May 2022 – Deanna Jasper

Mother’s Day is a tricky holiday for me. On the one hand, it is supposed to be a celebration of one of the most profound, impactful relationships in the human experience. Yet on the other hand, it feels so commercial. Neither my husband nor I are big on buying gifts or expressing certain sentiments on arbitrary days just because someone slapped a label on them. He expresses his appreciation for me as the mother of his six children continually throughout the year, and I don’t need anything more on this day just because it’s the second Sunday in May. My children don’t do much since we’ve never modeled that for them, though my mom has tried to help nudge them in that direction over the years. Still, it is hard to ignore the day completely, so I thought I’d jot down some of the things I’ve been reflecting on as this day approached.

Rejoice with those who rejoice

In Romans 12:15, Paul exhorts believers to “rejoice with those who rejoice,” so I thought I’d take a moment to celebrate the mothers in my life.

My own mom is actually the only reason we do anything special on Mother’s Day. Her love language is totally different than mine, and while I would be content with letting this day slip by without any acknowledgement whatsoever, I know it is important to her. These days she tries to honor me more than she lets us honor her, but I try to take the opportunity to bless her for all the love she pours into her children and grandchildren throughout the year.

My mother-in-law passed away the day before my oldest child’s first birthday, and while I only had a brief time with her in my life, I miss her presence more with each year that passes. I wish she had had the chance to get to know all her grandchildren, and I wish they could have known her in person, not just through the stories we tell them about her. Her love has outlived her and continues to influence our family.

I am so thankful for the new mother God brought into their lives when my husband’s father remarried. She went from being the mom of one son and daughter-in-law with one grandson to suddenly having three sons and three daughters-in-law with ten grandchildren between them, and she does an amazing job of making each of us feel special and loved.

Countless women have poured into my life over the years, playing the role of comforter and adviser, offering love and encouragement. They have helped shape me as a woman, as a mother, and as a follower of Christ. Every Mother’s Day God brings some of these women to mind, and I rejoice with them and for them, taking the opportunity to thank Him for bringing them into my life and hopefully to reach out and thank them for the impact they have had.

Weep with those who weep

The second part of Romans 12:15 is less cheery, but to me it will always be a part of Mother’s Day. Part of the reason I’m not so fond of this “holiday” is because I know it is profoundly painful for many. My heart aches for those who dread Mother’s Day, and I find my thoughts are more with them than with the mothers I am celebrating or encountering today.

I think of the years before I met my husband, when I longed to be a mother, watching my friends step into that role and wondering if I would ever get to experience it myself. I remember the Mother’s Day after we got married, when I sat sobbing through church because I hadn’t yet conceived and I feared it might not happen. I know so many who grieve because they are not mothers, and this day is full of reminders that magnify their pain.

I think of those who have lost their mothers, and those who live far from them, who would give anything for the chance to be with their moms today. I think of my friends who have passed away, whose young children are growing up without them, not knowing how much they were loved by those women who are no longer a part of their daily lives. I know they feel a void, and this day can make that emptiness feel even more hollow than usual.

God is only directly referred to as “Father” in Scripture, never “Mother,” but there are several places where metaphors of motherhood are used to describe certain aspects of His character: His comfort (Isaiah 66:13), His shelter (Psalm 91:4), His fierce protectiveness (Hosea 13:8). I pray that those who weep today are able to find peace in the comforting arms of our Heavenly Father, whose love is as comforting, sheltering, and protective as that of any mother.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 36:7

Springtime in the Vineyard

Over and over in God’s creation and in Scripture, He gives us pictures of resurrection: spring flowers out of the seeming deadness of winter, beauty from ashes, and of course, Christ’s victory over death. Coming out of this recent season of brokenness, pain, and loss, I have been so blessed by the new thing the Lord is doing in the greater church in our area. He is breathing new life into the branches that found themselves cut off when the Anaheim Vineyard ceased to exist as the church it had been for the past almost 45 years.

Tonight, those scattered branches gathered together again, this time hosted by what you might call our “grandmother” church. The group that became the Anaheim Vineyard came out of the Yorba Linda Friends church in 1977. When they left, they asked for and received the blessing of that church. People talk a lot about the Anaheim Vineyard as the “mother church” of the Vineyard movement, and certainly the three new local Vineyard groups (which I wrote about previously) that have formed out of those who left the church due to the decisions made by Alan Scott (up to and culminating with his decision to disassociate the church from the Vineyard movement) would consider it so. When the news of that metamorphic decision got out, the pastor of Yorba Linda Friends reached out to Bob Fulton (who had been a part of that group that left YL Friends so long ago), affirming that “we are family,” asking how they could help those who had been left reeling by what had happened. Bob asked if we could use their space to gather together when Mike Pilavachi was in town. Mike wanted a chance to meet with our local Vineyard family and bless us.

So tonight, we gathered in the building of the church that once sent out the group that would later become the Anaheim Vineyard to be blessed by a man from the UK who had felt the ripple of the ministry that grew out of that new congregation. Talk about coming full circle, right? As we worshipped together, there were gentle reminders of times past (such as John Wimber’s “Isn’t He,” as well as an acapella rendering of “I Love You Lord,” as Lance Pittluck led us countless times during the twenty years he led our congregation), but it was just being together and the sweet presence of the Lord as we worshipped that overwhelmed my heart with gratitude.

After Mike’s message, he felt called to pray for those under twenty-five, and along with the teens and young adults, we sent up our younger children so people could bless them and pray over them. That was when my emotions got the better of me. All I could think of was how much I hope they will fall in love with Jesus as passionately as I did when I was fourteen and first walked into the Anaheim Vineyard. Capture their hearts, Lord. Pour out Your Spirit on this next generation. I couldn’t stop tears from flowing for the rest of the evening.

I remember sometime back in the 1990s, a visiting pastor was telling a story about his church feeling called to bless another local church, and at our Sunday service that night, John Wimber said he felt like God was telling us to take an offering and give it “to our friends,” which he immediately knew meant Yorba Linda Friends. As a baby Christian, it was one of the first opportunities I had to see that the church is really one large family that extended far beyond those I spent each Sunday with. Tonight, we were so blessed by the generosity of YL Friends in opening their building to us because “we are family.”

Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
. . . For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.

(Psalm 133:1,4)

Vineyard Anaheim no longer exists, and many of us felt pretty broken and shaken up by its demise. Yet through its death, many seeds were planted in new soil. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). I love seeing how the Lord is taking the small seeds of these three new churches and is breathing life into something new. It is springtime in the Vineyard.

My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
    and come away,
for behold, the winter is past;
    the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
    the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
    is heard in our land.

Song of Solomon 2:10-12