This is a copy of my talk given at Ayia Kyriaki and Saint Luke’s in the Anglican Church of Paphos on Sunday 10 March 2024. The Bible Readings were 1 Samuel 1:20-28 & Colossians 3:12-17 & Luke 2:33-35.

Prayer

Heavenly Father
I thank You for Your word
By the power of the Holy Spirit
May You speak to my heart
And change my life
In the precious name of Jesus I pray
Amen.

I recognise that for many people Mothering Sunday can be an extremely painful day as we are reminded of mums and wives we’ve loved and lost. I pray that God’s comfort and peace will be upon you and be especially close to you today.

Thinking of you - Mothering Sunday

Introduction
Mothering Sunday began in the 1600’s when Christianity was the fastest growing faith in Europe. It was a day when servants, apprentices, farm labourers, girls in service and those who lived in the houses of their employers, were given a special day off to return home to their ‘mother church’. They believed the spiritual connection from doing this would sustain their faith for the year to come.

An interesting and popular ceremony called ‘church clipping’ took place on Mothering Sunday when people would express their love for their ‘mother’ church by forming a circle and walking round the building holding hands and then tightly gripping the church building or pews as an expression of coming home. So, when you are ready …

Mothering Sunday always falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent. It was deliberately introduced in the middle of the Lent so that families could have a break from their Lenten fast and share a celebratory meal with those returning home.

During the early part of the 20th Century, as English culture began to be influenced by American culture, we took on their traditional Mother’s Day celebration and, following the Second World War, blended Mothering Sunday with the Mother’s Day celebration when people began honouring their mothers instead of the church – although it still continues to be celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent.

To my mind the ‘Mother’s Day’ tag is rather limiting, because we’re encouraged to shower one person with cards, flowers and gifts. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but the church’s preference for ‘Mothering Sunday’ implies a far more inclusive approach, allowing for the possibility that mothering may be, and frequently is, more than simply a biological relationship.

Mothering, in a loving, caring, nurturing sense is something all Christians should be doing, as we encourage new disciples. But how effective are we as the church nurturing and equipping others? Are we undertaking this task to the best of our ability? What about the next generation? How best might we be able to strengthen them in their journey of faith?

If we look to the Christian tradition, we have several models of ‘mother’ to take as examples of how we might approach the demanding, complicated practise of mothering, or nurturing. The most obvious is the model of the Virgin Mary and her example of motherly perfection.

Sometimes Lent can be a solemn affair, but I thought I’d lighten it up a bit and tell you a story about a very devout lady who we’ll call Mrs O’Donnell.

Mrs O’Donnell was devoted to the Virgin Mary and after a long life, well lived, Mrs O’Donnell finally died and went straight to heaven.

She was met at the gates by St Peter, who welcomed her in and offered to show her the way to meet God our Father. ‘Oh no’, said Mrs O’Donnell, ‘I’m not going to meet God our Father first, I want to meet the Virgin Mary. I have something very important to ask her, which can’t wait’.

St Peter protested and said that wasn’t the way it worked, but eventually he had to recognise he’d met his match so he went to see what he could arrange. God graciously agreed to allow Mrs O’Donnell to see the Virgin Mary first, so she was ushered in.

‘Oh Mrs O’Donnell’, said the Virgin Mary, ‘how lovely to meet you at last and thank you so much for all your devotion over the years. But why did you want to see me first, what is it that you wanted to ask me?’

‘Well,’, said Mrs O’Donnell, ‘all these years I’ve looked at pictures of you, statues of you, icons of you and in all of them there you are, a beautiful young woman with a lovely baby. But you’re never smiling, you always look so mournful, and I just have to know why.’ Oh Mrs O’Donnell’, sighed the Virgin Mary, ‘I always wanted a girl.’

In reality of course we know very little about the Virgin Mary. She’s mentioned less than 20 times in the NT. I think Mary is one of history’s most misunderstood women. She’s been misunderstood by those who claim she was a perpetual, sinless virgin and by those who see her, rather than Jesus, as the mediator between God and men.

But we can miss how remarkable a woman Mary was. A woman devoted to God in her thoughts, words and actions. A woman whose life was consumed by God, to such an extent, she was willing to commit herself, totally, to the sacrifice she was being asked to make. Did Mary know the heartache she would face, the kind that only a mother could experience, when she would see her son hanging on a cross?

In Mary we see mothering as faithful, responsible and acutely aware of the double-edged sword of caring. In Hannah we see mothering that is passionate, generous, sacrificial, brave, joyful and trusting. Mothering is frequently painful; it demands sacrificial love – as both Mary and Hannah committed their sons into God’s hands.

In the Bible, stories of mothering are never twee, sentimental or saccharine. And if you add the stories of Sarah, Ruth, Rachel and Leah, Rebecca, Jochebed and Miriam, the list of characteristics associated with mothering grows ever longer and more diverse.

In order to allow ‘the other’ to achieve their potential in life, to fulfil their own calling under God, be it child or disciple, we will eventually have to let them go. As parents we may have to abandon our cherished ambitions for them, our own ideas about how others’ lives will unfold. They, and their values may not be quite the mirrors of ourselves that we had hoped for.

Another model of motherhood we’re offered as Christians is that of the mother church, which is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as: “The Church, considered as a mother in its functions of nourishing and protecting the believer.”

To understand the church as mother is to restyle our whole idea of family, because the church consists of that wonderful variety of people who hold in common their worship of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

At its best, the Church as mother offers the hope that nurture, compassion and loving acceptance are not the exclusive domain of one gender or one age group or one culture. At its best, the model of the Church as mother ensures that no one is excluded from the task of making disciples, because we’re all called to use our gifts to enable the flourishing of those who are our future. At its best, the Church will serve as an example of nurturing, loving service for the rest of society.

On this Mothering Sunday, as we consider the daunting, yet privileged task of nurturing, nourishing and mothering the next generation, where do we turn for advice? There’s always Mums net, or the endless shelves of magazines and books claiming to have the answer. In our heart of hearts, we know that there is no one right answer. As men and women of faith, we could do worse than take note of the words of Saint Paul in Colossians 3:

… clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts … Let the message of Christ dwell among you … with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus …

Without someone to do those things for us – without someone to look out for our interests, to defend us, to protect us; without someone to enable us to learn our purpose in life, without someone to model trust, faith, and joy; without someone who will love us enough to let us go our own way; without someone to take the risk of loving us, even knowing that that love may bring them pain; without someone to stand with us in our times of greatest suffering – without someone to do those things for us, we are missing something crucial.

Looking to the church as mother offers us the hope that by following the example of Jesus Christ, by dying to self, and preferring the needs of others before our own, we will draw others into the Body of Christ.

On this Mothering Sunday, let us thank God for our mothers. Not just what they have done for us but who they are. And let us thank God for those who are the mothers in our lives. Amen.

A Special Prayer for Mothering Sunday 

Heavenly Father,
We thank you for our mothers.
We remember today their loving care and their ceaseless love.
May we show them by our gifts,
Our words and our actions
That we love them and care about them too.

Heavenly Father,
We thank you for the family of the church. 
We thank you for those who are mothers within our church family.
May they know your blessing and strength as they care for others.

In the precious name of Jesus, we pray.
Amen.

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: The text contained in this sermon is solely owned by its author, Revd Paul A. Carr. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name.