A toast I gave at the TRC Easter Festival last night:
This is Easter Season, a celebration first and foremost of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. But it’s entirely fitting that our culture’s celebration of Mother’s Day falls during this Easter Season. It’s fitting to honor mothers who picture for us the gift of new life even as we celebrate the new life won for us in the re-birth of Jesus, the firstborn from the dead.
So I propose a toast:
To the new mothers, those expecting for the first time or perhaps for the third or fourth or tenth time, we honor you. The fact that you are carrying a new life within you is in our world an increasingly countercultural stance. By refusing to take part in the bloody sacrifice to Mammon, you are at war with the culture of death all around us. Thank you for giving up yourself for another, thank you for enduring the sickness, the discomfort, the pain. Thank you.
To the mothers in the trenches, those with a few or many with many needs pulling you in many directions, between schooling and lessons, rehearsals and practice, hugs and spankings, bath times and stories, tickles and rides, fevers and band aids, games and walks, performances, advice, friends. You are often up late and up early finishing laundry, setting out clothes, picking up messes, finishing dishes, planning more fun. You are making meals, birthday cakes, decorating, encouraging, laughing – making the world a safe and magical place. Thank you.
To the mothers with children grown, who cheer their children on at a greater distance. Perhaps to some who wish their children were closer. You still think about your children, their hopes and dreams, their fears and challenges, you pray for them, and look for ways to encourage them: gifts, notes, cards, flowers. You are still giving yourself away, thinking of others more than yourself. Thank you.
And finally to those mothers who are not with us any more. To the memory of faithful moms who loved and labored diligently to the end. We remember them, we give thanks to God for them, and for the treasures we still enjoy from their sacrifice.
To mothers: you picture for us resurrection life. You show us the glory of death and resurrection, you remind us of Eve and of Mary, of Sarah and Rebecca, of Ruth and Elizabeth. You remind us of the Christian Church, the Mother of us all. And so we lift our glasses to you. May God bless you richly and continue to make you abundantly fruitful in every good work.
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