Tag Archives: mother’s day

December 7, 2023 · 3:19 pm

Affirmation of Faith honoring the Grandmothers

*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH

We honor the women who gave birth to hope, who were lifted up by Matthew as the foremothers of the One who came at Christmas.

We honor the women who used their own agency in a world that tried to rob them of it, so that their families could survive and their stories could be told.

We believe in God the mother and father of us all, creator of heaven and earth, whose promise to renew the Earth was embodied in an infant and lives in a promise yet to be fulfilled.

We believe in Christ who was made flesh in an infant child and was born to Mary, whose humanity was proven in his tears, hunger, and blood; and whose divinity was revealed in his feeding, healing, and resurrection.

We believe in the Holy Spirit who indwells with us today, and gives strength to women and men who continue to give birth to hope.

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November 30, 2023 · 5:16 pm

The Great Thanksgiving honoring the Grandmothers of Jesus

This year I will be preaching from the The Women’s Lectionary: Preaching the Women of the Bible throughout the Year by Ashley Wilcox. The year begins with Advent, and the four Advent readings include the stories of the four women included in the genealogy of Mary’s husband as told in the Gospel of Matthew. This year, the first Sunday of Advent is also the first Sunday of the month, which means it is a Communion Sunday. I have written this Communion liturgy for this Sunday to honor the grandmothers of Jesus.

Feel free to use it at any time. Just drop me a comment letting me know where you are using it in worship.

The Lord be with  you

And also with you

Lift up your hearts

We lift them up to the Lord

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God

It is right to give our thanks and praise

It is a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thank to you, Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth. You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life. You who are father, mother, and parent of all gave us the gift of parenthood and told us to be fruitful and multiply. You set parents in a garden and called them to partner with you in caring for it. They outgrew the garden and the peace and balance – the Shalom – that you created was disrupted.

Still your love was passed down from generation to generation. You guided your chosen family of people so that they could be a blessing to all the families of the earth. When they fell into slavery, your power liberated them. When the family was threatened by external foes, your grace delivered them. When the family threatened to pull itself apart, your forgiveness saved them.

A family set apart to bless the world was itself saved many times by women who acted boldly and with righteousness. Threatened time and again by foes internal and external, four women emerged out of the messiness of life and were called righteous. Each of them saved their family and preserved the family line that stretched from Abraham to Christ.

And so with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise these women who saved the family of Christ. But first and foremost we praise your holy name and join the eternal hymn of the Saints of God:

Holy Holy Holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ, who was born of a woman and was adopted by Joseph, a Son of David, and a child of Abraham. We give thanks for Tamar the Canaanite, Rahab the Canaanite, Ruth the Moabite, and Bathsheba the wife of a Hittite. They proved that all the families of the earth are a part of your plan of Salvation. Through their agency, intelligence, courage, and loyalty, they were called righteous. They proved that those who persist for justice will be heard. Through them the line of Jesus was preserved.

Through slavery and liberation, exile and restoration, you have been our God. The Law and the Prophets declare describe your justice and your steadfast love that endures forever. After being visited by an angel, Mary went to her relative Elizabeth who was the first to declare that Jesus, still in utero, was “My Lord.”

Mary magnified you, and confessed that you show mercy to everyone, from one generation to the next. You scatter the arrogant and pull down the powerful from their thrones. You lift up the lowly. You fill the hungry with good things. You come to the aid of your servant. We remember your mercy and the promise you made to our ancestors, Abraham and Sarah, which was kept through the agency of these women until the Word became flesh.

Christ humbled himself in obedience to the Divine Will and freely accepted death on a cross. By the baptism of his life, ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection, you gave birth to your Church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and by Spirit.

Words of Institution

On the night Christ was betrayed…

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May 6, 2015 · 1:37 pm

Mothers’ Day Litany

One:      All who gather here are sons or daughters.

All:         We praise God for the women who gave us life.

One:      For mothers brave, strong, compassionate, full of wisdom and grace,

All:         We give God thanks and praise.

One:      For mothers vulnerable, worried, frustrated, and hurried,

All:        We pray for peace.

One:      For relationships that are strained and no longer a source of joy,

All:         We pray for healing.

One:      For mothers who have died, that live no longer with us, but whose light shines on in our hearts and memories,

All:         We pray for those that mourn, and give God thanks for life eternal.

One:      For mothers who grieve, who have lost children born or unborn,

All:         We weep with those with broken hearts.

One:      For those who are struggling to raise children, who are tired and weary,

All:         We pray that we may be their village, offering real help in hard times.

One:      For those who are preparing emptier nests,

All:         We both celebrate and mourn with you, and hope their wings are as strong as their roots are deep.

One:      For stepmothers, navigating the pitfalls and joys of creating a new family,

All:         We pray for wisdom and patience.

One:      For Grandmothers who are doing the hard work of raising children again,

All:         We pray the caregivers have those who care for them.

One:      For those who are waiting and sometimes struggling with the biological process to bring new life, and for those who are waiting for adoptive process to be fulfilled.

All:         We wait eagerly with you, and offer you our hand to hold in the trial.

One:      For women who do not have children, but instead teach, lead, care for, and guide the children of others,

All:         We give God thanks and praise.

One:      For the mothers, sisters, daughters in our midst and around the world. For the women who, created in the image of God, give not just life, but abundant life. For women fighting, struggling, and sweating for the sake of others. For women caring, compassionate, and crying with the heart of Christ. For the caregivers, prophets, preachers, teachers, leaders, shepherds, healers. For Moms, in their wide variety and many forms,

All:         We give God thanks and praise.

Permission to use this litany for public worship is granted. If it will be reprinted in worship bulletin, please attribute with link to http://fatpastor.me. Also, leave me a comment and let me know you’re using it, you don’t have to wait for me to reply. It just makes me happy to hear when other congregations use liturgy I write.

A refection on the social justice origins of Mother’s Day

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June 12, 2013 · 5:10 pm

My first Father’s Day gift came years before I was a Dad

I’ve been given a lot of Father’s Day gifts over the years.  I’ve gotten shoes, books, a basketball, shirts, and pictures.  When I was in eighth grade, I got a phone for my room.  This might sound strange.  Not many eighth graders get Father’s Day presents.  I remember once telling a friend about the gift my Dad gave me for Father’s Day, and he was confused.  My Dad always gave my sister and brother and me gifts for Father’s Day.

“Being a Father is the best thing that ever happened to me,” he would explain to us.  “And I couldn’t be a Father if it wasn’t for you.”  Although that was only technically true of my sister (his first born), I never argued the point.  The message was clear, and it was one that I don’t think I truly grasped until I was a father myself.  Becoming a father is the best thing that ever happened to me.

I am the father of two girls, and I adore them.  Their laughter is beautiful music.  Their smiles are the greatest of masterpieces.  Their imagination is mind-boggling.  Their dance is breath-taking.  I savor every moment that we are together.  They make me want to be a better person.  I want to give them everything.  On this Father’s Day, I want to give them a gift.

This year though, I’m not going to give them a doll or a toy.  I’m not going to give them a book or a Blackhawks t-shirt.  I’m going to give their gift to someone else, and they are compassionate enough to understand.  Instead of giving to them, I am going to give to other daughters, because everytime I look at my daughters, I can’t help but see the future.

I dream of my daughters growing up in safety and health.  I dream of them getting educated, finding their talents, discovering their gifts.  I dream of them making lasting friendships and falling in love.  I see tremendous giftedness in both of them, and my most important role as a father is to help them see and develop these gifts for themselves.  My dream for them is to fulfill who they were created to be.  My dreams for their future are a luxury that I will never take for granted.

My dreams for their futures are a luxury that most fathers in the world cannot afford.  For most daughters of the world, safety, dignity, education, and health are unattainable dreams.  So my gift to my daughters on this Father’s Day is to the daughters of the world.  My gift this Father’s Day is a word of encouragement.  It is a word of awareness.  It is a call to action.

Maternal health is not a women’s issue.  It is a global concern.  For millions of women, giving birth is the most dangerous thing they will ever do.  Motherhood should be a gift of life, but far too often it is a death sentence.  In many places in the world, women are valued for little more than giving birth.  They are treated as a walking uterus, to be valued if they give birth, and thrown away when or if they cannot.  Girls are forced into motherhood too soon, when it is biologically possible but anatomically dangerous.  They are not allowed to rest and heal between pregnancies.  They have little access to contraception.  If pregnant, health care is difficult to find, and often impossible to afford.  And postpartum care is not even on the RADAR for most.

My faith does not let me standby and allow this to happen.  Jesus raised the widow’s son because he had compassion for her.  He healed the woman that was bleeding for 12 years, returning her to a life fully integrated into the community.  He invited the women to learn at his feet, alongside the men.  He debated a foreign woman at the well, and exulted her faith.  Jesus believed that crazy notion that women are to be valued and treated with dignity and respect.

I believe the same, and so I am called by that same Jesus to do something.  I am called to give my daughters – and all daughters – a gift.

no woman no cry posterThings you can do:

  • Go to Healthy Families, Healthy Planet.  This initiative is funded by the United Nations Foundation, and housed by the United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society.  On this useful website, there are fact sheets,  resources for worship, tips for hosting a panel discussion, and instructions on how to host a screening of the film, No Woman, No Cry.
  • Find or host a screening of the incredible film No Woman, No Cry, which tells the story of four women with at-risk pregnancies.  This is a touching, emotionally charged movie.  It is documentary film-making at its best.
  • Write to your Senators and Representatives, and tell them to support aid for international maternal health and family planning.  Supporting women’s health is the single most cost-effective form of aid that we can give.  Remember, Family Planning does not equal abortions.  Increased access and education about contraception can reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, and reduce the demand for abortions. US Aid to International family planning efforts in 2012 provided contraception to 31 million families.  This helped prevent an estimated 9 million unintended pregnancies, and 4 million abortions.  Maternal health and family planning is Pro-Life. (source: the Guttmacher Institute)
  • Men, stand up and be heard.  Too many believe that maternal health is a woman’s issue.  In most of the world, men’s voices are the most influential in determining public policy and education.  If more men demanded that their daughters were taken care of, it would happen.  There are education programs being set up through developing nations teaching men about their role in family planning.  Stand up men, for your sisters, your mothers, and your daughters.  Do no take the dreams you have for them for granted.

Dads, give someone a Father’s Day gift.  Give a daughter hope for a future where she is not sold into slavery for her uterus.  Give a daughter hope for an education.  Give a daughter a dream for her future.  Give a daughter the gift of life, and life abundant.

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November 29, 2012 · 1:28 pm

The Unnamed Miracle of Christmas

Mary survived.

She gave birth to a boy surrounded by animals, filth, and dirt.  There was no midwife or doctor or antiseptic or sterile instruments.  There was no one to help.  She was young – probably not fully physically mature.  Still, she gave birth to a boy and survived.  The unnamed miracle of Christmas is that Mary survived.

Healthy Families Healthy Planet

I first heard this statement from Katey Zeh, Project Director of Healthy Families, Healthy Planet.  This initiative of the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society is funded by a grant from the United Nations.  Its mission is to educate people about the dangers of motherhood in the Global South, and to advocate for the protection of these mothers.  They have produced this video, which is worth a watch.

A lot of people get very tense when you start talking about family planning.  This is a hot-button issue in American politics.  Yet I believe that this project is one of those things that can and should transcend partisan politics.  Maternal health is a pro-life issue, and so is family planning.  Family planning includes education about contraception, birth spacing, and the importance delaying a girl’s first pregnancy.  Maternal health is not a women’s issue.  It is a human issue.  When women are healthy, their children are healthy.  Education about women’s health reduces abortions, miscarriages, and maternal mortality.  That is something we should all be able to support.

In many parts of the world, where women are still treated much like cattle, family planning and education can be a matter of life or death for a mother and her children – both born and unborn.

This Christmas season, as you ponder the miracle of God becoming flesh, think also of Mary.  Think also of a 14 year old girl you know.  Ponder what would happen to her if she were forced into pregnancy, and was unable to access a doctor, a midwife, or even a clean floor on which to give birth.  Think also of the mother that died in the last 90 seconds in childbirth.  Think of the women that are valued not as people, but for the service their uterus provides.  They are forced into pregnancy too young, and too often.  They are giving birth in terrible conditions.  They are dying.  Their children are suffering.  They need us.

—

The United Methodist Committee on Relief provides a guide for putting together Birthing kits.  If you are interested in putting these together, you must follow the guidelines precisely.  Follow this link, then click on “Birthing Kits” along the right side of the page.  This is a great way to #BeChristInChristmas.

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October 11, 2012 · 3:58 pm

Sermon: And it was still hot

Click here to listen to the sermon: And It Was Still Hot

Click here to read a related blog post.

First Reading: Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak

Date: Mother’s Day, 2012

Scripture passage:  Luke 15:1-10

All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him.  The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “ This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. ”

Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives.

“ Or what woman, if she owns ten silver coins and loses one of them, won’t light a lamp and sweep the house, searching her home carefully until she finds it? When she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost coin.’  In the same way, I tell you, joy breaks out in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who changes both heart and life. ”

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May 13, 2012 · 7:03 am

A Gift For Mother’s Day

I think the dandelion should be the official flower of Mother’s Day.

I have known a lot of great Moms in my life. On Mother’s Day the custom is to give a gift to the mothers in your life.  Today, I am reflecting on the gifts that I have received from the mothers I have known.

Thank you for the gift of strength.  You showed me strength beyond measure.  You lived out the true meaning of the word fight because you were fighting not for yourself, but for your girls.  You showed me endurance when the medicine and the disease were destroying your body.  Even when the possibility of cure was gone, your spirit lived on.  You reminded me what it means to live, and revealed to me a strength that comes with the abiding presence of God.

Thank you for your gift of gentleness.  Your last words to me were, “Oh Robby, she’s beautiful,” as I lowered my newborn daughter to your side.  Hers was quite possibly the last face you saw.  It was your last gift to me, the last of many.  Thank you for the ice cream and Wheel of Fortune.  Thank you for letting “my” dog live with you.  Thank you letting me help you with your word searches.  Thank you for giving me a glimpse of the Kingdom when I sat at your table, and revealing to me the aroma of heaven.

Thank you for showing me how to dance – even on the table if the occasion required it.  Thank you for loving me as your own and showing me what it means to be a friend.  Thank you for dividing my sorrow and multiplying my joy.  Thank you for the s’mores around the fire in the summer, and the songs of love and family around the fire at Christmas.  Thank you for providing a place I knew I would always be welcome.

Thank you for your gift of support.  Thank you for believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.  You weren’t just my biggest fan.  For most of my life I thought that you were my only fan.  Thank you for helping me get back on my bike after I ‘fell off’ (we’ll just leave it at that), and for giving me lunch money when I forgot mine at home.  Thanks for teaching me to hail to the orange, for the letters, and for the surprise boxes of cookies in the mail.  I promise when I finally write my book, you’ll get the first copy.

Thank you for your gift of faith.  Thank you, not just for bringing me to church, but for living with Christ.  Thank you for loving Dad more than anything, and for loving God more.  Thank you for birthing in me a God-given vision, and for guiding me gently as I learned to see it for myself.  Thank you for buying me the watch I wanted – the one with the tiny little buttons that was so impractical.  Thank you for buying another one when I lost the first one.  Thanks for letting me tight roll my pants even though you knew I looked ridiculous.  Thanks for the sawbucks on Friday nights, and for staying up for me.  Thanks for letting me grow.  Thanks for letting me go.  I know someday I’ll have to do the same, and I pray that I can do it with the same amount of grace that you showed.

Thank you for your gift of forgiveness, grace, and love.  You make me a better person every day.  Your forgiveness reveals to me the grace of our God, and I know that the Holy Spirit has bound us with cords that cannot be broken.  Together we are more than we could ever be apart.  You have given me purpose, and you have given me two girls that fill my world.  When I see you read to them, play with them, laugh with them, snuggle them, correct them, and teach them I see the grace of God.  Even when I’m awfully low and when the world is cold, I feel aglow just thinking of you.  And I remain deeply, hopelessly, endlessly in love with you.

Thanks Mom.  Or should I say, “Thanks Moms.”  I’ve been loved by a lot of Moms in my life.  They’ve given me so much.  I hope you like this dandelion bouquet.

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Other FP links about Moms:

Yo Momma’s So Nice jokes

The legacy of the founders of Mother’s Day

A letter to my Mom before being ordained

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April 3, 2012 · 2:47 pm

Some people see the weeds

Many years ago for Mother’s Day my brother built a flower garden for my Mom.  He was sort of the family gardener, and it was common for us to plant flowers for my Mom for Mother’s Day.  The garden was usually his place to plant fruits and vegetables.  We usually had a few big pumpkins, and I remember trying sweet corn one summer.  It was his little corner of the yard.  This was his senior year in college, so he decided to convert the vegetable garden to a flower garden for Mom.  He knew it would probably be his last year doing the planting, so he wanted to leave her with something that would last.

He planted all perennials.  He planned it out meticulously and worked hard at giving her a beautiful garden full of depth and color and variety.  It was the most beautiful gift I have ever seen.

My Mom was a teacher at the time, and the next day at school she was telling all of her friends about the beautiful gift her son had given her.  Most of her friends agreed that it was a beautiful gift.  One co-worker (I’m not sure that they were really friends) only commented, “Well, who’s going to pull the weeds?”

Don’t you know people like that?  Some people see the flowers.  Some only see the weeds.

That garden is still beautiful.  It has changed some over the years.  Another friend gave my Mom a bird bath.  There was a flower added that was her sister’s favorite.  The maple tree in the corner has grown quite big.  Each spring it comes back and the gift is renewed.  I’m not sure my Mom has ever pulled a single weed from it.

Some people see the flowers in the garden.  They enjoy the beauty in the world.  They gaze at sunsets and marvel at the ocean.  Some see grace and joy and love.  Some appreciate their many blessings, and hope that somehow they can be a blessing to the world.  Others see the weeds.

I don’t deny the weeds are there.  I know that there is pain in the world.  All of creation has fallen.  I know that we have a lot of work to do as a people of God.  There is injustice to fight and there are souls to save, but when presented between the choice to focus on the flowers or the weeds, I choose to rejoice in the flowers.  When given the choice to focus on God’s grace or the Creation’s fall, I guess I choose to err on the side of grace.

Read about another gardening adventure

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May 6, 2011 · 5:32 pm

What would they think?

I remember mixing the blueberry muffin batter.  I was so careful not to spill the little tin of blueberries on the counter, because I knew it could stain.  My brother was really in charge of the batter, but he would let me mix it too.  He added the secret ingredient – the honey.   It was my job to make the tea, which meant I put the mug of water in the microwave.  We put the carefully crafted breakfast on our Dukes of Hazard TV tray, but we would cover up Bo, Luke and Daisy with something classy – like a paper towel.  Just one more added touch to make it perfect – go out in the yard and find a flower.  Pick the dandelion, put it in the glass and a perfect Mother’s Day breakfast in bed was ready.

anna jarvisI wonder how much the founders of Mother’s Day would recognize today’s ritual?  What would they think of the handmade cards, the breakfast in bed, and the dandelion bouquets?  There are three women generally recognized as the co-founders of  Mother’s Day.  All of them had similar ideas, and were inspired by similar motives.  They were churchgoing women who wanted to recognize the role of mothers.

They were crusaders, rallying around the universal power of mothers to make the world a better place.  Their passion, their overriding sense of call, was to the cause of peace.  Julia Ward Howe, who wrote, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” was appalled by the evils of war and wanted to create a day where women would come together to make change in the world.  Juliet Calhoun Blakely came to the pulpit in her Methodist Church in Michigan when the pastor was too drunk to finish the job and preached about temperance.  Anna Jarvis taught Sunday school at a Methodist Church in West Virginia.  Jarvis advocated for children’s health and welfare and promoted peace in a community torn by political rivalries.  It was in West Virginia that the first Mother’s Day was officially recognized in 1908.  On Mother’s Day we stand in the shadow of these mighty women, and I wonder what they would think.

These were women that had a strong sense for the pain in the world.  What would they think of the sentimentality of the day they helped create?  They understood pain in the world as only a mother could.  Their sons’ bodies were sacrificed on the altar of war.  Their sons had missing limbs, broken bodies and shattered spirits.  Their sons abused alcohol, wasted their income, their time, and their energy on the promise of an empty bottle. Their daughters lived with terror of domestic violence.  Their sons and daughters died slowly of disease.  They were mothers – not just of the offspring they raised – but of all children.

It was in the midst of this pain that they stood.  Out of the ashes of war, out of the shadow of abuse and alcohol, out of the despair of disease, the mothers stood.  They were angry with the state of the world, and wanted a day to recognize the power of mercy and love.  They wanted a day to recognize the power of women – mothers – to make a change in the world.

What would they think now?  What would they do when they saw women in Africa weeping over a child dying every 45 seconds of malaria?  What would they say to those that claim that health care is a privelege, not a right?  What would they think when they saw more sons and daughters going off to another war to kill the sons of other mothers?  How would they respond to the meth labs in living rooms?  What kind of pain would they feel?

I’m guessing that they would feel just as mothers do today when they see their children suffer.   I’m guessing they would continue to stand with their fellow mothers and support a local shelter for victims of domestic violence.  They would get involved with Imagine No Malaria, a project with a plan to eradicate malaria deaths.  They would help at food pantries at their church, organize health clinics, contribute to literacy campaigns.  What would they do when they saw that their children were in pain?  They would do what mothers do today: they would work, volunteer, preach, donate, teach, mentor, guide, and pray.

What would they think of a dandelion bouquet?  I think they would treasure it just as my mother did – like all mothers do.  They would see the love out of which it was made.  They would know that all the work they do in the world is for this: So that children every where can live in peace.  Those women, and women before them, and women since them have wanted this: to live in a world where all of God’s children are free to pick a dandelion bouquet – free of disease, free of fear, free of war.

Its a dream we all share.  It is a dream for which we all work.  In the meantime, take the time to pick a dandelion bouquet, and say a prayer for mothers.

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June 4, 2010 · 2:52 pm

Dear Mom

Dear Mom,

17 years ago I told you I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I was 15 years old.  It was the night your Dad died, and I was being tormented with a whirlwind of emotions.  In the midst of my emotions, I picked up a notebook and decided to write.  I didn’t know what I wanted to write, but I knew that something deep inside of me was telling me to write.  I realized in that moment that I was a writer.  I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up.  When I told you that, I was expecting you to say, “Really, what do you want to be?”  Instead you said simply, “You are going to be a minister.”  I thought you were crazy.

Yet something within me never let go of that idea.  On the night that Grandpa died, something was born in me.  It was a spark that was probably there all along.  It was a spark that only you recognized.  It was a spark I figured would just fizzle out.  I was wrong.  Tonight I am going to be ordained as an Elder in the United Methodist Church.

I am going to kneel before you, the church, the Bishop and God and take vows to dedicate my life to the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ.  Tonight I will promise to teach the Bible to those seeking a deeper understanding.  I will promise to preach good news to the poor, freedom for the captives, and forgiveness to sinners.  I will promise to sit with a dying man as he takes his final breaths.  I will promise to hold an infant above the baptismal waters.  I will promise to break bread with sinners and share the cup of forgiveness.  I am going to dedicate my life to making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

I will take a solemn vow and enter into a covenant relationship with the Church, the body of Christ – the only source of truth and salvation I have ever known.  The Church is not perfect.  It’s a good thing, because neither am I.  I love the United Methodist Church. I know it has made mistakes, yet I love it anyway.  I love it for so many reasons, but ultimately I love it because it was through the United Methodist Church that I discovered the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

And that is why I want to thank you.  I want to thank you and Dad for bringing me to church as a kid.  I want to thank you both for teaching me about the love of Jesus in word and deed.  I want to thank you for valuing my education, and encouraging me to reach and dream and dance.  I want to thank you for loving me, even when I forgot my homework, even when I forgot to pick up the apples in the yard, or when I forgot to give you a message.  I want to thank you for loving me so much that you could see through all of my mistakes and imperfections.  I want to thank you for loving me so much that you could see something about who I am, and who I could be.

When I kneel before the Bishop tonight, there will be so many people there with me.  There will be people of five wonderful churches that embraced me, welcomed me, and molded me into a man, husband, father, and pastor.  There will be teachers and coaches that pushed me.  There will be friends that laughed with me.  There will be all four of my grandparents, two aunts and an uncle.  When I think of all that has led me to this point in time, I am humbled.  I know that you will be there too.

I thank God every day.  I thank God for giving me more blessings than I can possibly deserve.  I thank God for family and friends.  I thank God for life, life abundant, and life eternal.  I thank God for the awesome privilege of doing God’s work and serving God’s children.  And I thank God for you, and for that preposterous suggestion you made to me so long ago.  It turns out you were right.  Thank you.

Love,

Robb

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