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Mothers and Grandmothers John 14:23-29   I come from pretty good stock, not only because it happens to be Dutch stock (which is about as good as it gets, you know!) but because I truly have been blessed by wonderful mother figures in my life. My own mother, Maria Galina Knetsch, is now 92 years of age.  Even though she has Alzheimer's, seeing her children is still very much the delight of her life. She cannot remember when last she saw any of us, so every visit is greeted with great excitement and joy, convinced that it’s been months or even years since last we were together. My mother’s entire life has revolved around her own family, and also around her siblings and her parents. My mother, my Mama, lives in me.  My maternal grandmother was Maria Johanna van Blitterswijk – de Kooker. (Don’t you love the way those Dutch names just roll right off your tongue?) She was a saint. I mean it, she really was. She was warm, kind, gentle, a person truly seen as the loving, maternal head of her family of seven children and twenty-some grandchildren. I happen to have the privilege of being the oldest grandson. That’s important in traditional Dutch and European families, and I was accorded a special place in my grandmother’s heart. It didn’t hurt that we lived with my grandparents during much of the first two years of my life, which were also the last two years of World War II. My grandmother’s presence looms large in my upbringing. My grandmother, my Oma, lives in me.  My paternal grandmother was Pietje Knetsch – de Jager. She died long before I was born. Her influence is significant nonetheless, for my father shared of his love for her, and told of the hardship she experienced from an abusive husband. Pietje gave birth to eleven children, of which my father was the youngest. Her world must have been filled with a great deal of darkness and pain, and in my only photo that pain may well be reflected in her dark eyes. I feel a deep connection with my grandmother – I have her dark eyes, and I am also the only grandchild with the distinction and honor of bearing her name – Piet (je). My grandmother, my Oma, lives in me.  And so it is that we pay tribute to our mothers, and to those who modeled motherhood or a maternal love for us. And so it is that we each have within us the deep and abiding, mothering love of our God. Jesus says: Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. ---Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. (John 14:23, 27)   - Pastor Piet - Mother’s Day, and Festival of the Christian Home May 13, 2007