Mothering Sunday - Here is your MotherIt is the Fourth Sunday of Lent. Once called ‘Mid-Lenting’ in some traditions, it’s also called ‘Laetare’ from the Latin for ‘Rejoice’. It’s the root of the word ‘laughter’. We’ve reached the point when we take a little break from our Lenten fasting and draw breath, before we rush into Passiontide, Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter.It is also, of course, Mothering Sunday. In medieval times folks gave thanks for their ‘mother church’ on this day - sometimes their parish, sometimes their cathedral. From the seventeenth century onwards, it became a Sunday when young people in service were sent home for the day to visit their families.From the 1920s onwards, Mother’s Day in the USA and Mothering Sunday in the UK began to be developed and promoted as a day on which to give thanks for mothers. This was especially important following the First World War, when so many lost children to warfare and disease. So, it’s a rich day, with much more to it than buying a card for your mum (though that’s important too!).Mothering is a gift we can all experience and exercise, whoever we are. The act of mothering can be done by all of us, to anyone of any age. We can ‘mother’ as individuals and as communities. The readings set for today contain good examples of mothering and help us to focus on three qualities: care, courage and compassion.In the Book of Exodus Pharoah carries out ethnic cleansing. All Hebrew babies were to be drowned in the Nile. But one Levite mother takes great care to conceal her baby boy for three months. She then takes the enormous risk of placing him in a waterproof basket in the crocodile-infested Nile and trusting his future to God. Desperate times demand desperate measures and tremendous courage. Pharaoh’s daughter, finding the baby, is moved by his crying and identifies him as a Hebrew. In her compassion, she takes an enormous risk to save the baby. The baby’s sister is watching out for him - caring what happens - and in a stroke of courageous genius, intervenes to suggest that her mother might help to raise the baby. So, Moses is raised by his mother, under patronage, ensuring that he is absolutely safe. Not only that, his mother gets paid for raising him. All three women are exercising amazing mothering in this story, showing care, courage and compassion. But, did you notice? God is also mothering, weaving an imaginative, brilliant and compassionate rescue that will lead eventually to the liberation of the Israelites.Jump forward hundreds of years to the crucifixion. In our Gospel reading Jesus is on the cross, looking down on his mother Mary and the beloved disciple who is not named here but traditionally acknowledged to be John. Care, courage and compassion feature heavily in this story too. All three show extraordinary courage in the face of this horrific episode of torture and slow execution.From the cross, Jesus creates a new family. Mary and John are brought together as parent and child to care for one another in the years ahead, bridging the gap left by a son and a friend. Jesus shows immense courage to die as an innocent on behalf of the world, and in that moment to have sufficient care and compassion to look out for those you leave behind. These biblical examples of ‘mothering’ are perhaps beyond the scope of most of us. But the mothering qualities of care, courage and compassion that make such a difference in people’s lives take place every day, in communities all over the world. They take place in this community too.So, how’s your mothering going? Where are you showing those qualities of care, courage and compassion? How might we do more of this as a Christian community? Caring for those in need in our parish and beyond, having the courage to call out injustice and making ourselves unpopular for the sake of those whose voices go unheard, walking alongside the suffering and broken, with compassion to bring consolation and hope for the future. Economically, environmentally and politically it all seems bleak at the moment. But so it was for the Israelites and those first followers of Jesus. Let’s not allow our feelings of powerlessness hinder our capacity to to exercise care, courage and compassion and in doing so take back power!On this mid-Lent Mothering Sunday, pause and give thanks for those who have mothered you down the years, and pray that the Lord may fill you with the gifts of care, courage and compassion as you seek to follow Jesus Christ faithfully in the power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.Every blessing,Christian
Lord, direct our thoughts, and teach us to pray. Lift up our hearts to worship you in spirit and in truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.‘Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain.’ (Psalm 127:1)Hymn: Jesus good above all other...Exodus 2: 1 - 10; Colossians 3: 12 - 17The Spirit of the Lord fills the world and knows our every word and deed. Let us confess our sins: Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.May the God of love bring us back to himself, forgive us our sins, and assure us of his eternal love in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.Prayer for the day: God of love, passionate and strong, tender and careful: watch over us and hold us all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.Luke 2: 33 - 35Please see the Message from the Minister.Let us join in prayer, asking for the light of the Lord to be known to everyone:We pray for the members of St Peter’s Church, that we will grow in faith and service;We pray for our planet, that all people will thrive and work together in peace;We pray for our friends, families and neighbours - that we may build relationships:We especially pray today for mothers everywhere, and for those who mother others;We pray for people who are sick or suffering, for God’s healing touch to be known;We pray for the departed, that all who mourn will be comforted.Let us pray as Jesus taught us: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.Hymn: Lord of all hopefulness...May Christ’s holy, healing, enabling Spirit be with us and guide us on our way at every change and turn; and may the blessing of God Almighty who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon us and remain with us always.Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord, in the name of Christ. Amen.
Angela our Anna Chaplain and Richard our Authorised Pastoral Assistant hosted our first well attended Anna Gathering in St Peter’s Church hall on 27th March.Jackie’s poem below, which she shared, caused much interest and discussion. Carol shared a poem with us as well. We were inspired to have a go at putting pen to paper, if only one word or phase, as it is cathartic to express what our soul feels. We will share our experience of doing this next time.Our Parish Nurse talked about the ‘Wheel of Wellbeing’ and we enjoyed refreshments together.The next Anna Gathering will be on Thursday 24th April from 2-4pm in the church hall. You are invited to attend if you are interested in exploring spirituality, creativity and wellbeing. Struggling to BelongWhat is it that makes me who I am and why the fear I don’t belongIs it my origins, the culture, the family who gave me lifeOr the place I called homeA struggle, never easyJust a feeling, no one’s faultDid I become a misfit or was I one all along, suffering those silent internal conflicts!What about the schools I attended and the friends I did or did not have?Maintaining distance knowing I was in some ways other or differentHow about my sense of self and my sense of worth, was I ever good enough?Feeling safe behind invisible walls, not confiding, or sharing the things that separateAvoiding social connection, isolating and aloneKnowing the importance of acceptance, of belonging, of being OKBut that’s not meAnd yet a survivor, others would say successful, popular, happy, capableMy stay here transient, my influence temporaryDespite this, known and dearly loved by a God who cares and longs for me to speak, trust and followYes, my days do have meaning, value and worthMy struggles are not in vain and my interactions matterDon’t underestimate the impact of your smile and a few words, that positive contact, a kindness, a vital link to inclusion and community.Your actions and reactions have power, demonstrating God’s loveCan you accept me, respect me without judgement or expectation?Really you can?Then as I ponder, consider and reflect, maybe I can too.Different yes, in fact wonderfully unique
We’re about halfway through Lent and still a week away from Mothering Sunday, or Refreshment Sunday, when the Church used to encourage people working away from home to go back to their families, or to their ‘mother’ church and to take a break from their Lenten abstinences.Taken together, the readings for today urge believers to do the things they know they should do but may have put off, and to stop doing things that don’t matter or that are downright sinful.The prophet Isaiah gives a clarion call to the people not to waste their time, money and attention on things that do not satisfy and ‘feed’ them in their inner beings. ‘Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good.’ Through Isaiah, God is beseeching his people to wake up and seek the Lord ‘while he may be found.’ There is an urgency, an impatience with how people are behaving. ‘Repent’ warns Jesus in the Gospel to the Jewish people listening to him, otherwise, he says, bad things like those that have been happening to others will happen to you! A parable about a barren fig tree seems to imply that, while God is patient, he is getting fed up with his chosen people who are rejecting Jesus’ message and hardening their hearts against him. The Gospel goes on to tell of Jesus healing a woman who had been seriously incapacitated, bent over double for 18 years, only to be criticised by the Pharisees because he healed her on the Sabbath. The people are not understanding what is important in the kingdom of God: loving and obeying God and caring for others is what matters.In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul is distraught at what some of the new believers have been getting up to. They have been behaving as if they had never heard Paul’s teachings on how to live a life pleasing to God. Though exasperated with the people’s wayward behaviour, Paul also tells them that God is with them and will help them to resist temptation, if they trust in God.There is in all three readings a strong sense of urgency: don’t put it off, don’t wait to change and repent and seek after God to another time, because that time may never come. You can’t know what’s around the corner, what’s going to happen in the future, but you can decide to change and you can decide to change right now! Whatever it is that you know you need to do – do it now!Rev’d Christina Rees
