Scripture

Isaiah 66:12-14

For thus says the Lord:
I will extend prosperity to her like a river,
    and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream;
and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm,
    and dandled on her knees.
As a mother comforts her child,
    so I will comfort you;
    you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;
    your bodies shall flourish like the grass;
and it shall be known that the hand of the Lord is with his servants,
    and his indignation is against his enemies.

The Deeper Meaning of Day One of Creation: Let There Be Light

by Rev. Cory Bradford-Watts

Read the message below. Video premieres today at 8 pm EDT, click here to watch on YouTube with live text chat

Greetings amazing folks - happy Mothers' Day. This day and hopefully every day is a celebration of the Divinity in all of our motherly figures in their love, wisdom, power, and care!

Our mothers have been supporting, comforting, and uplifting us from time immemorial. From the very beginning of life, a mother was there (by definition), giving forth to the next being. And creature after creature, human after human, have been dependant on mothers for our bodies, and often for our sustenance and our lives.

I remember some of the many times I turned to my mother for life-giving care, patience and kindness. During my toughest times as a kid, and even now, I knew that I could turn to my mother for compassion - a compassion I would have vastly missed otherwise.

Most of us can remember many times our mothers have consoled us, protected us, and illuminated our spirit, even if we've forgotten most of them! We can also see many beautiful expressions of motherly love and care in the animal world and in families near us, even if we lacked it in our own home. We each understand the transcendental power of what it means to be a good mother, and so our hearts also go out to those who might feel like they lacked that love or are mourning the loss of their mother.

One of the greatest blessings of all from our mothers is when we take their example of great love, compassion, and wisdom, and feel the call to pass that forward to others. It's that motherly spirit, being passed from person-to-person, that can make this world seem so wonderous and beautiful in moments of kindness and warmth, and it's the lack of that spirit that can make the most physically beautiful setting seem stark and horrific.

If you're a believer in the Higher Power of any sort, then it's natural to acknowledge that the goodness our mothers tend to convey is a gift from the Transcendent, just as all goodness is, as well as all function, love, and health a gift from the Glorious God, Christ, the Universe, or whatever you call the Higher Power. Indeed, a mother's love at its best is a wonderous image of Divine Love, and indeed, their love is Divine Love conducted through her.

Christian mystics like the 18th-century's Emanuel Swedenborg go as far as to say that since all goodness, love, fruition, healthy structure and wisdom come from the Divine, God is ultimately our Divine Mother, as these things make our mothers who and what they are. And some might be surprised to hear that just as he is our Divine Father, God is also depicted as a mother throughout Judeo/Christian scriptures (as we explored in our Mother's Day message last year) as well as in many other traditions. Coupling this idea with the emphasis in the book of Genesis that both male and female are made in God's image and likeness, may help even the most stubborn patriarchal of us to perhaps open up around the edges in order to better celebrate our mothers and the women in our lives as true finite embodiments of the Divine.

Without my mother's influence, as well as my aunt's and my grandmother's, I think life would have been unbearable for me as a kid. It's hard to imagine how I would have started to understand and find compassion, let alone a compassionate God, without them.

Unfortunately, today many mothers mourn in the wake of the horrendous shootings in Nova Scotia and others. And as we may have heard, many mothers also mourn under the yoke of spousal abuse today, especially in this time of social distancing and isolation. Our tendencies toward oppression, pain, and hate stand in stark contrast to truly motherly love, and serve as calls for us to stand up to and transform anti-motherliness in all its guises, from the homestead to politics. It's this inversion of motherly love that jeopardizes and seeks to destroy our spiritual, mental, physical, and environmental health on every front and it must be cast away with the light of the Mother's Love itself if we hope to survive in peace, joy, and abundant life.  

Indeed, a mother's love doesn't punish for vengeance or retribution but seeks to rehabilitate and teach, while conveying a love for our future and health, more than anything else.

A mother's love feeds and nourishes, houses and comforts. It empowers and seeks to bring wise advice for healing and support, furthering beauty, love, and grace.

Counseling from a mother's love is always free, it clothes and warms, and points to higher truths and understanding.

But yes, a truly motherly love must also establish healthy boundaries for when we embody its antithesis, because this love is necessary for a liveable world and cannot express its love when it is suppressed, abused, and trampled upon. A mother's love deserves to be loved with the infinite Divine Love that it tends to convey.

We've all had those moments when we felt taken for granted, when our love and attention seem to have been viewed as mundane. This is hard enough, let alone the difficulty of grappling with abuse and murder in the face of all you give and have given. I imagine that this must happen the most to the Lord, the Divine Being at the center of each of our inner selves, as well as present with us in every detail of our lives. God not only nurtures us within our spirits, but nurtures us through our mothers and in all those moments of beauty, wisdom, and kindness. It's ultimately God that is also abused in every heinous act, since our Higher Power is the source of conscious life and love itself. As we're told Jesus, which means God-with-us, said, "What you do to the least of these you do to me."

Let's work so that no mother must suffer such tragedy again, because what else is a worthier cause? So that no mother must choose between rent and food for their children, between keeping her job and protecting the health of her family during a pandemic, between her love for us and her need to protect herself, or between helping the environment and buying school supplies.  

On this Mother's Day, let's celebrate our mothers and all that makes each of them special and unique, wonderful and wise. Let's reflect on the Magnificent Higher Power that created us and that shines through those motherly ones in our lives - the God that cares for us through all the love we've received in the world and infinitely more so.  

Even if we feel we've lacked a mother's love, let's meditate on the Divine Mother within and around us, always attentive, always compassionate, caring, and seeking to uplift and empower us into peace, joy, and spiritual health. Let's deeply accept our call to rejoice in our mothers, expressing our care and connection to them with loving communication, and determine that we'll no longer just settle for less than their highest example within ourselves and in the social systems that we create.

Let's end in prayer; thank you God for your love and deep wisdom in our lives. Thank you for the life you give and the life you've uplifted in and through our mothers. Our mothers have been there for us, sacrificed and offered deep compassion and love, and we celebrate that, as well as your deep expression through those gifts.

Today we pray for mother earth as well. We ask that through this time of trial we awaken to the need for transformation toward motherly love and positive action for both our environment and our lives. And we ask that you console those grieving lost ones due to this pandemic and the other tragedies in our world.

We lift up to you all those grappling with the trials of isolation and social distance into your care, we ask for you to comfort and ease their pain with the awareness of the deep interconnectedness and abundance that you offer in every moment. We also offer up our church continuously in your care. There are so many people who care for and support our community, and we ask that you help us to continue to empower and bless our church family even as we cannot meet in person.

Help us to turn toward you in moments of reflection and remembrance, celebrating our mothers and you, our Divine Parent. In your transcendent name we pray, amen.

Blessings,

Rev. Cory