Mothering Sunday 2017
From Helen
Today is of course mothering Sunday, the day when we give thanks for Mums and all those who love and care in a motherly way.
Today is of course mothering Sunday, the day when we give thanks for Mums and all those who love and care in a motherly way.
There were once two little boys who decided to buy their mother some flowers. So they went out to look for a nice bouquet, however the only one that they really liked was too expensive, so they thought that they would buy her a nice house plant instead. They did this and presented it to their Mum who was really pleased. Then the younger of the two boys explained, “ well, Mum we saw a lovely bouquet, it was really pretty and you would have loved it, it had a huge ribbon across the top of it on which were the words,’ rest in peace’, we know that you always ask us to give you some peace so we would have bought it for you but we didn’t have enough money.” The Mum reassured her sons that a house plant was a much better idea!
In our readings today we have heard about love and care. From the love of the mother of Moses (Exodus 2:1-10) who protected him by hiding him in the bulrushes and then being paid to look after him, to Mary (Luke 2:33-35) beingtold that her newborn son was to suffer. The readings have reminded us of the amazing things that love can both do and bring.
In the Old Testament reading we heard of the love of a mother that she would risk being parted from her son in order to protect his life. Pharoah had been worried by the growth of the Levites thinking that they may rise up against him, and this is why he ordered all the new born Hebrew boys to be killed.
This is why the mother of Moses hid him. How amazing that Moses was looked after so well and by his own mother. It’s even more amazing that Pharoah who had put his order into practice to kill Hebrew boys would end up being defeated by one in Moses as God worked through him.
This is why the mother of Moses hid him. How amazing that Moses was looked after so well and by his own mother. It’s even more amazing that Pharoah who had put his order into practice to kill Hebrew boys would end up being defeated by one in Moses as God worked through him.
God used the love and care of people to bring Moses to a place where God could use him to save even more people.
In the gospel reading (Luke 2:33-35) we heard of the warning that was given to Mary and Joseph as they brought Jesus to the temple to be blessed. As Simeon blessed the family he noticed not only that Jesus was special but that Mary would suffer as a result of this.
Mothering Sunday is a day that is full of joy but it can also be a day that is full of pain too. Mary on the day that she took Jesus for His blessing would have been overjoyed to hear that her son was so special but she must have been concerned, perplexed, when she heard of the pain that she could expect.
Love and care is something that we can all understand but so to is pain and heartache. In our epistle reading (2 Cor. 1:3-7) we were reminded that yes we can offer love but it is nothing compared to the love that God offers us.
The other day I heard a preacher from America talk of how much God loves us and He said that we are to let the love of God invade us, he stays still for 10 minutes when he wakes up to pray and let God love him. I really liked this idea, of course I would need to have a cup of coffee first so I didn’t fall asleep when I was resting but what a lovely thought. The love of God all around us loving us, almost like the times when you go to sleep and wrap the duvet up around you, that, is like the love of God.
In the epistle reading we heard that God consoles and helps us in all our sufferings. And just in case we get too carried away with this we are reminded that God consoles us, so that we can help others. That is what today is about, it’s about love it’s about care and it is about sharing that love and care. It’s about offering love and happiness to people who are suffering from heartache, who are in pain in any way, it’s about bringing hope.
This last week we saw the attacks in London. A frightening time, a heartbreaking time for those who lost loved ones. Into all this God offers love and consolation and we are to do the same. Into every situation of pain we are to offer love and consolation, we are to bring hope.
There was a little girl in one of our Churches who liked to act as a Mum to the other children. This little girl watched her Mum and the love and care that she showed and the little girl did exactly the same to the other children that she knew. She was copying love.
I was thinking about this when I thought of the epistle reading which says that we are consoled so that we can console others. Consolation is an incredible thing, it isn’t just a pat on the back, to truly console someone is to get alongside them, to be there for them, it’s about showing true love and care. It can be easy to think that we are saying and doing the right thing but it is about more than this, it is about getting alongside a person.
I read once about someone who was very ill in hospital and was visited by a priest. The priest sat for ages holding hands with the person and then at the end asked if they knew all about Jesus. The patient in hospital said, ‘why did you have to ruin it. I thought you were here to be my friend. I do know about Jesus but right now I needed someone to just sit with me.’
Consolation is a true quality, it is about us putting ourselves where Jesus would be and offering more than just a kind word it is about going the extra mile. It is what Moses’ mother did, it is what Mary did, it is what Jesus has done for us and continues to do for us.
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