On this Mother's Day, when we honor moms, see if anyone here recognizes this Mom: You stand up to take pictures at your son's school play even after they've asked people not to...You insist your child wear a sweater when you're cold...You tell you daughter how much prettier she looks with her hair out of her eyes...You hear yourself say [things like], "You're face will freeze like that," and "If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?" (Liane Kupferberg Carter, McCalls, Nov. 94, p. 176-188) and "You're going to put someone's eye out."

Sound like anyone you know? How about these descriptions:

You know you're a mother when you begin to understand everything the family dog says. You know you're a mother when you call your children by their sibling's names. You know you're a mother when you have a recurring dream that you are the agitator in a washing machine, and you're off balance. You know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're a mother when one of your top-ten fears is that there will be car-pooling in heaven. You are surely a mother if you have actually tried to save a stitch in time, but have long since given up. A mother is someone who talks in her sleep, but no one listens. You know you're a mother when you buy cereal based on what kind of picture is on the box and what kind of "surprise" is in the box. You know you're a father if your wife fits any of the above descriptions. (Sylvia Harney, Every Time I Go Home I Break out in Relatives, Brentwood, Tennessee: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1990, pp. 129-130.)

Mothers are extremely influential in the lives of their children, and some of the influences are sometimes even un-intentional. In a children's sermon, a pastor attempted to illustrate about things we can and cannot do: when we can do things ourselves, when we must call on family, and when we must call on God. He asked, "What things are we able to do ourselves?" Several answers were offered: "See," "Hear," "Talk," "Walk." But when he asked, "What things can't we do?" the first answer was, "We can't fly except with airplanes and helicopters." The second answer was, "We can't eat dirt. Our mommies won't let us." (Melvin E. Schroer and Angelo J. Mongiore, A Funny Thing Happened, New York: The Pilgrim Press, 1991, p. 4.)

Our New Testament Scripture for today is maybe not a traditional Mother's Day text. There is no mother mentioned in the verses that I read. But given the title of the sermon, I find the text to be very appropriate. As I mentioned last week, these verses comprise what some have called Jesus’ farewell speeches. During his Last Supper with them, which was earlier on the evening of our gospel text, he shared with them that he was going to leave them, and now he was offering words of comfort for their feelings of despair. He said: "If you love me you will keep my commandments (John 14:15)." Then he offered some comforting words about the Holy Spirit whom he would send in his place so that the disciples would not be desolate in his absence. Jesus said, "I will not leave you as orphans." Other versions may read "I will not leave you comfortless."

At the risk of over-generalizing, when most of us think of being comforted, do we think of our mom or our dad?

A survey asked boys in whom they would be most likely confide if they had a problem, and about 23 percent said their father. The remaining 77 percent said they would confide in their mother. "I will not leave you as orphans. I will not leave you comfortless."

There are a lot of Dads who are doing a splendid job in comforting their children, but in the majority of cases, for comfort, we think of our mothers. Yes, God is like a father, but God is also like a mother who comforts her children. The printed scripture atop our bulletin reads, Jesus said, "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 13:34b) Jesus was comparing himself to a mother hen; mothers care about their children in many ways, with comfort being one of them. So where is Jesus promising us that comfort can be found?

Jesus says, first of all, he will comfort us by his presence. "You will not be abandoned; I will not leave you comfortless; I will not leave you as orphans, but instead I will come to you. I will send my spirit." We can always be assured of God's presence, no matter the circumstance.

In an article entitled "Being a Mom Means You Have to Show Up," Emma Bombeck wrote, "For the first four or five years after I had children, I considered motherhood a temporary condition - not a calling. It was a time of my life set aside for exhaustion and long hours. It would pass. Then one afternoon with three kids in tow, I came out of the supermarket pushing a cart (with four wheels that went in opposite directions) when my toddler son got away from me. Just outside the door, he ran toward a machine holding bubble gum in a glass dome. In a voice that shattered glass, he shouted, "Gimme! Gimme!" I told him I would gimme him what-for if he didn't stop shouting and get in the car. As I physically tried to pry his body from around the bubble gum machine, he pulled the entire thing over. Glass and balls of bubble gum went all over the parking lot. We had now attracted a crowd. Donna Reed would have brushed away his tears and granted him absolution on the spot. I wasn't Donna Reed. I told him he would never see another cartoon as long as he lived, and if he didn't control his temper he was going to be making license plates for the state. He tried to stifle his sobs as he looked around at the staring crowd. Then he did something that I was to remember the rest of my life. In his helpless quest for comfort, he turned to the only one he trusted his emotions with - me. He threw his arms around my knees and held on for dear life. I had humiliated him, chastised him and berated him, but I was still all he had. That single incident defined my role. I was a major force in this child's life. Sometimes we forget how important stability is to a child. I've always told mine, "The easiest part of being a mother is giving birth. The hardest part is showing up for it each day." (Erma Bombeck, "Being a Mom Means You Have to Show Up", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 9, 1993, pp 12C.)

There is nothing that says "I love you" like the stability offered by simply being there. Children need parents who are there for them, if possible both mother and father. Aging parents need children who will come to see them. Jesus was leaving his disciples, but he wanted them to know that he was not forgetting them. "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." Jesus would be there. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus would be with them.

But there was a second way which Christ demonstrated to show comfort for the disciples. Jesus comforted them with his understanding and love. Physical presence is wonderful, of course, but it is not enough. We need not only someone who is there, but someone who understands and forgives. Here is where Jesus excels. No one was more understanding than Jesus. Remember how he held little children in his arms? Remember his concern for those who were outcasts and those who were physically disadvantaged? And this what the Good News is all about. That is what God is like. Jesus and God are of one character. If you want to know what God is like, then look at Jesus. The comfort that the Spirit would provide was the comfort that Christ would have provided if he were still here physically. It is the comfort of empathy and understanding.

Years ago, a bank in Pennsylvania trained their employees to get "a better feel" for customers with handicaps. Employees of the 180 branches of the Meridian banking group had to complete deposit slips with Vaseline smeared on their glasses and count money with three fingers on each hand taped together. The idea was to give them a better understanding of what older customers with glaucoma and arthritis may be experiencing. (The Competitive Advantage, 1995) What a difference a little empathy, a little understanding, can make in a relationship.

"I will not leave you comfortless..." Christ will be there. Christ understands. But there's one more thing to be said. Christ not only sends his Spirit to be with us. Christ not only sends his Spirit to comfort and empathize with us. Christ also gives us the power to conquer our problems. "I will come to you," said Jesus. "Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you will also live." How many people have been encouraged with these words: because Jesus is still with us, we can cope, we can endure, we can conquer.

A parent who is there is wonderful. A parent who understands is even better. But best of all is a parent who prepares us for life and gives us the tools to succeed.

In 1942, hysteria over Japanese involvement in World War II led to the relocation of some 110,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps. In one of those camps, Carole Doi, a third generation Japanese American, was born. Years later, Carole married a man who had also spent some time in the camps. When she delivered their baby daughter, they noticed that the child's feet turned inward, the toes faced each other. Carole was determined to do whatever it would take to help her daughter walk normally.

For four years, Carole provided her daughter with corrective shoes. Her daughter was walking normally by age six, but Carole wasn't satisfied. "I wanted her to do anything in which she would use her legs," she said. The girl chose ice skating.

And she was a natural on the ice. Before long, the youngster was bugging her mother for more rink time. She'd refuse to leave the ice until she got a particular move right. Soon Carole was rising at 4 a.m. to get her daughter to the rink. Finally, after 15 years of lessons, young Kristi Yamaguchi represented her country in the Olympics.

As the United States flag was hoisted during the 1992 medals ceremony, Carole and Jim Yamaguchi watched Kristi receive the gold medal. Kristi Yamaguchi stood on that victory platform because of a mother who stood behind her and helped her to conquer.

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you," said Jesus, "because I live, you shall live also." That is the promise we need most of all: the Spirit that comforts us is not only one of presence, not only of understanding, but it is one of overcoming. It is like a mother slowly helping her daughter walk with straight feet. It is that Spirit that gives us wings like eagles.

This morning we honor mothers. But more importantly, we honor God who like a loving mother, is ever present, ever empathizing, and ever giving us strength to overcome. Let us be thankful for these motherly qualities of God.