This Sunday is Mother’s Day. So I want to take this opportunity to say Happy Mother’s Day to Mothers everywhere and all those who serve in maternal roles.

         It’s no secret that I am a Mama’s boy. That stems from the fact that I was truly blessed to have (in my humble opinion,) one of the greatest Mom’s that ever lived, James Ella Reid Finney. Since my Mom was the greatest expression of God that I’ve ever known in person, perhaps that made it very easy for me to envision God in diverse images other than male images. So think of how easy it is for me to grasp the concept that “God is like a Mother.” Of course, if you’ve read the book “The Shack,” then you know that God is a black woman! If you want to know what God looks like in that form, there’s a picture of ‘Her’ on my office wall at the Church! J

            All kidding aside, the Scriptures have always included wonderfully diverse images of Gods. The problem is that, over the years, those have not been brought to our attention or we’ve not taken the time noticed them. For example, in the Old Testament book of Proverbs God is portrayed as wisdom and here are a couple of its statements about wisdom: (7:4) “Say to Wisdom, you are my sister …,”(9:1) “Wisdom has built ‘Her’ house ….” (Bold added)  In the New Testament there is a wonderful image that Jesus uses of God as a Mother Hen. Matthew 23:27, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, … How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, ….”

            These are but a couple examples of the diversity of images of God that we find in the scriptures. For time and space sakes and it being Mother’s Day Weekend, I’ve limited my examples and images of a diverse God to the feminine; but I think you get the point. Our relationship with God and our faith journey is made much richer when we are able to see God in all of the diverse images that God is portrayed in the scriptures.

            So join us in worship this Sunday at Covenant as we celebrate Mother’s Day with the image of “God is like a Mother,” which is my sermon title. If your Mom lives in the area we invite you to bring her with you. The scripture text for my sermon is “Isaiah 49:13-16a” and“Matthew 20:20-24.”