May 08-09, 2020
Rev. Simon Lee, Senior Pastor RCAC
On Mother’s Day, 2020
Remembering my mother: Under her wings
Dear brothers and sisters,
Mothers’ Day during COVID-19
This year most mothers’ day celebrations will probably be remembered more quietly, at least there will not be fancy meals in some nice restaurants, and most certainly no big multi-generational family gathering. In our Church, we will not be able to show our traditional respect to our mothers with little token gifts from our children. Nevertheless, I am sure we will all remember our moms in our own special ways. Yes, we must treasure our mothers and fathers for all that they have done for us.
Remembering our mothers
During this COVID-19 pandemic, many elderly people unfortunately have to die alone largely unattended in the Seniors’ homes because no visitation is allowed. How blessed it is for those of us whose moms and dads are still with us and are healthy. Lydia’s mom is 102 this year, and for the last two months she has been shuttled between her Seniors’ Home and the hospital numerous times with deteriorating health. We pray that she can be spared unnecessary pain, and treasure each and every day she is still with us even though we cannot visit her at this time.
My mom passed away in Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia in June, 1998 when I was teaching at the Alliance Bible Seminary in Hong Kong. I remember it was in June because we were in the middle of the final exams at the School, and because of that I delayed visiting her when her health was deteriorating, thinking I could visit her right after graduation was over at the end of the month. It was not to be and I have regretted this ever since and often asked myself why I was not there for her when she needed me most, all the more so because she was always there for me when I needed her all those years. Whenever I think of my mom, I remember her loving care, even right up to the time when I was a working young adult. Even though I left home when I came to Canada for university and had lived away from home since then, she would always write to me regularly, and I treasure each letter she painstakingly wrote because she never had the privilege of going to school when she was a child growing up. Yes, I felt so loved and safe when I was under her wings.
Under mother’s wings
The picture of mothers caring and protecting her children under their wings is a powerful imagery, and in fact one that is often used to illustrate the love of God for the children of God. We see this picture most vividly when Jesus lamented over the hypocritical Jewish leaders of Jerusalem who did not recognize Christ Jesus for who he was, but instead were plotting to kill him! He lamented, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.” (Mt. 23:37; Lk. 13:34) Jesus came first to His own, his own people (before He reached out to the Gentiles according to the redemptive plan of God as promised to Abraham), but his own people did not receive him. (Jn. 1: 11) We all know how much wayward kids hurt the parents’ hearts, and so we can imagine how Jesus must have felt when he was rejected by his own people, and condemned to die a painful death.
Eagle’s wings
The imagery of “eagle’s wings” to illustrate God’s protective care also appears frequently in the Old Testament. It was a safe place of refuge. Here are some examples:
“He will cover you with His pinions (feathers),
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. “ (Psalm 91:4)
“Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
That hovers over its young,
He spread His wings and caught them,
He carried them on His pinions.” (Deut. 32:11)
For this reason, the psalmists in their prayers and laments would often talk about taking refuge in God, and in the shadows of His wings, especially when they are in danger and in all sorts of calamities (like David running away from Saul and hiding in the cave). Here are some examples:
“For the choir director; set to Al-tashheth. A Mikhtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave.
Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me,
For my soul takes refuge in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge
Until destruction passes by.” (Psalm 57:1)
Other examples are found in Psalm 61:4, Psalm 63:7 …(cf. Ruth 2:12).
The protection and warmth under the wings
In this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, Psalm 91 speaks to us in a special way, as it refers to the pestilence (plagues and epidemic) (3, 6), the terror by nights and arrows (5) and the “falling” of people around them (7), situations that are similar to the devastation we are facing right now. So amidst all these fear and horror around us, in this Psalm one imagery (among others) of God’s protective care for the faithful (whether Gentiles or Israelite) is again that of protection under God’s wings:
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with His feathers (pinions),
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler. (Verses 3-4)
The comforting imagery here is the feathers of the wings. But there is more than meets the eye when we look at a bird’s feathers which first appear to be light, fragile and unable to offer any form of protection. Apparently the feathers of a bird’s wings have a smooth part and a fluffy part. The smooth part of the feather actually has stiff barbs with tiny hooks that lock together much like the prongs of a zipper and therefore gives very strong protection. Naturally the fluffy part keeps a bird warm. Come wind or rain, the baby birds finds protection under the feathers of the wings of the mother bird. This picture is like a parent putting his or her arms around a child when he or she is scared. In the same way, God provides us with physical protection, emotional security and spiritual assurance.
We want to thank our mothers (and fathers) for their loving care to us. In a much greater way, God indeed is our refuge and we can find security and safety under his wings, and we should also thank Him. In this pandemic, we should learn to trust him even more with thankful and grateful hearts.
Your pastor,
Rev. Simon Lee
Senior Pastor