Welcome to Cross and Crown Lutheran Church.

---

I want to wish all of you a blessed Mother’s Day. Some of us miss our mothers, some of us miss our children, some of us mourn on Mother’s Day because we did not have a good relationship with our mother, or we did not have children as we thought we would. For some people, Mother’s Day is very complicated and filled with mixed emotions. However you come to Mother’s Day, I want to reassure you that you are always welcome at Cross and Crown. 

There are things a pastor can do and cannot do. What I want to do, but cannot, is take away from you any of the pain or heartache you have gone through, including any pain surrounding Mother’s Day. Because I care about you, I wish I could snap my fingers and make you always happy, healing any broken relationships or a broken heart. Of course, that is not within my control. 

But what I can do, and what gives me great joy, is to proclaim to you that your truest Mother is your God. Even though we exist within a patriarchal religion, we believe that God goes beyond all limitations, including the limitations of gender. So while it is more historical to refer to God as Father, the fact remains that God could just as easily be approached as Mother. Your mothering God loves you. Your mothering God thought you up and loved you into existence. Your mothering God loves you unconditionally, meaning beyond all conditions that you might ever go through in life. Your mothering God has promised to always walk alongside you, eternally cheer you on, and never abandon or forget you. You are safe in your Mother’s arms, and this same God will reunite you with your loved ones some day and wipe every tear from your eye. May you rest and find healing in that knowledge. 

You are truly, deeply, and forever loved. 

God‘s peace, 

Pastor Stephanie