Beyond the Myth of Mother

              Beyond the myth of Mother
Joshua 24.15
Intro: Happy Mother's Day! This is the day our thoughts turn to the one
who loved us, cared for us, corrected us--our mothers. Somehwere in my
memory caries an ancient piece of lore. "M" is for the million things she
gave me; "0" means only that she is growing old. "T" is for the tears she
shed to save me. "H" is for her heart of purest gold. "EP is for her eyes
so brightly shining; "R" means right, and right she'll allays be. Put them
all together they spell mother, the world that means the world to me.
Bobby Brean--if a man 33 had made this a solo I might think he had a problem
Motherhood has undergone some alterations since that song was sung. In
the art exhibit is a seriesof sketches. Each sketch contains a hand doing
something that hands no longer do. One of them is a mother's hand
poised over the feet of a baby.
If I were'going to preach on a n important personality responsible for
our shift of attitudes it would be on Sigmund Freud. He spoke of the
unconscious (often subconscious). He probed the inner psyche poking at our
unconscious motivations not always so pure and holy. He spoke of sibling
rivalry; the oedpius complex' son loving mother; the electra complex;
rejection; the basic agression in all of us; the power of life and death
forces within us. From him hundreds have taken the cue, books have been
written giving us the implications of his basic insights.
Freud also gave us an understanding of myth. Myths are important to the
life force. A myth is a story that is true, but does not have its origin
outside ourselves. It is timeless. It does not speak about anyone in partic-ular,
but all of us in general. Myths are necessary to life. Advertizing
hues most of what it knows to Freud. Every ad attempts total a story.
The busy housewife, yet spotless, no mess, no fuss. Or the soap opera
whose myth centers in a variety of unexpected twists and turns. These
myths develop most stronguly in the culture and especially the family.
Today we are learning there is no unifying rnyth for motherhood. Possibly
this is due to the fact that we are now talking about the nuclear family,
the mobile home, the tri-level family. And mother's place in that setting
is nAotl lc lieanr .t Mhaey bef atmhiatl iys ,w htyh ew eW aarlet otunrsn,in gA pmoprlee t'os faWmaiyly week.
I. I searched the Script. for a nice bit on the family. I ran into problem
A. Adam and Eve--you would think that a perfect setting.
1. Ideal family conditions. Good job, very little pressure (occa-sional
talk with God), no neighbor problems, no enticements for Adam
and Eve to leave one another. The myth was simple--name things, to
take care, and to obey God.
2. But what you have is a husband and wife contributing to each
other's moral downfall--the exchange their story for another one--
another myth. It spills over to their children. Cain kills Abel--
sibling rivalry--not much of a story for family week.
B. Move to the Abraham story
1. It turns out just as badly. Early in the story Abraham lets his
wife otn. A lno aannc iteon t PAhsa trhoe aWh oflrodr T uar npse. rLiaotedr tohfer ec iosm sftroifret baebtlwee enli ving in Egyp