Readings:
Numbers 21:4-9;
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22;
Ephesians 2:1-10
John 3:14-21

Collect:
Merciful Lord, you know our struggle to serve you:
When sin spoils our lives and overshadows our hearts,
Come to our aid and turn back to you again;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Reflection

This weekend we mark Mothering Sunday. For some it is a joyful celebration of motherhood, and a chance to do something fun with family. For others it is a painful reminder of difficult family relationships, estrangement, bereavement, or the grief of unchosen childlessness. For many it evokes a complex mix of emotions, representing the complexity of our varied experiences of mothering and being mothered. All that – joy and sorrow – we can bring before God, knowing that God can and will embrace us in all our complexity, and whatever our feelings and experiences. 

But Mothering Sunday in the church is – or should be – about rather more than our relationships with our mothers and/or children. It is something rather more rich and nuanced than the secular celebration of Mother’s Day. There a number of strands to Mothering Sunday, each of which might resonate more or less with each of us.

As many of you may know, Mothering Sunday has its origins in the practice of young people in service being allowed the Sunday off on the 4^th Sunday of Lent to return to their mother church – the church in which they were baptised and confirmed. How widespread this practice ever actually was is unclear, but the symbolism of it has certainly caught the collective imagination. It is a reminder that mothering – nurturing, encouraging, caring – is work which is done in community. And a reminder too of the important role that we as a church community can play as ‘mother church’ in nurturing and developing the faith of all our members and those who turn to us for support – whatever their age. 

Mothering Sunday might also offer us an opportunity to reflect on the examples of motherhood we see in the Bible. In some churches, there is a particular emphasis on Mary, the mother of Jesus. In others, a broader range of examples of mothering might be considered. And we will no doubt quickly notice that mothering, as  portrayed in the Bible, is broad and diverse: scripture speaks to us of a wide range of women and men who nurture and care for others, and honours the place of step-mothers, adoptive mothers, foster mothers, other family members and even stranger who exercise a mothering role. And mothering in scripture is about more than nurture and care – the prophet Hosea describes God as a mother bear, fiercely defending her cubs (Hosea 13.8).

Which brings us neatly on to another strand of thinking around Mothering Sunday: the idea of God as mother as well as father. Isaiah likens God to a mother who comforts her child (Isaiah 66.13) and to a woman in labour (Isaiah 42.14). Jesus offers the image of himself as a mother hen longing to gather her chicks safely under her wing (Matthew 23.37 and Luke 13.34). Many contemporary liturgists, theologians and poets draw on mothering imagery to speak of God, and there is a precedent for that as far back as the writings of the early church fathers – and mothers! 

However we approach Mothering Sunday this year, may we know the comforting embrace of God, the mother and father of us all, who loves us unreservedly. 

Ruth Harley