Mother Courage and Her Children

Emily Schaming
October 23, 2005
Ottawa Mennonite Church

www.ottawamennonite.ca

Courage comes in many forms. According to Erma Bombeck, "All of us have moments in our lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with a white carpet is one of them." When we think of courage, we often think of grandiose acts of bravery. But life is filled with small acts of courage. It can be a powerful act of courage to admit we are wrong, to pick up the telephone, sometimes it takes courage just to get out of bed in the morning.

The title of my sermon today is the same as the title of a Bertholt Brecht play, Mother Courage and Her Children. The title is really where the similarities end. In Brecht's play Courage is an ironic character who profits from a war that is hurting her people. The Courage about whom I am speaking is the courage that comes to us when we put our trust in God, our parent and the source of our courage. In Brecht's play the children of Courage are named Kattrin, Eilif and Swiss Cheese. The children of the Courage that comes from trusting in God are named Humility, Gratitude and Love.

Humility: The First Child of Courage

Humility takes more than a little courage, at least I know it does for me! It's not easy to truly forgive someone, or to admit that we were wrong and apologize. It is not easy to have so much compassion for other people that we put their needs ahead of our own. It is not easy to admit that we are weak and need God's help.

Someone once told me the story of a a couple who had been married for 15 years and began having more than usual disagreements. They wanted to make their marriage work and agreed on an idea the wife had. For one month they planned to drop a slip in a "Fault" box. The boxes would provide a place to let the other know about daily irritations. The wife was diligent in her efforts and approach: "leaving the jelly top off the jar," "wet towels on the shower floor," "dirty socks not in hamper," on and on until the end of the month. After dinner, at the end of the month, they exchanged boxes. The husband reflected on what he had done wrong. Then the wife opened her box and began reading. They were all the same, the message on each slip was, "I love you!"

No matter what our transgressions God continues to love us. It is not easy for us to treat others the way that God treats us. Forgiveness takes courage and humility, but so often those we must forgive are those who need our love the most, so it is worth the effort.

In a university study, ten students were placed in a room. Three lines of varying length were drawn on a card. The students were told to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the longest line. But nine of the students had been instructed beforehand to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the second longest line. The remaining student was unaware of this. The usual reaction of the uninformed student was to put his hand up, look around, and realizing he was all alone, pull it back down. This happened 75% of the time, with students from grade school through high school. The researchers concluded that many would rather be president than right.

Does this mean that only 25% of us have enough courage to stand up for something we believe? I don't think so. I think 100% of us can have the courage to back up our convictions if we don't try to act alone.

There is an expression that I have often heard that goes something like, 'God doesn't give us any burden so heavy that we cannot bear it.' I disagree. I think we often have burdens much too heavy to bear alone. If we try to live without God's presence and without the love of our neighbour, we can become overburdened by our problems. Love is not a one-way street, it is impossible to give love without receiving it on some level. The letter to the Thessalonians that we heard this morning says "we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition." The first step in this declaration was courage, the declaration of the gospel alone was perilous in those times. But one small act of courage led to more than Paul had anticipated, he got to know the Thessalonians and he says, So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us. The initial courage it took for Paul and the others to spread the good news of love led very naturally to caring for their neighbours.

If it takes courage to say, "I know I'm right", how much more courage does it take to stand up for our friends? We don't think of love as something that takes courage. But deciding to love yourself and your neighbour and God above all else demands a great deal of us. Deciding to act out of love and compassion on behalf of other people can be hard. Sometimes we are forced to stand up against strong opposition in order to do what God asks of us.

As Archbishop Oscar Romero wrote: "To each one of us Christ is saying, 'If you want your life and mission to be fruitful like mine, do like me. Be converted into a seed that lets itself be buried. Let yourself be killed. Do not be afraid. Those who shun suffering will remain alone. No one is more alone than the selfish. But if you give your life out of love for others, as I give mine for all, you will reap a great harvest. You will have the deepest satisfactions. Do not fear death or threats. The Lord goes with you.'"

Acting with humility, realizing that we are only as strong as our trust in God, we find within ourselves reserves of courage we never knew we had. We find the courage to forgive transgressions, the courage to risk the displeasure of our peers, the courage to act out on behalf of others, the courage to love.

Gratitude: The Second Child

When we dare to do God's will we may experience hardship. But one of the children of Courage is also gratitude.

David, a 2-year old with leukemia, was taken by him mother, Deborah, to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, to see Dr. John Truman who specializes in treating children with cancer and various blood diseases. There were countless clinic visits, blood tests, and intra-venous drugs. David never cried in the waiting room, and although his friends in the clinic had to hurt him and stick needles in him, he hustled in ahead of his mother with a smile, sure of the welcome he always got. When he was three, David had to have a spinal tap--a painful procedure at any age. It was explained to him that, because he was sick, Dr. Truman had to do something to make him better. "If it hurts, remember it's because he loves you," his mother said. The procedure was difficult. It took three nurses to hold David still, while he cried and struggled. When it was almost over, the tiny boy looked up at the doctor and said, "Thank you, Dr. Truman, for my hurting."

It takes courage to say thank you. To trust that no matter how much we hurt, we are loved and still capable of loving. When we give thanks in all things our lives become easier and happier. Whining doesn't take courage, but taking action does.

Love: The Favourite Child

Loving without conditions takes a lot of courage. It is difficult love ourselves conditionally and others unconditionally. It is not easy to say, I love myself. Not after I lose 20 pounds, not after I get into the school I want to go to, not after I get a pay raise, but the way I am right now. This is what we hear in the gospel reading. Jesus tells the Pharisees that the greatest commandment is to love God with heart, mind and soul. And then he tells them the second greatest is like it. Loving oneself and loving one's neighbour is like loving God. As Dorothy Day put it, ""I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least."

It takes courage to love without hoping to profit from it in some way. Most of us want something in return for our love, if only acknowlegement. But God asks of us the kind of love that has no guarantees. We are to have courage in God's love even if we have no idea what the result will be. Perhaps our next step will be over the edge of a cliff, perhaps our foot will hit solid ground. God simply requires of us the courage to take the step and gives us the assurance that we aren't walking alone.

The Old Testament lesson from Leviticus that was presented this morning by Chapter and Verse states, " you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the LORD. You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself."

After seeing the stage play of the Sound of Music over Thanksgiving I felt it was time to re-read the biography of Maria Augusta Trapp, whose story inspired the musical. The Trapps a family of great faith and courage who had an unfailing love for one another and desire to do the will of God. The father of the family, Baron von Trapp had been offered a commission in Hitler's navy. The eldest son, Rupert, was a doctor who had also been offered a position in the Third Reich. Neither had yet responded to these commissions when a third offer was made, this time to the whole family. They were requested to sing as representatives of Austria at Adolph Hitler's birthday party. Maria writes of her husband's response to his gathered children. "This will be the third time we say no to a distinguished offer on the part of the Nazis. Children," and their father's voice didn't sound like his everyday one, "children, we have the choice now: do we want to keep the material goods we still have: this our home with the ancient furniture, our friends and all the things we are fond of? - then we shall have to give up the spiritual goods: our faith and our honor. We can't have both any more. We could all make a lot of money now, but I doubt very much whether it would make us happy. I'd rather see you poor but honest. If we choose this, then we have to leave. Do you agree? As one voice came the answer: "Yes, Father."

…We all felt that herewith we were beginning a new chapter of our life, to which their father seemed to give the outline when he said at the end: "We now have the precious opportunity to find out for ourselves whether the words we have heard and read so often can be taken literally: 'Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His justice: and all these things shall be added unto you."

Loving God means having the strength to not only avoid working for selfish ends, but sometimes means turning our backs to opportunities that most of the world sees as too good to be true. The courage to love God first and to love our neighbours was truly displayed by this family when they gave up everything they had in order to follow God's will.

Although some among us have had to leave everything to preserve our faith, it is not something that will be asked of all of us. However, we are required to remember in all situations to love God first and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. This takes great courage, but the result is worthwhile. Mother Courage has many children, defiance, humility, forgiveness, compassion, gratitude and, most of all, love.

Philosopher Voltaire said, "Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare the truth thou hast, that all may share; be bold, proclaim it everywhere. They only live who dare."