“A Mother’s Compassion”
Introduction
- As good as fried chicken is, believe it or not, there is a way to bake chicken that makes it taste even better.
* That’s not a lie. And this is coming from someone trained in the culinary arts.
* Now, I know you think I’m lying but it’s true. My mom’s Baked Chicken is better than fried.
- Story
* Dad needed to lose a few pounds so Mom stopped frying chicken.
- Which was a shame because it was really good.
* Anyway, Mom switched to baking chickens.
- The first few weren’t really good. Edible but nothing to write home about.
* Then, she got it locked it.
- Finger licking good baked chicken, I’m not kidding.
- Moms know exactly what to provide and adjust as the situation warrants.
- Bridge to God – God provides.
Genesis
- Obviously, beginnings are important.
- What we find at the beginning of Genesis is a systematic accounting of how God created the universe.
* But, right at the outset, it begs the question, WHY?
* WHY did God create?
- We can’t answer that fully but we can definitely see that creation is linked with us.
- We are created.
- But, beyond that, ALL OF THIS was created for us.
- The story in Genesis goes from creation to delegation.
* That’s right, look closely at Genesis one and you’ll find that the whole introductory
narrative ends with God granting us stewardship over all creation.
* All of the things necessary for robust survival are here on Earth.
* Now, imagine, they might not have been.
- God provides us through the Earth with everything we need
* Food
* Shelter
* Medicines are manufactured from the stuff of this earth that we now can create.
* Each other
- This isn’t a solitary existence.
- We NEED other people to both survive and to thrive.
Ron’s Mom
- My friend Ron – UBER genius
- Kind of eccentric but not in a terrible way, it just took a little to get used to his candid honesty.
* The dude just tells no lies. It’s part of his way. He’s not being mean; he just doesn’t understand like human conventions.
- Anyway, Ron’s Mom knew what he was like.
* She met a girl through and just knew, this was the one for Ron
* Problem -Ron didn’t want a girlfriend.
- My understanding is that Ron’s Mom spent years arranging for the two to be together at events and such.
- It eventually “took”.
- They’ve been married a decade now and have kids younger than ours.
* He started even later with family than I did.
- God knows we need people.
* Genesis 2:18 – “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’”
* God knew right at the beginning we needed others.
- Makes sense.
- God is social, triune, three persons, one God.
- So, God gave us families.
* These are blessings.
- God in Christ also provided us with our church families.
* Jesus, drawing together a band of followers, sent them on a mission, to convert the world to faith in the Lord.
- That mission is still ongoing; we are a part of it.
- And to that end, we get this wonderful family of faith which provides for us so richly when times are difficult.
Forgiveness
- What we need the most.
- Green disc story.
* Lost a friend who had just moved away.
* A cat we’d tried to adopt was causing me too many asthma problems and we’d just had to give it away.
* Mom knew my heart was hurting and she didn’t drop the hammer.
- She knew what I needed most to turn around wasn’t condemnation, it was forgiveness.
- Sound familiar?
* Romans 5:8 - “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
* Jesus died on the cross to ensure salvation for us.
- The penalty of sin is gone.
- By the waters of your baptism, you are REALLY FORGIVEN!
* That means that your life isn’t just a collection of mistakes and errors, it is instead a blessed, abundant life.
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