So here we are, all gathered on the day called Mothering Sunday – the fourth Sunday of Lent. This is the Sunday, in years gone by, that those working away from home, often in service, were allowed a day off, to go home to attend their mother church with the rest of their family, a time to gather before the busyness of Easter.
I’m sure over the last few weeks many of us have seen displays in shops of beautiful cards, bunches of flowers and gifts galore, not to mention the trillion and one emails asking if we have sorted out our Mother’s Day gifting, giving a countdown to that all important last order day!
But is that what today is really about?
For some it can be really hard seeing those commercial reminders of a day focused on Mums, as many people struggle with Mothering Sunday. However, mothering comes in many forms – wherever people care for each other with love there is mothering – young carers, grandmas and aunties, friends and colleagues and others that will be special to you.
Gathering here in church today gives us the opportunity to come together and think of the Mum that plays such a crucial part in our faith – who do we think that might be? Let’s look in our lucky dip bag for a clue – a figure of Mary – for Christians of course it is Mary, mother of Jesus! We know from very early on Mary pondered all she heard in her heart – let’s dip into our bag again – we have an angel, can anyone tell me why the angel was so important?
When the angel came with an amazing but challenging message that she was going to have a baby, she trusted God enough to say yes, despite being greatly troubled – what amazing faith! Yet imagine the stigma of the day, pregnant outside of marriage, the possibility of being sold into slavery or stoned to death – but Mary took it all in her stride and trusted the angel was from God. What else do we have in our bag? A baby – who is this? Yes, baby Jesus! It doesn’t appear that Mary made a fuss having to give birth in a smelly stable miles away from her family, and what’s this in our bag? A crown – who do you think wore one of these? Yes, King Herod. How do we think Mary felt when she heard of Kings Herod’s plan to kill her child as she sat with him cradled in her arms? And one last thing in our bag… A globe, does anyone know why that might be in there? Look there is a country called Egypt, does anyone know anything about what happened with Egypt?
Mary and Joseph and Jesus were forced to flee their homeland and all she knew and go to Egypt, how do we think Mary must have felt leaving all she knew, going to somewhere different and new? Throughout all of this we hear nothing of Mary’s anxiety, because she trusted God she was able to take everything in her stride and stood by her son throughout everything.
A few weeks ago, we were celebrating Candlemas – the presentation of Christ in the temple. Mary and Joseph took their son along to the temple, as firstborn son, presented him to God, and were amazed at what was being said about him. They heard Simeon say: ‘Many in Israel will fall and many will rise because of this child. He will be a sign from God that many people will not accept’. Simeon also states that a sword will pierce Mary’s soul too! Mary was amazed, but it doesn’t appear that she questioned, she simply carried on, accepting the expectations and laws of the time and following the greater law of love.
If we think back to what we heard in our Colossians reading: ‘clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience’ – this seems to paint a pretty perfect picture of Mary, in all the suffering she endured, she never questioned, but just quietly got on with what God asked of her.
It goes on to say ‘Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other – teach and admonish one another in all wisdom’ – does this not describe the role of all mothers? It certainly seems to personify Mary.
In our gospel reading we see that Jesus is concerned for his Mum, her husband Joseph has probably passed away, Joseph isn’t mentioned in the bible after the temple visit when Jesus is 12 and he asks his good friend to take care of her. But Mary’s anguish at the crucifixion isn’t for herself, but for her son and almost certainly at this point the pain and distress must be so intense that I wonder if she thought back to those words of Simeon – ‘a sword shall pierce your soul’. This loving bond was there throughout the whole of Jesus’ life – and if we stop for a moment and think, every single one of us here will have someone with whom we have had, and may still have, a special bond. That one person, regardless of how they came into our lives, have loved, cared and stood by us – our own Mary – and today is the day for remembering them and giving thanks for all that they did for us.
When we go home today, home from our mother church, where we hope you’ve found comfort, support, encouragement, love and hospitality, let us see if we can find one thing that reminds us of that someone who mothered us throughout life, or that someone who cared for us at a particular time in our life. It might be a photograph, it might be a rolling pin that reminds us of baking with a special somebody, or it might simply be a memory – my hope for each of us is that as we think positively about that someone, we can also look back to the beginning of our reading from Colossians where Paul tells us that we are all God’s chosen ones, Holy and beloved, just as Mary was, and know that God is always there, to love us and help us.
Service: Reverend Rebecca Yates –19th March 2023
Referenced Scripture: Exodus 2:1-10, Colossians 3:12-17, John 19:25b-27