Thoughts of an eccentric priest

Mae Sul wedi bod ail-frandio mewn rhai cylchoedd fel Diwrnod y Mamau. Mae’n ddiwrnod o flodau, cardiau, siocledi, gwin, brecwast yn y gwely, a diolchgarwch. Mae hefyd yn ddiwrnod y mae rhai dynes a dynion yn ei chael hi’n anodd am nifer o resymau. Pan oeddwn yn gurad yng Nghaerloyw, rwy’n cofio dynes yr oedd ei mab mewn oedolyn wedi marw, a oedd wedi creithio ei hatgofion o fod yn rhiant. Fel offeiriad yn Birmingham, roeddwn i’n nabod rhieni, a oedd yn ffoaduriaid, wedi gwahanu oddi wrth eu plant.. Nid oedd cerdyn nac anrheg ar y bwrdd.

Mae stori Annah ac Elkanah yn un rydyn ni’n ei deall. Mae’n stori o hiraeth a gobaith. Mae Annah eisiau plentyn. Mae’r anobaith y mae hi’n teimlo yn cael ei gamddeall gan Eli yr offeiriad. Mae Eli yn credu bod Anna yn wallgof wrth iddi annog yr ARGLWYDD am blentyn. Roedd diffyg plant yn chwithig. Roedd plant yn ffynhonnell fendith, a’r rhai heb blant wedi’u labelu’n ddi-haint. Mae angen i ni fod yn ofalus sut rydyn ni’n meiddio defnyddio geiriau. Gall ein geiriau roi gobaith neu ddod ag anobaith.

Mae gan Hannah yn ein stori blentyn. Mae hi’n rhoi ei mab i ffwrdd i fywyd yn y Deml.

Mae Cristnogion yn credu bod plant yn rhodd gan Dduw. Rwy’n dad mabwysiadol. Ni ddigwyddodd unrhyw blant i’m gwraig ac i. Roedd yn boenus. Weithiau mae’n dal i fod. O fewn yr Ysgrythurau Sanctaidd, nid oes stori am rywun sy’n gofyn am blentyn ac nad ydy derbyn un. Rwy’n bersonol yn ymgodymu â Duw ynglŷn â hyn.

Mae Samuel, a anwyd i Hannah, yn blentyn arbennig sy’n tyfu i fyny i gael galwedigaeth arbennig. Samuel yw’r bachgen y mae Duw yn siarad ag ef, ac mae Samuel yn ei glywed o. Mae Samuel yn eneinio brenhinoedd, Saul ac yna Dafydd. Mae’n broffwyd, sy’n golygu ei fod yn siarad gwirionedd â’r rhai sydd mewn grym ac yn egluro’r hyn y bydd Duw yn ei wneud.

Roedd Hannah yn dyheu amdano. Tybed beth rydyn ni’n hiraethu amdano. A meiddiwn ofyn y cwestiwn: beth mae Duw yn dyheu amdano?

Un o themâu’r Beibl, yn y Beibl Hebraeg a’r Testament Newydd yw bod Duw yn rhoi rhoddion. Mae Cristnogion yn credu mai un o’r anrhegion a roddir i’r byd ydy Iesu. Mae Iesu’n cael ei gynnig fel esiampl ac fel rhyddfrydwr, Mesias, brawd ac Arglwydd. Mae Iesu cyffwrdd a’r rhai na fyddem ni weithiau. Siaradodd mewn posau (straeon) yr oedd rhai yn ei chael yn anodd eu deall, a bod y rhai a oedd yn deall weithiau’n cael eu tramgwyddo. Roedd Iesu  chwerthin, crio, creu gobaith, a charu.

 
Yn y darn o Ioan, mae Iesu yn dal i gynnig her. Mae’n ail-greu teulu, gan sicrhau bod y fenyw a esgorodd arno yn derbyn gofal: ‘Dynes, dyma dy fab bellach’, ‘Ffrind, dyma dy fam bellach’. Hyd yn oed ar yr hyn a oedd yn edrych fel ei ddiwedd o, mae Iesu'n caru.

Mae cariad Duw tuag atom yn arbennig a bron y tu hwnt i’n dychymyg. Pan fydd Cristnogion yn ymgynnull i addoli, yn enwedig yn y Cymun Bendigaid, rydyn ni’n torri’r Ysgrythurau ar agor gan ganiatáu i’r geiriau ein herio a’n hail-lunio. Rydyn ni hefyd yn torri bara ac yn rhannu gwin. Mae calon Duw, fel y mwyafrif o rieni, yn torri dros ei blant, ac mae’n cynnig ei gariad a’i roddion inni.

Y peth yw ein bod ni’n ei golli weithiau. Pan ddaeth fy mab i fyw gyda ni. Roedd yn 4 oed. Roeddem yn cerdded gyda’n gilydd ar draeth gwyntog. Roedd geiriau’n cael eu cipio i ffwrdd. Roedd Jennifer yno hefyd, fel yr oedd ein gweithiwr cymdeithasol a oedd yn dal i gerdded ar y daith fabwysiadu gyda ni. Roedd yn rhaid i Jen ddweud, ‘Mae Shaun yn siarad efo ti’

Roedd yn dweud y gair ‘dadi’. Collais y gair, nid oherwydd y gwynt ond oherwydd nad oeddwn byth yn disgwyl iddo ei glywed. Bu bron imi ei golli. Pa roddion rydyn ni’n eu colli gan Dduw. Fel rhieni pa roddion y gallem eu colli. Fel aelodau o’r eglwys, pa roddion rydyn ni’n eu colli a pha roddion nad ydyn ni’n eu rhannu?

All things come from you – and of your own do we give you.

Mothering Sunday, which is often rebranded in some circles as Mothers’ Day can be a day of flowers, cards, chocolates, wine, breakfast in bed, and gratitude. It is also a day that some women and men struggle with for a wide variety of reasons. When I was a curate in Gloucester, I remember a woman whose adult son had died, which had scarred her memories of being a parent. As a priest in Birmingham, I spent time with parents seeking asylum separated from their children. There was no card or gift on the table.

The story of Hannah and Elkanah is one that echoes down the centuries. It is a story of longing and hope. Hannah is desperate for a child. The desperateness is misunderstood by Eli the priest as the murmurings of a madwoman or of a drunkard as she begs Yahweh for a child. Childlessness was a source of shame. Children were a source of blessing, and those without children labelled as barren. We need to be careful how we dare to use words. Words can create or deny life.

Hannah in our story becomes pregnant. She gives her son up to the life of the Temple. All things come from you and of your own do we give you. Christians believe that children are a gift from God. I am an adoptive father. Children did not happen for my wife and me. It was painful. It still is from time to time. within the Scriptures, there is no story of someone who asks for children not being granted them. I wrestle with God personally about this.

Samuel, who was born to Hannah, is a special child who grows up to have a special vocation. Samuel is the boy that God speaks to, and Samuel hears. Samuel anoints kings, Saul and then David. He is a prophet, which means he speaks truth to those in power and forthtells what God will do.

Hannah longed for him. I wonder what we long for. And dare we ask the question: what does God long for?

One of the themes of the Bible, both in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament is that God gives gifts. Christians believe one of the gifts given to the world is Jesus Christ. Jesus is offered as both example and liberator, anointed one, brother and Lord. Jesus touched those we sometimes would not. He spoke in riddles (stories) that some struggled to understand, and those who did understand were sometimes offended. Jesus laughed, cried, created hope, and loved.

In the passage from John, Jesus still offers a challenge. He recreates family, ensuring that the woman who gave birth to him is cared for: ‘Woman, this is now your son’, ‘Friend, this is now your mother’. Even at what looked like his end, Jesus loves.

God’s love for us special and almost beyond our imagination. When Christians gather to worship, particularly at the Eucharist, we break open the Scriptures allowing the words to challenge and reshape us. We also break bread and share wine. God’s heart, like most parents, breaks over his children, and he offers us his love and gifts.

The thing is we sometimes miss it. When my son came to live with us. He was 4 years old. We were walking together on a windswept beach. Words were being snatched away. Jennifer was also there, as was the social worker who was still walking on the journey of adoption with us. Jen had to say Shaun is talking to you.

He was saying the word ‘Daddy’. I was missing the word, not because of the wind but because I had not expected it to ever be said to me. I nearly missed it. What gifts do we miss from God. As parents what gifts might we miss. As members of the church, what gifts do we miss and what gifts do we fail to share?