Readings:
Sermon:
On this fourth Sunday in Lent many churches will be celebrating Mothering Sunday and many in our communities will be marking this day too. The traditions around this day have changed over the years in the way that many traditions do. You will probably know that back in the 16th Century ‘Mothering Sunday’ was less about Mums and more about the mother church. Many people would journey to their ‘mother’ church once a year as a way of recognising where it all started, reconnecting in community and this of course led to the coming together of families.
The tradition also developed to allow those who worked the land on wealthy farms and estates to have the fourth Sunday in Lent as a day off to visit their mothers, and perhaps to go to church. This grew the family focussed tradition that we see in many of our own families.
For some this will be a day of breakfast in bed and cards and flowers, but for many a day of remembering with thanks those who have mothered them.
It can also be a day of mixed emotions and it is important to remember that for many pain is very present on this day. I have the most wonderful Mum who I am very thankful for and I will definitely be acknowledging how much I love her today. We don’t live near each other so it will be a card and flowers (if I get organised enough) and a chat on the phone. For my Mum she will be remembering her own Mum, my Grandma who died several years ago.
I don’t have children and always thought that I would, but that wasn’t where life took me and so there are a range of emotions on this day. I like, many others, have found this day difficult in different ways over the years.
However you come to this day, or Bible readings offer us much to help us know God’s presence with us and to remind us of the importance of sharing our lives with others, with love as the hallmark.
In Exodus 2 we see the heartbreaking, brave, sacrificial love of ‘a Levite woman’ who had bore a son. This son of course was Moses. As she placed him in the papyrus basket there must have been so many hopes and fears for what would happen next.
In our gospel reading John 19 we find ourselves at the foot of the cross, with Mary, the mother of Jesus, watching her son being crucified. We see the fulfilment of what Mary had heard in Simeon’s blessing about a sword piercing her soul. In this moment of pain, we see Jesus entrusting Mary and the disciple who he loved into each other’s care.
Holding on tight…. And having to let go…
Many have experienced different seasons in their lives with those they love. The pictures of joy and pain, hopes and fears, dreams fulfilled and others shattered will be familiar to many if not all those who have known what it is to love others. Many mothers and those who have taking a mothering role with others, will be acutely aware of the rollercoaster of nurturing another who you love.
What does it mean to love? What does it mean to care? What does it mean to trust God?
Moses’ Mum’s action perhaps reminds us that we can’t hold on to everything tightly, we can’t control everything. Often in order to step into what God has for us in our lives and in our churches, there has to be a letting go.
At the cross perhaps we see portrayed a picture of what it is to be the body of Christ here on earth. We see mutual dependence, care and love. God calls us to receive the care from others, but also to be giving it.
We often talk a lot about God as Father both in our prayers and in our liturgy. Of course the Bible gives us a beautiful broad picture of God’s love, care, nurture, sacrifice and faithfulness. We sometimes hear certain qualities referred to as male or female, fathering or mothering, but God is God, the source of all life and love.
On this day, there is nothing wrong with celebrating human Mums and those who Mother. Any excuse to encourage and thank others has to be a good thing. Who doesn’t need encouragement? Taking time with thoughtful gestures strengthens and nurtures relationships.
Perhaps we can also embrace the wider thanksgiving for God’s care and nurture of us all. This may be a day where you are so in need of receiving God’s care and healing and this may be in and through the love of those around you or in quiet moments with just your God.
It may be that this a day when you are able to gently and sensitively show someone else that they are thought of and cared for.
Today’s collect puts it beautifully: God of compassion, whose Son Jesus Christ, the child of Mary, shared the life of a home in Nazareth, and on the cross drew the whole human family to himself: strengthen us in our daily living that in joy and in sorrow we may know the power of your presence to bind us together and to heal; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Questions:
- What might God be asking you to hold on to or perhaps let go of in this season?
- Who might you be able to share encouragement or kindness with today?
- How might you take time to remember God’s love for you?
- Who can you be praying for, that they may come to a fresh understanding of God’s love?