Storyshare

Contents
What's Up This Week
A Story to Live By: "Comfort from Heaven"
Shining Moments: "Lambasting God" by Maria Seifert
Sermon Starter: "Mothering from Heaven"
Scrap Pile: "Mothering God" by John Sumwalt


What's Up This Week

"I see dead people" is a line from a popular movie and not a quote from scripture, though it well could have been. Luke writes in our text from Acts this week that "after his suffering he [Jesus] presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs." Despite this clear witness, and many other such accounts in the Bible, there is much doubt today that this is possible for anyone except Jesus. The general consensus is that it might have happened back then because Jesus was divine but that has little to do with our lives now. There are, of course, still many "convincing proofs" for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. Check out Maria Seifert's touching witness in Shining Moments and the remarkable true story of a mother in heaven helping to rescue her child from Sobibor death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II in the Sermon Starter.


A Story to Live By

Comfort from Heaven

After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Acts 1:3

James Van Praagh is a medium and a practicing Christian who has helped thousands of people communicate with loved ones in heaven. There was a television movie about his life a few years ago. His books on the topic have been best-sellers, he has appeared on Larry King Live, and the movie The Sixth Sense -- with the memorable line "I see dead people" spoken to the character played by Bruce Willis (who the movie audience does not know is dead) by a boy who has this unwanted gift -- is based in part on Van Praagh's life. He comes to accept the gift in later life and begins to use it to be of service to people who are grieving. Still, when his own mother dies, Van Praagh, like many of us, finds himself bereft and unable to help himself in the way that he brought healing to others:

"I'll never forget that fateful day the rest of my life. I awakened with a strange, unsettling feeling in my stomach. At 12:30 PM, I received a phone call from my sister Lynn. I still can hear her voice shrieking, 'Jamie, Mommy died.' I thought I was prepared for that moment. After all, I knew my mother was ready to die. I prayed constantly that when her time came, the spirit world would ease her pain. Yet when I heard the word 'died,' my reaction was something I never expected. I was in total shock. I managed to say something to my supervisor, who put her arms around me in a comforting gesture. I left the office in a fog and still do not know how I arrived at the Catholic church five blocks away. I lit a candle for Mom and prayed for her peaceful transition. I somehow managed to go home and pack a bag for my trip to New York.

"At this time I had just begun to contact the spirit world on my own. Four months after my mother's death, my new friend and teacher, medium Brian E. Hurst, asked if I wanted to speak with her on the other side. Even though I knew I could never have her back physically, I was extremely encouraged to know that she was alive in another form and comforted by the fact that she was watching over me from heaven.

"Then Brian began to cry. He assured me that he was okay. 'Your mother wants to thank you for praying for her, James. She says it helped a great deal. She wants you to know she is able to walk and talk again. She is very funny... she is telling me that she can't keep her mouth shut!'

"Bingo! How relieved I was to know she was completely whole again, and the same person I knew and loved."

(James Van Praagh, Healing Grief, New American Library, 2000, pp. 41-42)


Shining Moments

Lambasting God
by Maria Seifert

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in time. Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7

My mother, Eva, was born in the backwoods of south Texas in 1934. Her family was very poor and she was the third child of ten. When mom was a little girl, she contracted strep throat, and due to the poverty of the Great Depression, it was left untreated. As a result, Mom suffered significant heart damage and heart problems plagued her all of her life.

At the young age of 65, Mom suffered a stroke, which changed her personality drastically. She went from watching Milwaukee public television and Christian preachers to never missing an episode of Jerry Springer. Mom would actually shush us if we dared to talk before a commercial! She became self-centered, selfish, impatient, full of self-pity and anger, and physically violent. Thankfully my father had quick reflexes, so there was never any real damage done. Simply put, Mom changed to the opposite of the Mom that I knew so well and loved so much. This didn't dampen my love for her, and I continued to support and nurture this new person who became so uncharacteristically dependent on anyone within arm's reach.

One morning Mom's blood pressure became dangerously high, resulting in a hospital stay and a battery of tests. On the evening she was supposed to return home, the doctor requested that she stay just one more night for an additional test that couldn't be administered until the next morning. Mom suffered multiple strokes in her sleep that night and never regained consciousness.

When there was nothing more the hospital could do for her, Mom was moved to a nursing home. I scheduled meetings with the admissions staff to get information and paperwork. I was informed that when my father could no longer afford to pay for Mom's care privately, she would become a Medicaid patient. In order to qualify for Medicaid, pretty much everything but the spouse's home and vehicle would have to be liquidated. My mom was a teacher for 39 years and my father was a longshoreman. They spent years saving their money to live their retirement years comfortably, with a home in the city and their small cottage up north. All of their saving and the fruits of their labor would be for naught. I had to explain this to my father several times, in two languages. I knew it finally registered when I saw insecurity in his eyes during one conversation. I had never seen that look in my father before.

I was so angry that night, it was radiating from my body. No one in the family even dared talk to me. I was blaming no one but God for the whole mess, and I let him have it when I prayed, if you could even call it praying. I started ranting at about 9:00 p.m., and the last time I looked at the clock it was about 1:00 a.m. I lambasted God for not taking my mom to heaven. She had spent her entire life listening to, reading, and living his word, teaching it to children and adults alike. She was humble, generous, selfless, obedient, and above all, she made people happy. Why was she not in heaven? If this was part of his plan, I needed God to know that I thought it really sucked! I also told him that up until that day I was one of his biggest fans. This is actually quite a mild interpretation of my one-way conversation with God that night.

I awoke the next morning with a very heavy heart. My eyes were puffy from crying and my chest hurt from too much raw emotion. The first thought that entered my mind as I sat up in bed was, "Your dad is not ready to let her go yet. Until he is ready, she will stay." I received that message, the first of many that day, from a little voice inside my head that just so happened to speak in the third person. I wondered if it was my ever-present guardian angel passing on a message, since I was sure God didn't want anything to do with me after the previous night. Or may be it was God! I prayed silently and sheepishly, "I'm so very sorry for everything I said last night... and early this morning... for every mean thought I had of you. I take it all back. I don't even feel worthy to receive your message. Thank you for that. Thank you for finding me worthy and for forgiving and loving me. I am sorry I slandered your plan."

I went to work that morning mostly for the distraction. Then the little voice said, "Leave right now and pick up your sister. Get to the nursing home immediately." I went at once. My sister, her children, my father, Tia Emma and Uncle Frank and I were sitting in my mother's unhappy room when a nurse came in to adjust Mom's feeding tube. There was black stuff going through the tube and my sister asked what it was. The nurse said that it was bile; that Mom's body was beginning to shut down little by little, and that she would most likely pass in a day or two. She told us several other things very carefully and thoughtfully before she left. Although I heard my voice come out flat and hard as a rock, I thanked the nurse for explaining things so gently.

I remember half-heartedly doing a word search puzzle. Mom began to struggle for each breath and her entire body shook unnaturally. I couldn't look at her in this state. The body before my eyes was not the mom that I remembered in my heart. Then my little voice said, very clearly and very urgently, "If you are going to say good-bye to your mom, you had better do it now." I jumped out of my chair, startling everyone in the room as the word search book flew out of my hands and hit one of my nieces in the head. I sat next to my mom on her bed and held her warm hand. I kissed her face all over, much the way I kiss my children's faces. My last kiss was planted on Mom's forehead. I told Mom I was going to miss having her in my life so much, and that I would always love her. She took her last breath when I finished my sentence. A warm and overwhelming feeling of peace poured over me like water.

I bowed my head and told God, "You gave me a gift today, and I need you to know that I really, really appreciate it. Your forgiveness knows no bounds. You took the beating that I gave you and gave me back unyielding grace. You gave me a heads-up all day today and then allowed me to say good-bye to my mom. Thank you for loving me unconditionally."

As time goes by, I find that I miss my mom in spurts. One night while rocking my second child to sleep, I found myself missing Mom something awful. On that particular day, I had wanted to call her with two history questions, and I needed baby advice. That night when I went to bed, I asked God to let Mom know that I love her and miss her so much, and that I could really have used one of her hugs that day.

That night, God bestowed yet another gift to me. I dreamed I was coming home from college and walking toward the house where I grew up. I leapt up the slanted stairs in my usual fashion and Mom answered the door, wearing her familiar muumuu and a big smile. She hugged me so hard I felt her heartbeat, and I could smell her scent mixed with the smell of fresh tortillas and beans from the kitchen. When I woke up my eyes were filled with tears of joy.

Maria Seifert is a writer by trade. She was recently pushed by God to share some of her miracles, write about the importance of prayer, and provide humorous, soul-seeking messages through her writing. She has written a children's book titled Ava's Angels and is working on an Ava's Angels series. Maria is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and attends Elm Brook Church. She has been happily married for ten years and has three children.


Sermon Starter

Mothering from Heaven

"And see, I am sending upon you what my father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."
Luke 24:49

"Every night I pay a visit to Sobibor, and then I fall asleep.
It has been happening for 61 years. It will never leave me."
-- Esther Raab

The night before Esther Raab and 300 of her fellow inmates at the Sobibor death camp in Poland mounted a daring escape, her mother came to her in a dream, she says. Like so many European Jews, they had been separated during World War II, not knowing each other's fate.

"I said, tomorrow we are escaping, and she said, 'I know.' And then she took me by the hand, out of the camp, and showed me the barn that she said I should hide in."

The barn was owned by a gentile family that before the war had been friendly with Esther's family. Although the structure was only about a day's hike from the extermination camp, it took the 21-year-old woman two weeks to find and reach it. She and several other escapees could travel only at night, and had to be extremely careful about crossing roads and open areas. Finally in the barn, Esther made a startling discovery.

Her brother, whom she had believed had been shot to death during a Nazi execution of young Jewish men, emerged from a shadowy corner of the building. He had heard her speak a few Yiddish words. The siblings, each thinking the other had died, were incredulous. Esther says the darkness of the night inside the barn made it impossible for her brother to see her face, and he held her hand until the morning light confirmed that it was indeed her.

Esther's brother had been hiding in the barn for nine months. Its owner, a gentleman farmer who lived in a nearby city, regularly brought him bread, milk, and newspapers. She said the man was thrilled to see her -- "he had always liked me" -- and kept them alive for nine and a half more months, until it was safe for them to emerge.

"That man had seven children, and his entire family was in danger if he had been caught helping us," she recently said in a phone interview. "They would have all been killed. The fact that he was not Jewish made such a big impression on me. I respected him twice as much."

(Damien Jaques, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, September 15, 2004, http://www.jsonline.com/onwisconsin/arts/sep04/258779.asp; for more information about Esther Raab's remarkable story, click on http://www.jsonline.com/onwisconsin/arts/sep04/258773.asp)


Scrap Pile

Mothering God
by John Sumwalt

What is God like? This question has been asked by every human being in every age, for as long as there have been men and women walking on the earth. The answer to the question has varied with every person's experience of God. In our Judeo-Christian tradition men have most often said that God is like a benevolent king or a loving father. The first verse of the third hymn printed in our United Methodist hymnal, a long-time favorite in the church, reads:

Come, thou almighty King, help us thy name to sing, help us to praise!
Father all glorious, o'er all victorious, come and reign over us, Ancient of Days!

In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus compares God to a loving father who forgives his undeserving son. When he was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus prayed, "Abba" -- that is, Daddy -- "if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." He addressed God intimately, as a small child would speak to his father. When he taught his disciples to pray, he said say, "Our Father, who art in Heaven." When we recite the Apostle's Creed in worship, we say, "I believe in God the Father almighty." There are so many comparisons and references to God as father in scripture and tradition that we usually think of God as being masculine in gender.

Every one of our scripture passages this morning refer to God as father.

I once asked children whether God is like a father or a mother. The children said that God is a father. My question asked them to make a choice between father and mother, and they gave what is the correct answer in our culture. All of us learn to think of God as Father.

The question I asked at the beginning of the sermon might be a better way of reflecting about the nature of God. Let us simply say, what is God like? Then the possibilities for comparisons and descriptions are limitless. No doubt we would still want to say that God is in many ways like a father. But it also leaves open the possibility of talking about the many other attributes of God.

This may seem of minor importance to those of us for whom the image of God as father poses no problem. But it is a vital concern to children who are raised in a home without a father. How can they identify with God as a heavenly father when they have never known an earthly father? This is even more true of children whose experiences with their earthly father have been negative. If your own father beats you mercilessly, or even worse, ignores you, never showing any interest or love, how can you trust a heavenly father? There have been many persons, and perhaps you know of one, who decided not to believe in God and that the Christian religion was not for them simply because they could not bring themselves to pray "Our Father."

Sunday school teachers and camp counselors, I would advise you to watch for children who have difficulty thinking of God as father. Listen to the negative experiences they have had with their fathers and then help them to find other comparisons to make about God.

I would like to suggest this morning that we can also compare God to our earthly mothers, and that it would not be inappropriate for us to pray, "Our Mother, who art in Heaven."

William Makepeace Thackeray wrote what has become an oft-quoted aphorism: "Mother is the name of God in the lips and hearts of little children." An article in the early Pedagogical Seminary magazine of 1891 states: "The mother's face and voice are the first conscious objects as the infant soul unfolds, and she soon comes to stand in the very place of God to her child."

Let us celebrate this natural inclination of children by holding up some of the feminine attributes of God -- the ways that our creator is like a mother. There are several scripture passages which describe the feminine and motherly nature of God.

The psalmist appeals to the maternal instincts of God when he prays: "Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in thee my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of thy wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by" (Psalm 57:1). Perhaps Jesus was thinking of this psalm when he exclaimed in a burst of mother-like compassion: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" (Matthew 23:37).

In Deuteronomy we find another mother bird analogy in this song of Moses. Describing God's care of the Israelites while they wandered in the wilderness, Moses says, "Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, the Lord alone did lead him..." (Deuteronomy 32:11-12).

But perhaps the clearest and strongest images of God as mother are found among the writings of the prophet Isaiah. In 66:13, he says: "As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you." These words were written at a time of national despair, probably about 550 BC, shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. The people of Israel felt that God had forsaken and forgotten them. Everything they had loved had been taken from them -- their city, their way of life, the temple where they could draw near and know God -- and what's worse, many of their family members and friends were dead, or had been taken into exile in Babylon. They could see no evidence of God's care or concern. There had been only one tragedy or setback after another. And so they cried out, "The Lord has abandoned us! He has forgotten us!"

Who among us has not had at least one moment or one day when we have felt like this? Some here may have known years and years when it seemed that God no longer cared. Sometimes when we experience one tragedy after another, when disappointment follows disappointment and failure becomes a daily experience, we wonder if God is testing us or even punishing us. Or worse, we think that God is no longer there, if there ever was a God at all.

There is no deeper hurt than the feeling of abandonment. It is one of the greatest fears of every child, that Mom and Dad might leave and never return. It is one of the greatest pains that all of us experience in our relationships with people. To be abandoned by a parent, a child, a spouse, a brother, a sister, a friend, anyone whose love and support we have counted on, can be devastating.

This is where the people of Israel were with their God. They felt deserted, even betrayed. The prophet knew that he must speak to their despondency if he was to reach them with the word of the Lord. And so he quotes the very words which were commonly used in worship to liturgize this feeling of despair: "But the people of Jerusalem said, 'The Lord has abandoned us, He has forgotten us.' "

Then, to remind the people of God's love and caring, he uses the strongest image of human love he can think of and says that God's love for them is stronger. He says, quoting the Lord:

Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore?
Even if a mother should forget her child, I will not forget you. (Isaiah 49:15)

Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore? The prophet knew, as we know, that this is very unlikely. There is a very strong bond between a mother and child. They have been physically one, connected by the umbilical cord. They have experienced rare moments of personal closeness as the child sought nurture and comfort in mother's bosom. Can any love be deeper than this, the prophet asks? And his answer is yes. Even if a mother should forget her child (a very rare occurrence, but it does happen), God will not forget you. He says, "God's love for his people is deeper than the deepest human love, beyond all the bonds of nature."

What is God like? God loves us more deeply and more tenderly than any human mother or father could ever love a child. All praise to our mother and father God. Amen.

From a sermon preached at Wesley United Methodist Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on May 12, 1991.


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How to Share Stories
You have good stories to share, probably more than you know: personal stories as well as stories from others that you have used over the years. If you have a story you like, whether fictional or "really happened," authored by you or a brief excerpt from a favorite book, send it to StoryShare for review. Simply click here share-a-story@csspub.com and e-mail the story to us.


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New Book
The third book in the vision series, Shining Moments: Visions of the Holy in Ordinary Lives (edited by John Sumwalt), is now available from CSS Publishing Company. (Click on the title for information about how to order.) Among the 60 contributing authors of these Chicken Soup for the Soul-like vignettes are Ralph Milton, Sandra Herrmann, Pamela J. Tinnin, Richard H. Gentzler Jr., David Michael Smith, Anne Sunday, Nancy Nichols, William Lee Rand, Gail Ingle, and Rosmarie Trapp, whose family story was told in the classic movie The Sound of Music. The stories follow the lectionary for Cycle A.

Other Books by John & Jo Sumwalt
Sharing Visions: Divine Revelations, Angels, and Holy Coincidences
Vision Stories: True Accounts of Visions, Angels, and Healing Miracles
Life Stories: A Study in Christian Decision Making
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle A
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle B
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle C
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit: 62 Stories for Cycle B


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About the Editors

John E. Sumwalt is the pastor of Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee, and is the author of eight books for CSS. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary (UDTS), John received the Herbert Manning Jr. award for Parish Ministry from UDTS in 1997. John is known in the Milwaukee area for his one-minute radio spots which always include a brief story. He concludes each spot by saying, "I'm John Sumwalt with 'A Story to Live By' from Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church."

John has done numerous storytelling events for civic, school, and church groups, as well as on radio and television. He has performed at a number of fundraisers for the homeless, the hungry, Habitat for Humanity, and women's shelters. Since the fall of 1999, when he began working on the Vision Stories series, he has led seminars and retreats around the themes "A Safe Place to Tell Visions," "Vision Stories in the Bible and Today," and coming this spring: "Soul Growth: Discovering Lost Spiritual Dimensions." To schedule a seminar or a retreat, write to jsumwalt@naspa.net or phone 414-257-1228.

Joanne Perry-Sumwalt is director of Christian Education at Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee. Jo is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, with a degree in English and writing. She has co-authored two books with John, Life Stories: A Study In Christian Decision Making and Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit: 62 Stories For Cycle B. Jo writes original curriculum for church classes. She also serves as the secretary of the Wisconsin chapter of the Christian Educators Fellowship (CEF), and is a member of the National CEF.

Jo and John have been married since 1975. They have two grown children, Kathryn and Orrin. They both love reading, movies, long walks with Chloe (their West Highland Terrier), and working on their old farmhouse in southwest Wisconsin.


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StoryShare, May 8, 2005, issue.

Copyright 2005 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.

All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.