Springwood Presbyterian Church: Whitsett, NC

This is the Lord’s word:

Hannah is the Mother of Samuel and when Samuel was old enough she lent him to the Lord and left him with him Eli at the temple when he was a small child. She only came once a year when her husband came to make his yearly sacrifice. I couldn’t imagine the pain and loss she must have felt her little boy left with Eli, and she can’t see him for a whole year. Is he hungry? Will they take care of him? And, then she thinks, is he cold? She makes him a little coat to keep him warm. Can’t you just see Hannah getting everything she needs to make this coat? The care in her hands as she uses everything she prepared to weave and stitch this little coat together. Having to guess at how long his arms are and how tall he is. Can’t you just see the tears in her eyes running down her cheek and dropping on the little coat? She holds the coat because it is the closes thing she can get to being near to her little boy Samuel.

When I was looking for something to preach on, I thought it would be easy to find something to use in a sermon. It was just not going to be that hard, surely out of all the things I have be taught and learned here in this church. Well, let me tell you something you better pay better closer attention you may have to preach.

The first thing was to get my Bible and find something about Mothers. Now, that shouldn’t be too hard, well there’s always Mary we all know that one. That’s been done a lot and I started to look for something else and in my Bible there’s this page that say’s prominent women and tells you all of the women in the old testament and then the new testament. This should make it easy, but all it did was make me read more, and then I found this small verse: she made him a little coat. That made me see that Hannah is the Mother I’m looking for.

I’m going to talk about what I know about Mothers and as I tell you about my memories of my Mother, I want you to think about your memories

I have to tell you that some of my earliest memories are at my first home near Ms. Irving. It seems that we were outside a lot because I can remember walking up the driveway and stopping to talk to Mr. Jones back down the road and playing in a giant tree house that seem to be a 100 feet high in between two pecan trees, and going to Ms. Irving’s pond, walking down to the creek and crossing the old ford and into the fork field. We would hunt arrowheads, and it seemed like would stay in this field for days at a time. I can still see my Mother and brothers across the field all of us looking for the prize arrowhead. My Mom had a way about making you feel good about the treasure you would drag up. Sometime you would find a fairy stone or good arrowhead or just a plain rock she still made you feel good about what you drug up. We would play on Alamance Creek walk up and down to where Rock Creek and Alamance Creek ran together at the fork field we would swim there in the creek. When you are small sometimes you had to ride on your dad’s shoulders but that’s another sermon all together, maybe for Father’s day. When you’re out doing all these things finding treasure and playing in creeks fighting off army’s from other kingdoms in your tree house you learn a few things. How to look out for snakes, what poison oak looks like, and where the stinging nettles are, how to find a four leaf cover, and all the good stuff a little boy should learn. As I look back and think about my childhood I can see how blessed we were to have a Mother who knew how to teach us the finer things in life.

We always had animals: dogs, cats, horses, cows, ducks, chickens, pigs, goats, and my mom would name them all. When we moved to the new house down the road I must have been about 5 years old and I can remember having three dogs: Malarkey, Blarney and James; a cat named Petty Paws and three horses: Blue, Fancy and Traveler. Then there was a roster named Hilleary that Pat won at the Easter egg hunt here at the church. What a great place to grow up.

I can remember my Dad having to take care of us because Mom was at the hospital, once. That’s when you learn that Mom’s can really cook. Pop you did ok we all made it. Must be really tough to raise four boys, we always needed something or we were fighting about who got to watch what they wanted to see on TV. I tell people that we look like that cartoon dust cloud with arms and legs sticking out rolling all around the room. We always had everything we needed and more.

In second Timothy it said: “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy Grandmother.” It made me realize one good thing about Mothers is you get Grandmothers. We were lucky we had both my Dad’s Mom whom we called Grandma her name was Kate and my Mom’s Mother Grandma Hamm, her name was Eunice. Grandma Hamm lived in Florida and when you went to see them you got to ride in a car with all your bothers and your Mom and your Dad, and it was a long way to Florida. Are we there yet? You learn a few things on a long car trip with your family. One of the most important things you learn is that even though you’re all the way in the back of the station wagon your Dad can still drive 70 miles per hour in traffic and reach over three seats, and still find the back of your head. I can still see Grandma Hamm at her farm sitting in the swing or in the kitchen. She could play the guitar and sing old songs you never heard anywhere else. My Dad’s Mother loved flowers and her house was always clean. I still miss the peas she would cook. If you were riding with Grandma and a black cat crossed the road you had to ‘x’ it out or turn around. We knew we were loved and taken care of by both Grandmothers.

I have been blessed in my life because of where I was raised and went to church. There was always somebody that was your Mother if you walked to the end of the road or down to Greeson’s store you had someone that was like a Mother to you. Here at the church there are so many people I need to thank because you are the ones that helped raise me and get me where I’m at right now. This is where I learned “Deep and Wide,” “Jesus loves me,” and “This little light of mine.” I learned that you can’t cut up in church when Rev Caulis preaches because he will stop church and come down out of the pulpit and give you a talking to right in front of the whole church.

 It says in the Bible that we are created in God’s image. I think this becomes clearer when you see things like Hanna when she makes a little coat or when Maude would give my children and all the other children a little cross she had made or a little book she had gotten to give to all the children or maybe it was Sue and JoAnn when they helped teach my girls to climb up sunshine mountain. If you have ever helped teach Vacation Bible School, this should help you get your angel wings. (I can’t say for sure but it should help). Betty Small told me that when we were little they had 80 kids in Vacation Bible School she should get her two sets of wings. I have to tell Sybill Ingle thanks for letting me ring the bell to let everyone know that Sunday school was over. I think that she knew I was skipping class. Aunt Maggie was a Mother to everyone that knew her she was a Sunday school teacher and you knew that she always going to wear a hat. She loved small children and had a twinkle in her eyes and always said bless you. I heard that she taught my Mom, Sylvia, Joan and Betty to do the Charleston at morning circle. (Sounds like they’re the original B.A.D.D. girls.) There are so many old stories to tell about Mothers here in the church. I hope you have memories of your Mom or someone who was like a Mother to you. Praise be to God.