Pentecost 7 Sermon: Safe in Mother’s Arms

Preached on Isaiah 66:10-14
The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost — Proper 9C
3 July AD 2016

Title: Safe in Mother’s Arms (MP3 Audio)

Summary: While awaiting the fulfillment of the new Jerusalem, we still live in Christ’s Church, the Jerusalem of faith. She is the mother who wraps herself around us — holding, comforting, and consoling. She bore us in the womb of the font and gathers us to her breast to hear God’s forgiving Word and to feed on Jesus’ body and blood.

As long as we live, we’ll never outgrow our need to nurse upon her pure spiritual milk, to rest in the lap of Christian worship. We must continue having our soiled garments cleansed, our hunger fed, our thirst slaked, and our fears calmed.

Whether held tightly to the Church’s breast or dandled joyfully on her lap, we receive the nurture we need throughout all our earthly days.

Text: “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance.”

For thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees.

“As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants, and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.” Isaiah 66:10-14

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Safe in Mother’s Arms.

Illustrations: Detail of Maternity by Pablo Picasso (1905) and Mary Cassatt’s Mother Berthe Holding Her Baby (1900).

NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 66:1-7; Galatians 6:1-10, 14-18; Luke 10:1-20