Mother’s Day sermons are notoriously awful. Sentimental tripe that leaves some women feeling smugly self-satisfied, while others leave licking their wounds.
But not this Mother’s Day sermon, given by my friend James Walsh, an associate pastor at my church.
Seriously? You’ve got to love a sermon that begins with “Ladies of Mission Covenant Church, you are more than…”
This was a sermon that celebrated ALL women.
This was a sermon that affirmed ALL of women’s diverse, God-given gifts.
This was a sermon that encouraged women to grow and take great risks. Seriously, when was the last time you heard a sermon where the the pastor urged women to “take great risks”?
By the end, I wanted to stand up and cheer.
Really, the sermon was too good to keep to our little church. So I’m posting the audio here, my gift to everyone who endured a painful (or even mediocre) mothers day message.
You can listen to the streaming audio here, or on Mission Covenant Church‘s media page.
Thanks, Jen!
That was wonderful. I would love to hear what the women thought of it…any word from them?
I just now noticed some great comments on Sandy Johnson’s wall, and one woman suggested that we get a transcript of the sermon so we can read through it whenever we want.
Good stuff!
Jen, one thing that has bothered me for a while about Mother’s Day celebrations is the focus on motherhood to the exclusion of everything else God does in people’s lives. A woman who also happens to be a mother is created to be more than a mother in Christ, just like men are more than husbands or their jobs or whatever is the latest trend for “biblical manhood”.
Yep, very true. Also puffing up the duties that go along with motherhood into some exaggerated, super-human feat that mere men could NEVER hope to accomplish–it feels so patronizing and fake. Yes, we need to celebrate all the hard work moms do in the course of caring for their families, but come on. Someday churches should try letting women plan the Mother’s Day services.
Awesome! I look forward to listening to it. I got a pretty good Mother’s Day sermon — but it was given by a mother, which I think makes a difference.
That DOES make a big difference! Now I’m hearing about you at church, and have all sorts of questions about how you’re settling into your new abode.
We need to Skype soon, Lacey–I’m in withdrawl!
Hi Jenny,
I just stumbled on this website as I was looking for ideas for a Mother’s Day Sermon I have to give in the next few weeks….I was not able to listen to the sermon from the link (too far in the past?). Anyways, is there anywhere else I can access it?
Thanks!
Hmm–I know they’ve been making some changes to the website recently, so maybe the older archives have been taken down. :-/ Bummer.