Mothering Sunday 2011

Sermon for the evensong service

Mothering Sunday 2011

Mr. Clive Jackson, Lay Reader, St. Lawrence’s Church York.

The shops have been telling us for quite a time that April 3^rd. is going to be “Mother’s Day” no doubt in the hope that we will dig deep into our pockets and buy Mum a gift from them and so help them make a living.

But they are wrong! Today is Mothering Sunday. A day about being a mother and the qualities this skill needs. There is an hebridean saying which says “There is a mother’s heart in the heart of God.”

So what may we find in the heart of a mother. Last week we thought of people called by God to his service. Joshua, St. Paul and Mary the Virgin mother herself.

We thought of her obedience when she was called to bear His Son, to be what our friends of the Orthodox call the Theotokos, the God bearer. So in motherhood there is loyalty – a sense of duty, in Mary’s case to God himself.

Then there was the birth of Jesus. We are all aware that babies choose to “arrive” when they will and are no respecters of persons and their daily activities. The Son of God was no exception. He chose to be born at what was a most inconvenient time. When Mary and Joseph were having to do with a stable in which to sleep rather than a bed at the Inn. Did this require patience, self discipline and calmness on the part of mother Mary?

We know very little about the childhood days spent at Nazareth, Joseph being about his business as a carpenter. Mary cooking, cleaning, washing caring for her children. St. Luke tells us that she used to ponder things in her heart. She must have thought back to the occasion when those three sumptuously dressed wise men came and gave to her son those three presents, gold, frankincense and myrrh. Did she think about their symbolic meaning, gold for a king, incense for a priest and myrrh for use in burial of a body. She must have wondered and may be feared for her son.

Then there was the time when they took him up to the temple in Jerusalem for the Purification and an old lady and gentleman hailed him as “a light to lighten the gentiles”. How did she, a Jewish girl, respond to that? The parents of Jesus were true to their faith and observed the obligations which this laid upon them. So it was that when Jesus was about twelve they, together with other families, took him up to Jerusalem for the Passover. As we remember Jesus slipped away. Was the Son of God reaching teens and beginning to have a mind of his own and branching out in new ways which surprised his parents? We know that Mary and Joseph were not a little concerned when they found that he was missing from the group. Mary’s concern is clear “Son why have you treated us so. Behold your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” Quite a firm lady who was not afraid to speak her mind with clarity. Showing the care of a mother borne out of love for her child.

But mothers have a pride in what their children can achieve and Mary was no exception. There was the time when they all went along to a wedding at Cana in Galilee. We are not likely to forget that in the course of the celebrations disaster struck, they ran our of wine, as we know, Mary, proud of her Son and may be already aware of his qualities, urged him to do something about it. It would seem that he did so reluctantly but with good results, for the wine was better than that served earlier.

The next view we have of Mary the God bearer is in stark contrast to the merrymaking at Cana. She is standing at the foot of the cross upon which her Son is dying. There are times in the lives of mothers when life is awful as they see their children suffering and can do little about it. This must have been such an occasion for Mary. The same is true of God, this is why he sent Jesus. He who must have been very concerned indeed about the pain his suffering must have caused her; yet in the midst of this suffering he put Mary into the care of John.

This may be how Mary viewed the happenings in the life of her Son. We know that she was with the members of the early church and played a part in its life.

*The next hymn we will sing very soon, speaks of Mary’s sorrows, and her joys. These are reflected in the devotion used by Roman Catholics and some Anglicans, the Rosary. The word its self means a rose garden because the rose is Mary’s flower. In essence it is a series if meditations on the life of Jesus, his birth, presentation in the temple and the finding in the temple, they are called the joyful mysteries, there are others, the sorrowful mysteries and the glorious ones. One starts with the Creed, then between each one, the Lord’s Prayer, ten Hail Mary and one glory be.

By the way, when we say a Hail Mary we are NOT praying to her, we are only asking her to say one for us as we might ask each other to pray for us if we know that times were going to be tough.

*But I digress. Jesus came to show God’s way of love. We see it in him and the way he behaved, concern for others, for the sick and the weak. Scorn for the hypocrites and harsh words for the churchmen of his day who tried to reduce keeping the faith to a set of over complex rules and forgot the spirituality, the reason behind it all.

Mary his mother was not far away and was able to influence him during his growing up, so thank God for her.

Thank God for our own mothers and what they went through and the love they gave us and how they helped.

But thank God too for what has been called our Holy Mother the church, which, whatever our age, offers loving care to us on the pathway of life. Since we are part of that body of Christ we have our part to play in bringing this about with God’s help.

So the hebridean saying “There is a mother’s heart in the heart of God”, is worth thinking about.