Today is the day our culture honours the mothers in our midst.
It’s the one day of the year when restaurants are busiest,
old-fashioned cards, that you actually hold in your hand, are given,
and flowers and chocolates still make it to the top of the gift list.
 
Some households, with little ones, are busy Mother’s Day morning,
making Mom breakfast before she can get out of bed.
 
For Moms of grown children, who live out-of-town,
day-trips will be taken, or if the distance is too great,
phone calls will be made, or a virtual visit over skype.
 
For others, they only have memories of their mothers,
and it doesn’t matter how old you are,
you may be a grandmother yourself now,
nothing can compare with the memory of your mother.
 
So we honour the mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers,
who have invested in the lives of their families over the years.
 
And I want to suggest to you that the nurture you have provided
has shaped the destiny of those God has entrusted to your care.
 
There is a spiritual principle at play here: nurture creates future.
Present nurture in the little things of life creates a bigger future destiny.
 
And we can all be a part of that, you, me, mothers, fathers,
step-mothers, step-fathers, grandparents, great-grandparents,
aunts, uncles, teachers, coaches, scouting and guiding leaders,
church school and youth group leaders and the list goes on and on.
 
Christian men and women of every generation are called upon by God
to create a climate of support and growth for the next generation.
 
This is how the apostle Paul describes this spiritual principle
in our scripture text for today taken from Colossians 1:28-29.
 
We are called upon by God,
“to admonish and teach everyone with all wisdom,
so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.
To this end, I strenuously labour with all the energy
Christ so powerfully has placed within me.”
 
Paul tells us to teach with wisdom. Why?
So we can present everyone fully mature in Christ.
And how do we do that? To this end, I strenuously labour
with all the energy Christ so powerfully has placed within me.
 
In other words, to teach with wisdom,
and to train others up into maturity,
involves blood, sweat and tears.
 
It is going to require your full attention,
it will be physically and emotionally demanding,
it will require the very best you have to give and then some.
 
And some days, it will feel like it involves every ounce of energy you have,
and you will flop on your bed tired and exhausted, and it will be worth it all.
 
You see, if you want to gain life, then you have to give it away.
If you want to find life, then you have to lose yourself in others.
These words sound familiar? Jesus first shared them 2000 years ago.
They are holy paradoxes, seemingly contradictory, but eternally true.
 
So you need to ask yourself a very important question today,
“Are you willing to give yourself away?”
 
When a child comes to you and asks for help,
do you take the time to listen and to lend a hand?
 
Little children once came to Jesus.
The disciples tried to prevent them from bothering busy Jesus.
He said, “Let the little children come to me and do not stop them,
for such is the kingdom of heaven.”
 
When is the last time you embraced the kingdom of heaven?
I got to do it 5 times already this morning during the baptism service.
 
Don’t you want to be a “heaven-embracer”?
There’s no better feeling in the world. Here’s how you do it.
 
Be the person God created you to be for the sake of others.
Maybe you don’t have children of your own, doesn’t matter,
you have influence, you have gifts, you see possibilities and opportunities.
 
“But Rev. Craig, I’m no June or Ward Cleaver.”
Good, because if you’re not, God never intended you ever to be.
 
But maybe you have something even better to give.
Something only you can give.
 
What about the true story of a young woman
who led her country to military victory while she was still a teenager.
 
She was an illiterate peasant girl, with no children of her own,
but eventually became a national heroine and saint of the church.
 
She was burned at the stake on May 30, 1431 in France.
Her name? Joan of Arc and she was a woman of God.  
 
Could she bake cookies like June Cleaver?
I don’t know, but God had other plans in store for her.
Something only she could give her God and her country,
that was desperately needed in that moment of history.
 
God has placed you in your sphere of influence for a reason.
There is something only you can give, so for God’s sake, give it.
 
What about one last true story of a young man,
born in the backwoods of his country,
never really interested in political power,
but started a movement that changed the world.
 
He dedicated himself to helping the poor, healing the sick,
imparting dignity to the downtrodden, speaking hope into desperate situations.
 
His wise words saved a woman from capital punishment by stoning,
he gave new hope to a despised little tax collector caught up in a tree,
and new life to his dear friend Lazarus four days in a tomb.
 
He was the “heaven-embracer” himself,
the author of the holy paradoxes about laying down your life for others.
 
Perhaps he knew there would come a time
when there was something only he could give.
And that’s exactly what he did.
He gave his all for you and me.
 
He laid down his life, so we might gain life in him.
Now Jesus calls you to do the same.
 
“Are you willing to give yourself away for the sake of others?”
The answer to that question holds eternal ramifications,
not only for you, but for those entrusted to your care.
 
Let’s make it our mission as a church to be “heaven-embracers.”
The present nurture we can offer in the little things of life for our little ones
creates a bigger future destiny for everyone as the church of Jesus Christ.
 
We are called upon by God, Colossians 1:28-29,
“to admonish and teach everyone with all wisdom,
so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.
To this end, let us strenuously labour with all the energy
Christ so powerfully has placed within us as his church.”
 
Let’s give it all away, for God’s sake,
for the sake of the little ones, for everyone’s sake,
and then see what happens,
see what God can do,
through you.

I know what some of you are thinking,
“What did Rev. Craig do while he was away?”

So I want to dispel any rumours before they get started.
I did not lounge around a beach in Florida all winter.

Although, I did hang around a few cold arenas in Ontario
on a number of weekends when Ben was speedskating.

Many of you already know that I was at Queen’s in Kingston
a couple of days each week taking theological courses.

A few may also know that I attended several different churches
on Sunday mornings to experience firsthand different expressions
of worship.

Most ministers rarely have that opportunity,
since they tend to occupy their own pulpit,
Sunday after Sunday.

Four months go by very quickly, believe it or not,
but I think it was a sound investment on Kingsview’s part
to allow me to take advantage of the United Church of Canada’s
new Sabbatical program as I begin my 21st year of ministry here.

Yes, you heard me correctly, I’ve been at Kingsview for 20 full years.
I came here as a young, impressionable minister
when I was still in my twenties.

Next year, I will be celebrating my 50th birthday, God willing.
Is that the right word, “celebrate” 50 years, or are you
supposed to keep that one a secret?

So I return a different minister from the one who left four months ago.
A little bit older, and hopefully, a little bit wiser.
I come back to you renewed and refreshed and retooled for ministry.

I believe God placed on my heart our scripture text for today
the passage from Romans chapter 12, in particular, verse 5,

“So we being many, are one body in Christ,
and every one, members one of another.”

What impressed me most as I went on my Sunday morning church tour,
is how each church community really holds to the same core of faith,
yet, how it can be expressed in so many unique and wonderful ways.

I liken it to our human families.
We all share the same family name, Christian,
but we each have our own unique personalities.

Brother Bob is the get-it-done member of the family.
Sister Sally is the most caring and affectionate.

The Pentecostals wave flags while they worship.
The Catholic service is rich with ritualism.

“So we being many, are one body in Christ
and every one, members one of another.”

This text speaks of our connectedness as Christians.
We need to be “big-picture” Christians.

Yes, we each have our own way of doing things which feels “right” to us,
because we have become accustomed to our rites and rituals over time.
They’re familiar to us and bring a certain degree of comfort and meaning.

But our way is not the only way. It’s only one way among many.
We are not in competition with our Christian brothers and sisters down the road, we are connected to them. We share the same faith family name, Christian.
That’s the big picture. That’s the connectedness.

“So we being many, are one body in Christ
and every one, members one of another.”

I attended the big Embassy Pentecostal Church on Taunton.
Five minutes before the official start time of the service,
there were about 50 people seated in the sanctuary.
I was one of them. Ten minutes after the praise singing started,
there must have been close to 1000 people in the sanctuary.
I thought they must be the family member who is always running late.
God love them.

I attended St Gregory’s Catholic Church across from Parkwood.
I followed along as best I could with the service,
but had to keep peeking at my neighbour next to me,
to try to figure out which page of the service book
I should be reading from, at any given point in the service.
I think it was painfully obvious to everyone around me
that I wasn’t a good, practicing Catholic.

On my Sunday morning travels, I also attended Calvary Baptist Church,
Carruther’s Creek Church in Ajax, the Olive Branch Church in Markham,
as well as Centennial-Albert, Hampton and Westminster United Churches.

And most Tuesdays at Queen’s in Kingston, I went to Chapel,
so I got a double dose of worship each week.
That’s a good thing, by the way, double the blessing.

Many of the students took turns preaching at Chapel.
One student identified herself as an eco-feminist theologian,
another gave her perspective from a restorative justice point of view,
while yet another student introduced me, through his preaching,
to what is now apparently termed, “queer theology.”
I sure got educated in ways I didn’t even anticipate.

“So we being many, are one body in Christ
and every one, members one of another.”

If I want to take this scripture seriously,
then I have to take seriously those who are different than myself.

I may not agree with everything everybody has to say or tell me.
I don’t always agree with everything that comes out of my own mouth.

Some things may come out irrationally or impulsively.
That’s how thoughts sometimes operate in the real world.

People’s opinions are constantly evolving and expanding over time,
hopefully, God-willing, we all grow and mature over time.

I need to be open to people’s points of view and hear out their perspective,
no matter how unique, whether it takes me out of my comfort zone or not.

In fact, that’s when I need to listen for God’s voice most carefully and intently.
That’s part of what it means to be connected, to be a “big-picture” Christian.

Then and only then, can we begin to discover together, as a Christian community,
our unity, even in the midst of all this wonderful, and sometimes perplexing, diversity.

“So we being many, are one body in Christ
and every one, members one of another.”

Remember these words, as we share in the Body of Christ this morning,
through the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

Despite our differences, let me suggest that we all share one thing in common.
We share our common need to experience the genuine presence of God.
Pentecostals and Baptists and Catholics and United alike,
every person of every stripe, regardless of class or creed.

We are all part of the human race and as human beings,
we have all experienced some of life’s bumps and bruises.

And in our common connectedness as human beings,
we need to encounter God’s grace in an imperfect and sometimes unfair world,
to know God’s forgiveness when we feel broken and/or alone,
to realize that our God is a God of second chances,
and there is hope and healing and unconditional love.

If your heart is resonating with these words at all today,
there is a place for you at God’s table this morning.
On behalf of the Kingsview family of faith,
I welcome you into God’s presence.

We come to Communion, not because we are perfect,
but because we all are well-aware of our faults and flaws.

Every family, every person, every church,
has their strengths and weaknesses, hopes and fears.
That’s our connectedness as human beings.
And God loves even still, that’s the big-picture.