“As a mother comforts her child,

so I will comfort you.”

–Isaiah 66:13

In May of 1986, I traveled to Phoenix, Arizona for the summer. That isn’t the time of year most people choose to visit since temperatures regularly top 110 degrees. I was in town to take part in a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education, a kind of chaplaincy program. With one year of seminary remaining I felt such training would help me in my work as a pastor especially since I had always been uneasy around hospitals. Thus, I signed up for CPE even though it wasn’t required by my seminary or presbytery. The choice of Phoenix arose from the fact I had never been to the American Southwest before and how that particular program provided free room and board for its students. That was my thinking. God had a different purpose.

During my first week at Good Samaritan Medical Center I walked onto a med/surg unit and introduced myself to the head nurse; a woman I would marry thirteen months later. Soon, that unit began to get regular visits from this chaplain. I even saw a few patients, too! After about a month of near-daily visits, I finally got up the nerve to ask Lori out, and following our first date went out for each of the next 20 days as well. In six weeks’ time, we were engaged and began discussing a timeline for her to move to Princeton for my final year of school.  Things were speeding along.

Lori’s mother, Rowena, also lived in Phoenix and while she had heard of me, we had not met. Thus, my beloved devised a plan to have both of us over for dinner, but for her mother to arrive 30 minutes earlier to share our news one-on-one. As I walked up to the apartment at the scheduled time, my mind was racing. Rowena had just learned that her youngest child—and the only one who lived nearby–was moving back east because of a man she had known for three months. What could possibly go wrong? 🙂 Lori opened the door and told me everything was fine. When I walked into the room Rowena gave me a big hug. I learned later that in their conversation Lori had begun “You know, things are getting serious with John…” and before finishing her mother had said “So, when are you moving to New Jersey?”  That was Rowena!

This post appears on a day our culture invites us to honor the mothers–biological, adoptive, foster, and relational–who have shaped our lives. I have been incredibly blessed on that front. It began with a loving mother and two grandmothers who nurtured my siblings and me. Lori is an amazing mother and grandmother, too, who inspires me every day with her love, creativity, and wisdom. Our daughter and daughter-in-law are incredible moms who give us a front row seat to their devotion, love, and patience with their own children. Thus, celebrating Mother’s Day is easy for me.   

Sadly, not everyone has such an experience. I resisted preaching about mothers on the Second Sunday of May during my career as I knew of the complicated relationships and stories in the pews. Now, I realize that I missed a great opportunity as I could have allowed that annual occasion to point us to the One who reveals the very best of motherhood.         

I was in seminary before learning that Scripture has feminine images for God. Most of them are found in the prophetic book of Isaiah. “I will cry out like a woman in labor,” the Lord says to a people who have been unfaithful, “I will gasp and pant.” (42:14). “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb?” God asks later before answering “Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” (49:15). We have the verse above, too, and a section in Hosea 11:3-4 that compares the Almighty to a mother teaching her toddler to walk. Lest we conclude that all of the female imagery for God has a Hallmark movie quality, one can turn to a later chapter in Hosea and hear the Holy One say through that prophet “I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs, and will tear open the covering of their heart.” (13:8) 

Jesus draws upon feminine imagery several times. In one parable he compares the kingdom of God to a woman who takes yeast and mixes it into the flour (Luke 13:18-21). In another, he analogizes the persistent love of God to a woman who had ten silver coins and loses one of them, rejoicing with others when it is found. (Luke 15:8-10).  And Jesus laments over the resistance he found in the city of ancient Jerusalem by saying “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34)   

Taken together, those descriptions give us a portrait of God as one who is loving and determined, compassionate and patient, fierce and protective, unwavering and wise. Sounds just like some moms I know. Yet even if that does not match your earthly experience, we call still celebrate the eternal One who does.  

Holy Mother: Cradle us. Comfort us. Nurture us. Teach us. Protect us. Forgive us. Counsel Us. Celebrate us. Sustain us. Love us. Amen   

–Edward Hays