Mama Georgia's house
John 14: 1-14
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
May 14, 2017
My grandmother, Mama Georgia, lived to be 99 years old. She had six children, the youngest of which is my mother, 21 grandchildren, 31 great-grandchildren, and 1 great-great-grandchild. Whenever there was a family reunion, the house was busting with people. One Thanksgiving we put a long row of newspapers on the floor and about 15 kids ate there. When my mother wanted to attend Boston University, my grandparents sold a parcel of their small residential property to fund my mother’s education. Mama Georgia was there for my mom when she was a young mother with two small children and an alcoholic husband. A few times we stayed with her in Mississippi or she would come all the way to Massachusetts. She converted part of her house into a small upstairs apartment for a young adult grandchild who needed help. I know she prayed for each of us every day. My grandmother would’ve done anything for any of us grandchildren.
In J.D. Vance’s memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, he writes that it was his Mamaw who was the primary force behind his rising above his Rust Belt beginnings in Kentucky and Ohio and graduating from Yale Law School. He describes his grandparents as “old-fashioned, quietly faithful, self-reliant, and hardworking.” Mamaw was fierce in her love for her family, defending her family sometimes to the point of violence and always with grit and colorful language. In J.D.’s last three years of high school, she was able to provide him with something he desperately needed to succeed: a stable and loving home. A challenging love, a love that pushed him to be better, a love that never wavered, unconditional and self-sacrificing, as well as a flawed and imperfect love.
The Hopi say that when the grandmothers speak, the earth will be healed. The Shawnee call upon Grandmother Spirit, who is also Cloud Woman, a source of wisdom and transformation. In the Navajo tradition she is Grandmother Spider who placed the stars in the sky by lacing her web with dew and threw it into the heavens. She inspires her people to weave dream catchers and she interprets the meaning of the dreams. In Earth-based spirituality she is Grandmother Moon to Grandfather Sun.
More than likely, Jesus would have known both of his grandmothers. Though nothing of Mary’s parents is written in the New Testament or in the Qur’an, St. Anne or Hannah in Arabic is revered as the mother of Mary in Catholic and Orthodox traditions and in Islam.
Hear the lectionary text again from the perspective of Jesus as a grandson:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Grandmother’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.
“And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Grandmother Spirit except through me. If you know me, you will know my Grandmother also. From now on you do know her and have seen her.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us this Grandmother Spirit, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen my Grandma. How can you say, ‘Show us this Grandmother Spirit’? Do you not believe that I am here because of my Mamaw and my Mamaw is here inside me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but my Grammy, my Mimi, my Oma, my Nana who dwells in me does her works. Believe me that I am in this Grandmother Spirit and She is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.
“Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Grandmother Spirit. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Grandmother may be glorified in her Grandchild. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”
Being created in the image and likeness of God, humanity is an extension of the Divine; we are God-bearers but only in part. Just as an arm is an extension of the body, a thought is an extension of the mind, a rainbow is an extension of water and light, an apple is an extension of an apple tree, a student is an extension of a teacher, an apprentice is an extension of a master craftsperson. Just as a grandchild is a precious extension of a grandparent; the younger learning is an extension of the elder wisdom.
We can come to know God as grandmother through the way, the life, and the truth of Jesus. And I say grandmother not only because it’s Mother’s Day but for too long we have denied ourselves the power of the divine feminine. It’s not a stretch to see in Jesus the image of a grandmother who believes in you every step of the way, who would do anything for you; who has your back, in whose house there are many rooms, who will take you in and make room for you; whose love for you is fierce and unconditional.
Images of God are powerful. They can empower us to grow beyond ourselves, and they can maintain the status quo. They can inspire big and small actions of great impact and courage, and they can shrink the human heart and imagination. They can instigate peace and justice, war and Armageddon. I sometimes wonder that in our effort in the UCC to be inclusive in our language about God, we sometimes do a disservice when we remove gender references.
In God’s house there are many rooms—room for a Father and a Mother, room for Grandmother and Grandfather, room for every name and no name, every gender, transgender, gender fluid and no gender. Perhaps most importantly there is room for not just Child but children, every child—that in the face of God each of us sees not only ourselves but every person, all the diversity of humankind, that we see ourselves and everyone just as we are and who we all could become.
For we who call Jesus brother, he is the way, the truth and the life, to come to know that we are accepted just as we are, and through that unconditional acceptance, are set free to become something more of who we are. Jesus is the clearest likeness of what it means to be a God-bearer, the thinnest veil between us and who or what God is. Which means the closer we come to following Jesus, the smaller the gap between our humanity and our divinity, the smaller the gap between anyone’s humanity and their divinity, between human love and God’s love, until there is no gap, no distance. Only love. And love is love is love is love.
Happy Mother’s Day. Amen.
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
May 14, 2017
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| My grandmother's house. Hattiesburg, MS |
My grandmother, Mama Georgia, lived to be 99 years old. She had six children, the youngest of which is my mother, 21 grandchildren, 31 great-grandchildren, and 1 great-great-grandchild. Whenever there was a family reunion, the house was busting with people. One Thanksgiving we put a long row of newspapers on the floor and about 15 kids ate there. When my mother wanted to attend Boston University, my grandparents sold a parcel of their small residential property to fund my mother’s education. Mama Georgia was there for my mom when she was a young mother with two small children and an alcoholic husband. A few times we stayed with her in Mississippi or she would come all the way to Massachusetts. She converted part of her house into a small upstairs apartment for a young adult grandchild who needed help. I know she prayed for each of us every day. My grandmother would’ve done anything for any of us grandchildren.
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| St. Anne and Mary |
More than likely, Jesus would have known both of his grandmothers. Though nothing of Mary’s parents is written in the New Testament or in the Qur’an, St. Anne or Hannah in Arabic is revered as the mother of Mary in Catholic and Orthodox traditions and in Islam.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Grandmother’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.
“And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Grandmother Spirit except through me. If you know me, you will know my Grandmother also. From now on you do know her and have seen her.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us this Grandmother Spirit, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen my Grandma. How can you say, ‘Show us this Grandmother Spirit’? Do you not believe that I am here because of my Mamaw and my Mamaw is here inside me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but my Grammy, my Mimi, my Oma, my Nana who dwells in me does her works. Believe me that I am in this Grandmother Spirit and She is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.
“Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Grandmother Spirit. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Grandmother may be glorified in her Grandchild. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”
We can come to know God as grandmother through the way, the life, and the truth of Jesus. And I say grandmother not only because it’s Mother’s Day but for too long we have denied ourselves the power of the divine feminine. It’s not a stretch to see in Jesus the image of a grandmother who believes in you every step of the way, who would do anything for you; who has your back, in whose house there are many rooms, who will take you in and make room for you; whose love for you is fierce and unconditional.
Images of God are powerful. They can empower us to grow beyond ourselves, and they can maintain the status quo. They can inspire big and small actions of great impact and courage, and they can shrink the human heart and imagination. They can instigate peace and justice, war and Armageddon. I sometimes wonder that in our effort in the UCC to be inclusive in our language about God, we sometimes do a disservice when we remove gender references.
For we who call Jesus brother, he is the way, the truth and the life, to come to know that we are accepted just as we are, and through that unconditional acceptance, are set free to become something more of who we are. Jesus is the clearest likeness of what it means to be a God-bearer, the thinnest veil between us and who or what God is. Which means the closer we come to following Jesus, the smaller the gap between our humanity and our divinity, the smaller the gap between anyone’s humanity and their divinity, between human love and God’s love, until there is no gap, no distance. Only love. And love is love is love is love.
Happy Mother’s Day. Amen.
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