D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
May 2010
Mother's Day Wisdom — Country Style
One memorable Mother's Day sermon.
By Michelle Detterick
As the lilacs come into their glory and the fruit trees leaf out, right around the corner, coming up on us like a gust of our spring winds is Mother's Day. NASCAR knows better than to race on it. Humorous, sentimental, musical and religious greeting cards and "Flowers 4 U" keep it on our minds. Husbands had better not treat their wives as one, but heaven help the man who doesn't honor the mother of his children — no matter what their ages are, from infants to those whose children are now getting senior citizens' discounts.
Come May 9, 2010, all mothers are "Queen for a Day." No dishes, no cooking, no cleaning of any kind. It makes all mothers feel great — that is, until Monday morning and every dish in the cupboard is now in the dishwasher with the overflow in the sink.
Churches celebrate Mother's Day in a variety of ways: giving all moms a carnation, a bookmark or a pamphlet on "How to Raise Your Kids or at Least Keep Them Quiet During Church." Some churches give special prizes to mothers in a variety of categories: the oldest and youngest mother in attendance; the mother with most children; the mother whose child has traveled the greatest distance to be with mom on Mother's Day; and so forth. Most of the sermons will pay tribute to Motherhood along the same lines as Honest Abe Lincoln: "All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." Or the words of truth-be-told George Washington, "All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her." Those two really set the bar up a notch or two on how to do Proverbs 31: "Her children shall arise and call her blessed; her husband also shall praise her." I always figured that the kids arise and call her blessed about the time that they begin the 24/7 with kids of their own or they hit the big 3-0.
The wisest preacher I ever heard talk on Mother's Day was speaking to about 100 folks out in the country, where air conditioning in the "church" meant bulletins and paper fans moving at the speed of a buzzing bee. Brother Williams had a lot of learnin' from the Good Book, but what set him apart as a preacher was his common sense. The third year of his being the shepherd of the Sunnydale Church of the Redeemed, he realized that on Mother's Day the percentage of men in church increased dramatically — especially among those families where on all but three Sundays of the year the man sent the wife and kids to church without him. These men enjoyed a bit of peace and quiet at home and might mow the lawn, wash their truck, tinker in their workroom, or actually read the Sunday paper. But on Mother's Day, they were sitting tall right by their wives as far back in the church as they could, the last pew available upon their arrival.
I could tell from the twinkle in Brother Williams' eye and his impatience to get to the sermon — only two verses were sung from each hymn, the offering was taken while the pianist played "When the Saints Go Marchin' in," and the Mother awards were handed out rather quickly, without much ado — that he had cooked up something.
Brother Williams began his sermon with an all-inclusive statement, saying, "Thiz here sermon is fer you all, iffen you are a child, or a momma, or a daddy or iffen you ever been one." Brother Williams got our attention with that opening, because we thought preachers had to give tributes to motherhood on Mother's Day. Lots of folks talk with their hands, but when Brother Williams went to preaching he used his whole body and the full extent of the volume of his voice.
The children in church that day were pleasantly surprised as Brother Williams encouraged them to come to Jesus early in life, to obey their parents, and to keep their feet off the padded pews. The Ladies Society really appreciated that last admonishment, as they had sewed up the cushions themselves. Then, to their surprise, we were each given a Tootsie Roll Pop. Brother Williams knew that we always saw who could keep a lollipop the longest — and the covers on the cushions were in need of a good washing, anyway.
The womenfolk were pleased when Brother Williams read from I Peter 3:1: "Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives." Then he just let that stand pretty much on its own, not diving into the submission thing. Brother Williams did admonish the women of his flock to "serve yore Sunday dinners with kindness and joy and not a rehashin' of my sermon and you will surely reap a mighty reward."
Brother Williams was known for getting more wound up the longer he preached, and we all knew he had a good half-hour of preaching left in him. We also realized that he had only the menfolk to give a talking to. The men were squirming, not only from the tautness of their ties, but the realization that Brother Williams was aiming at them because he didn't usually have them in his sight. He was taking advantage of the "there to keep the peace" part of his congregation.
Brother Williams acknowledged that he realized that we all would like to get to the Dew Drop Inn plenty early and definitely before the Methodists, but he wasn't promising anything. His first pick on the fathers that Sunday was they didn't need to treat their children like their fathers had treated them, unless they had been fortunate enough to have a godly father. Brother Williams shot with a straight arrow and told the men that they should be bringing their boys to church every Sunday morning and not tempting them to play sick so after Momma left they could get well and go fishing with Daddy. Brother Williams reminded the fathers that Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me" and "I will make you fishers of men." He went on to remind the fathers that the fishing is better in the early evening anyway than during the middle of the day, and if your kids don't catch anything they can at least enjoy the fireflies.
Brother Williams wasn't done with the fathers yet. He admonished them by reading from the Good Book: "Fathers, do not exasperate your children but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." Big smiles broke out on the faces of all the children in church that morning.
Brother Williams went on to his next point, not being one to pussyfoot around an issue. He said, "Now husbands, we — " He never dished out something he wouldn't swallow himself. " — we are to love our wives as we love ourselves." Then he read just three verses from Ephesians 5 and 6:
"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
"Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy.
"Finally" — and the men all hoped it was Brother Williams' "finally," too — "be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power."
After Brother Williams let that point sink in, things lightened up as the youngest child in each family went forward to receive each mother's carnation. Brother Williams had begun that tradition after seeing how bedraggled a carnation gets after being passed around through many little hands during his first Mother's Day sermon in Sunnydale.
As I said, it was his common sense that set him apart. Noticing that the Methodists were already eating their pie when we walked into the Dew Drop Inn, Brother Williams ordered his piece of chocolate cream pie first and then his chicken fried steak. Wisdom told me to follow suit.
Michelle Detterick is a lifelong resident of Silver City with some Southern roots. She and her husband Bob have two adult children and two grandchildren: "When Diana was six and Mark four years old, they heard about the custom of serving Mom breakfast in bed. I awoke to two pieces of dry toast on my shoulder, Mark holding a large very full glass of milk, and two excited kids singing 'Happy Mudders Day to You.' Sweet, but Im a coffee first and then wake up type of morning person."