Dear friends,

Welcome to this week’s newsletter, which comes with many thanks to Jenny Redway for making these wonderful mini bouquets of beautiful spring flowers:

We gave them out at our services this morning, to everyone who came, to remember those in our lives who have mothered us. And we thank God, our Father and Mother, for the infinite love for us we receive as God's children.

If you missed the services today, and you can get to St Hilda’s in Egton tomorrow morning (Monday 11th) at 9:15 we have our “Mothering Sunday on a Monday” service in partnership with Egton School (see below). You are more than welcome to join us.

I do hope all is well with you this week? Do get in touch if there’s anything I can help you with.

With blessings and all good wishes,

Reverend Anthony

Tomorrow “Mothering Sunday on a Monday" Service 9:15 (11th March) in Egton

Wednesday 9:00 in Goathland, informal Holy Communion in someone’s home

Thursday 10:30 to 2:30 Vi’s Cafe in Grosmont with Play Space 1:30 to 2:30

Next Sunday, 17th March we are in Lealholm at 9:00 and Egton at 10:45. The 10:45 service will be live streamed on our website. We plan to live stream all our services from St Hilda’s from now onwards, having connected up The Vicarage broadband connection to the church building. Please visit our website to watch the live stream or a recording of it later on in the day:

Our Website: Middle ESK Moor - Enriching; Sharing; Knowing

Thanks very much if you have replied to our survey. There have been so many responses, and I’m so grateful for all the feedback. It will take me a good while to work through all the answers, so please bear with me. If you haven't replied yet, I would be really grateful if you could complete the survey online by clicking this link. Thank you.

Please follow this link for the Readings and Prayers.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts together be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock, and redeemer. Amen.

Imagine this little story I’ve made up:

Jack goes into the co-op in Grosmont. He frowns at the display of greetings cards, looking for one he needs for today. "Can I help you?" asks the shop assistant.

"I’d like a card for Mothering Sunday," Jack explains, “but they all say Mother's Day."

"Same thing," comes the reply, but Jack shakes his head.

"No, they're not. “The lady I'm buying it for isn't my mum," he says, "but she's been like a mother to me."

Jack is right. Mother's Day and Mothering Sunday might fall on the same date, but they're not the same thing. One celebrates mothers, but the other celebrates mothering. Originally, Mothering Sunday didn’t have much to do with human mothers: it referred to the Church, and indirectly to God, as mother of us all. As part of the observance of Lent, on ‘Mothering Sunday,’ the Church required Christians to worship at their "mother" church, the one that had nurtured them. So, for me, that would mean going back to St Mary’s in Oxenhope. I wonder where your mother church might be?

Because of this requirement, people working away, perhaps in the armed services, could return home and spend a day with their families. They might have taken a little bunch of spring flowers for their mothers with them. And then, over time, Mothering Sunday gradually became Mother's Day.

Today's short Gospel reading shows us that mothering isn't restricted to our birth mothers. As Jesus approached his death on the Cross, his compassion for those who loved him never wavered. We might think the scene at the cross in our reading is to do with Mary being taken into the disciple's home; receiving John’s protection. But here Jesus is, just as importantly, asking his mother to love his friend. Knowing that his mother and his closest friend would each need support after his death, Jesus commends them to one another's keeping.

Jesus is kind of saying to Mary, "Give a mother's love to my friend, be like a mother to him: mother my disciple."

And to all of us who stand beneath the cross we will meet once again on Good Friday, and watch Jesus dying because he loves us, Jesus says the same: "Mother my disciples." To the disciple, Jesus says, "Be like a son to Mary."

Each would in some way be the son, the friend, the loved one, that Jesus had been on earth. And, whatever our gender is, God calls us to share love with others. We’re called to be Christ to our neighbour, and to see Christ in our neighbour.

This Gospel reading reminds us, too, that mothering must have an object. The concept of mother only makes sense if there is also a child to be mothered: the "Here is your son" to Mary implies the "Here is your mother" to the disciple. There’s a relationship here: a mutuality; a dynamic, not a status; a verb, not a noun. And it’s a relationship, a dynamic that mirrors the very nature of God. The nature of God as the Trinity (Father/Mother, Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit) reminds us that God is in essence a loving relationship, the love of the Father/Mother for Jesus Christ and the love of Jesus Christ for the Father/Mother, flowing through the Spirit and drawing us, too, into the very heart of God, as the Spirit touches our own hearts.

A dictionary definition of the verb "to mother" is: "to acknowledge, adopt or treat as a son or daughter." And the Bible tells us that this is exactly what God does to us: God sent Jesus Christ, born of a woman, so that we might receive adoption as children, and God sends the Spirit of Jesus Christ into our hearts. Whether we use the word Father or Mother, and I don’t think that actually matters, we are reassured that God is a loving parent and we are acknowledged as his children. God mothers each of us. God loves each of us as his children.

The love of a wonderful mother for her children is an appropriate image of God's love for us. I think it captures the way God puts up with our naughtiness, our sin, our separation from God, and yet God still loves us. God himself gives us the pattern for parenthood. But it's also the pattern for all our dealings with one another: strengthening, encouraging and forgiving; serving, loving and surrendering.

Let's make a point of calling today Mothering Sunday, not Mothers' Day, because today isn't just for mothers. Nobody in church today should feel left out, because men can mother people, women can mother people. And those that we mother don’t have to be biologically related to us.

So, today, Mothering Sunday, let’s give thanks:

for our own mothers and all that they do or once did for us;

for those who have been like a mother to us;

and for God's deep mothering love for each and every one of us.

Amen.

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The Reverend Anthony Bennett
Interim Minister – the Benefice of Middle ESK Moor

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These two books, edited by Jane Williams, are continuing to be very helpful with planning my sermon writing:

Williams, J (2009), Ed., ‘Lost for Words, A Sermon Resource for the Anglican Three Year Cycle,’ Redemptorist Publications, Chawton, UK.

Williams, J (2011), Ed., ‘Lectionary Reflections, Years A, B and C.’ Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, UK.