Jesus. We know that Jesus was

the son of God, and we know that he was the son of Mary. And though he was fully God and

fully human it wasnt easy to be his mother.

Mary had to risk her life even to carry Jesus in her womb. Some traditions taught that an

unmarried woman who was pregnant was to be carried to the edge of the village and be stoned to

death.

Look at the story that Nancy read today. Mary and her husband Joseph took Jesus to the

Temple in Jerusalem. They lived in Nazareth at the time. People traveled in groupsit was like

most of the people left Nazareth to travel to Jerusalem. When the group left the Temple to go

back to Nazareth, Mary didnt realize that Jesus was still at the Temple. She thought that Jesus

was in this group.

After a while she realized he was missing. This was serious. Today we would put out an

Amber alert. When Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the Temple, Mary gave Jesus a stern

lecture.

SLIDE

Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for youin great anxiety. Luke 2:48

It wasnt easy to be the mother of Jesus.

When Jesus was an adult Mary traveled with him. She saw how the crowds came to him

wanting to be healed and to receive a word from God. Mary was probably present in the Upper

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Room when Jesus washed his followers feet and gave them a new command to love. Then

Mary watched as Jesus was brutalized and killed on the cross. In Johns gospel Jesus looked at

Mary while he was on the cross and asked the beloved disciplewho most think was Johnto

take care of Mary. From then on Mary lived with him.

It wasnt easy to be the mother of Jesus.

Its never been easy to be a mom.

On Mothers Day we step back and remember our momswho have one of the hardest

and most important tasks that there is.

Mothers Day is special day, but its not an easy day. For parents who want to have a

child and cantMothers Day is a hard day. For those who have a troubling relationship with

their mom, this day lifts up those challenges.

Its worth remembering how Mothers Day was started.

SLIDE Anna Jarvis was the woman who started Mothers Day.

She was born in 1864 in West Virginia. She was the ninth of eleven childrenthough only three

of her siblings grew up to be adults. Anna Jarvis loved her mother.

SLIDE Her mother was also named Anna. She was a community leader. Anna the

mother started a group called the Mothers Day Work Club. They met in churches. These clubs

worked to combat the poor health and sanitation conditions that contributed to a high infant

mortality rate.

During the Civil War the mother Anna Jarvis urged the members of the Mothers Day

Work Club to take a neutral stance regarding the war. She knew that we throw aside politics

when we care for others. Thats caring with the heart of Jesus. She asked the women to nurse

both the Union and Confederate soldiers.

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The Jarvis family was involved in the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church. When

Anna Jarvisthe daughterwas 12 years old she heard her mom say a prayer in church. The

prayer was this:

SLIDE I hope that someone, sometime will found a memorial to mothers daycommemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She

is entitled to it.

Anna Jarvis, the daughter, never forgot this prayer. At her moms graveside service she

promised her mom she would create that mothers day. She and her brother Claude started a

Mothers Day campaign.

It took courage to for a woman in the early 20

th

century to initiate a campaign for

Mothers Day.

Women didnt even have the right to vote; most women didnt work; if they did work

they could only work at certain types of jobs that were deemed feminine.

On the second anniversary of her moms death on 1907 Anna led a small tribute to her

mom at Andrews Methodist church in Philadelphia. In 1908 Mothers Day was celebrated in the

city of Philadelphia. The movement grew and in 1909 45 states observed some sort of Mothers

Day celebration.

Five years later in 1914 Woodrow Wilson made Mothers Day a national holiday. In

seven years Anna Jarvis was able to establish the national celebration of Mothers Day.

Whats ironic Anna Jarvis was never a mother. She was single her entire life.

Its worth remembering that it was the prayer of a mother that inspired the start of

Mothers Day.

Today we are going to celebrate the women in our life who inspired our faith. Youve

written out the names of women that have gone on our famil y tree of faith.

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Im sure that many of our mothers were the adults who encouraged us to get connected to

God and to the church. Parents are our most precious role models of faith.

I think of my own mother, Jackie Moore. She and my Dad always encouraged my sister

and I to participate in a faith community. My sister and I knew that on Sunday mornings we

were going to church, for us the church was Westminster Presbyterian Church in Worthington,

Minnesota. My sister and I were never asked whether we wanted to go. We wentwhether we

wanted to or not. In the first 18 years of my life I dont ever remembering skipping church.

It certainly wasnt like I went to church as a young child andparticipated in an inspiring

childrens ministry. When I was young I experienced church as old, grey and certainly boring. I

was expected to sit in a cold classroom, in metal chairs and listen to someone stand up and

lecture us on the Bible. Then I had to go to worship and sit still and be quiet and listen to a

sermon that was over my head. The only real value that others saw in me at church was when I

was quiet. When I was at church I was supposed to sit down, be still, and be quiet. Which is an

odd faith message to teach to a seven year old. I think that our first ten years are some of the

most spiritually profound times in our life. My church practically ruined my faith.

But my momand my dadencouraged my sister and I to go to church. Today Im a

pastor; my sister is a pastor. Shes my role model in faith.

Our mothers deserve our gentleness.

Were acknowledging today the women who have made an impact on our faith. (Kristel

Peters and Karen Bakia) have made this family tree of faith. Many of you wrote the names of

women who made a difference in your faith life. Their names are here.

Its not easy to be a mom. Its not easy tocelebrate Mothers Day. Our moms deserve

all of the gentleness that we can give them.