LIBERATION LECTIONARY ~ Mother’s Day

Rest in the Resurrection

“How do you pick yourself back up again? Confidently. Deliberately. Decisively. Without Shame.
You forgive yourself in full. You believe in your ability to break cycles that used to hold you hostage. You remember that your mistakes will never define you.” -Michell C. Clark

Daily Readings

Through the next few weeks, our weekday reflections will be on the power of the Resurrection as taught in the book of Colossians. Sunday readings will reflect the honoring of Resurrection Day as a day of worship and praise. In the Christian tradition, we meet as congregations on the first day of the week because Jesus came back to life on the first day of the week. So during Resurrection Season, Sundays hold remembrance for this sacred return.

Sunday: Psalm 118.24-26 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Deliver us, we ask you, O Lord! O Lord, we pray you, give us great success! Blessed is she who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless all the congregation, from the house of the Lord.

Monday: Colossians 2.6-7 As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so live in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
Tuesday: Colossians 2.8-12 See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness of life in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ; and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Wednesday: Colossians 2.13-14 And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Thursday: Colossians 2.15 He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him.
Friday: Colossians 2.16-19 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

Saturday: Colossians 2.20-23 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things which all perish as they are used), according to human precepts and doctrines? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting rigor of devotion and self-abasement and severity to the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh.

Reflection - Going Home

Many churches in the United States repeat traditional elements for the season of lent and the resurrection celebration, for the purpose of making certain hymns and sayings familiar, to “catechize” the heart and mind as some traditions call it. Folks who know many churches long standing affection for Fanny Crosby hymns might remember the song “Near the Cross”, written by Ms. Crosby. In contemporary Black church tradition, the version performed by the Mississippi Mass Choir might be more familiar. The lyrics are from Ms. Crosby, and the message of the music is the same; Rest. For church people, memories evoked by this song seem age old - and sometimes boring - when you grew up singing it and sometimes didn’t have faithful, attentive discipleship from people who interpreted church traditions into relevant realities.

But to read the lyrics as a meditation and a prayer, or perhaps to hear them harmonized and expanded by hundreds of voices, might be both a welcome and a reminder. Good news for newcomers to the cross and the Resurrection: you are invited to a home of rest that you’ve never heard of, never been to. Good news for the long-timers: you can still find rest in the place you were sure you’d forgotten. The simple message is that we can find rest in the work of Jesus. Now of course the hard part is learning to rest in that message. It certainly takes a lifetime of practice. Some might call it a journey. 

In the days after the first Resurrection Day, Jesus’s disciples and friends and family were not able to comprehend how strikingly different their lives would be. I wonder if they were similar to people who mourn the loss of a loved one by staying near their bedside, sitting in their room, holding close to a sacred or sentimental belonging. For the people who loved Jesus then, and for those of us who love Jesus now, the cross is an altar piece. It’s the central symbol on a table of ancestral presence and memory. For people remembering loved ones lost in a place of pain, it can still be hard to leave that place, because it is the last place graced with the loved ones life.

Today is Mother’s Day for many. A painful remembrance of loss for those whose mothers were taken too soon, or were not faithfully present. A day of celebration for new mamas, for sisters, aunties, siblings and niblings who have mothered so many of God’s babies in so many ways. And today is a prayer: for recognition of those who have done mothering so faithfully. For comfort for those who are on the road to healing. For rest - for everyone who needs a return, a homecoming. Mother’s Day is a prayer for life and nearness. It’s a prayer for presence in a place where acceptance and rest are the cornerstones of the home we’re building. Jesus’s work through his ministry, miracles, teachings, execution on the cross, and defeating death - these are the foundations of home we want to return to. Not a home that is built at the cross, but one that is built beyond the empty tomb. Oh we will still have our altars, no doubt. We carry our lost loved ones with us. We carry the lessons we’ve learned from all that our failed relationships have lacked. Altar pieces like the crosses of old - we want to stay near to them. 

But rest is for the ransomed soul, the heart that is free from the power of life’s pain, and liberated into the power of life's journey. Rest is the reward for everyone who has stood near a cross in life. Near to the cross of cancer. Near to the cross of miscarriage. Near to the cross of bullying; of blame, ego, denial. No cross but Christ’s can cast out the many deaths you may have suffered in this life. And that is why so many of us desire to hold His cross so close. See, Jesus’s work on the cross took you off of the cross. It names the suffering of Black ancestors as a history we need never forget. It challenges empires that presume they control life’s value. Jesus’s work seats humanity in the center of God’s altar. For while we place remembrances of loved ones lost, God’s Spirit sees no soul as dead. So every piece on God’s altar represents a living breathing being, full of the power that Jesus has afforded them by replacing them in the throes of death. This is the story of rest available to you in the person of Jesus.  No failure can crush you, no misdeed can destroy you, no loss can limit your access to God’s love and dignity. 

Maybe Jesus got up so that you could lie down without guilt. Jesus rose from the dead so that we would no longer obsess over all of the ways that life can kill us. Jesus has shown us that even a place of strife and injustice cannot diminish or hinder the journey to rest. We have the capacity to heal not only in spite of our hurts, but pressing through them. We can refuse to be renamed by the harm being caused even as it is happening. This is because we have a Savior who mothers us by taking our place in the path of the harm. A Savior who mothers us by resetting the scenes of our hurt so that we walk away with healing. This is the Savior we want to cling to, the Savior we want to keep near. 

Music

Listen to a performance by Mississippi Mass Choir. “Near the Cross” and notice the emphasis on rest that dominates the last half of the song. This spiritual, artistic extension of soul soothing, body moving Black gospel is central to the experience of traditional Resurrection seasons for many people who know this song. We celebrate liberty from sin and Jesus’s power over the grave. But more than anything, we celebrate freedom from the fatigue of trying to be our own saviors.

Listen to the Resurrection Playlist:

YouTube Video Playlist

Apple Music Playlist

Prayer & Meditation

Dear Lord, our Mother and our Savior, help us to journey home for healing. Show us the way of rest in the power of your resurrection. Let us return to ourselves renewed, and find your grace at every twist and turn of the journey, so that we might rest in your glory.  Amen.

Jesus, keep me near the cross, There a precious fountain; Free to all, a healing stream, Flows from Calv'ry's mountain. Near the cross, a trembling soul, Love and mercy found me; There the Bright and Morning Star Shed His beams around me. Near the cross, near the cross, be my glory ever. Til my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. - Fannie Crosby

“The journey home requires you to place yourself on your list of priorities. Some of you may have been raised to believe this is selfish. African American Christians are often given cultural and religious messages that say we need to put others first. Some people will say it is sinful and not Christlike to make your wellness a priority. While African Americans have historically been denied the space to heal, breathe and simply be, it is important that we honor ourselves with the truth that our lives, health wellness and rest matter. This message applies to other marginalized groups as well. If you too are part of a faith community, I invite you to consider that observing the sabbath, or resting while reflecting on the sacred, is a spiritual practice that is just as important as service.” Dr. Thema Bryant, Homecoming

Near the cross! O lamb of God, Bring its scenes before me; Help me walk from day to day With its shadow o'er me. Near the cross! I'll watch and wait, Hoping, trusting ever; Till I reach the golden strand, Just beyond the river. Near the cross, near the cross, be my glory ever. Til my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. - Fannie Crosby

“Jesus demonstrated the importance of taking time to rest and pray. He would teach and heal and then his disciples would wonder where he went. He would go away for restoration, so that when he was present, he could really be present. Scripture even teaches that our bodies are temples. Most faith traditions take the position that our bodies are sacred. What an important lesson for those of us who constantly try to pour into the lives of others, even when our pitcher is empty. Loving and caring for yourself can be a spiritual value.”

Dr. Thema Bryant, Homecoming