Motherhood as Temple
Motherhood as Temple
The beautiful and divine mystery of woman.
Who was the first temple of Christ?
Welcome to The Light of Christ weekly podcast. Light of Christ Anglican Church is located in Georgetown, Texas at MLK and University Avenue. We are a modern expression of the ancient faith. You can learn more about us at lightofchristgeorgetown.org.
Last Sunday was Mother's Day and I am thankful for mothers. On today's podcast, we have the sermon from Evening Prayer on what motherhood teaches us about being temples of God.
Temples, that's the theme of the Gospel that we read this morning and is the theme that we see here in First Peter chapter two. Peter the apostle tells us that we are living stones being built together to be a house for God. We know from what Paul says that this does not only include us corporately but this idea of temple includes us personally. Our bodies are temples of the image of God. Our bodies are temples of Christ. This is an appropriate topic for Mother's Day. Who was the first temple of Christ? Was it not the blessed Virgin Mary, a young lady who in that moment when the angel came to her with the message of the Lord, of God's love for her, "Blessed are you among women." She said yes to God's love.
And in her, Christ was conceived. Christ dwelt in her. She was the first temple. She was the first Christian. You see, women can do something men cannot. And it's a beautiful, beautiful mystery that they join in the very act of creation, the act of creating, not just anything, but creating a person within them. Think about that. An image of God, a little tiny itsy bitsy, little image of God inside of the woman is created and she co-works with God in this creation of an image of God within her. And in this, in her body, she is a temple of the image of God, bringing a life into the world and each and every one of us. (Whether our biological mothers were involved in our life or not is one question) but we all do owe our life to a mom. We owe our lives to this incredible mystery of the female body.
Now, not all women have physical children, but all women are called to be mothers. Let me explain. Some women are called to celibacy as their vocation, called to live out their life single for the purposes of God. Mother Theresa is an example of this. Some women are past the age of childbearing. Others never find a husband and others have the great struggle and heavy burden of infertility. Yet motherhood is a much larger thing than just having physical kids. Mother Theresa reminds us that spiritual motherhood is no less real and no less powerful than physical motherhood. All women are called to this beauty that we see in Mary, called to be a temple. And I encourage you mothers out there, spiritual mothers and physical mothers, women who are growing into their spiritual or physical motherhood, to embrace this, that your body is a temple of Christ, a sacred space, and God has called you and invites you to say yes to his love, to let Christ reside in you so that you can bring life to those around you, to your world. Let us thank God for our physical and spiritual mothers.
Thank you for listening to the Light of Christ weekly podcast. Let us end our time together with a prayer from The Book of Common Prayer.
"Oh God, you have taken to yourself the blessed Virgin Mary, mother of your incarnate son. Grant that we who have been redeemed by his blood may share with her the glory of your eternal kingdom. Through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit. One God now and forever. Amen."
