Sunday 14 March 2021; Mothering Sunday
Lectionary Readings for Mothering Sunday
Exodus 2:1-10
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him. The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. ‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’
John 19:25-27
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Homily for Mothering Sunday
I am very happy to see you all here—-I am able to give a different kind of reflection because you are physically here, for Mothering Sunday. If you are a child or a young person, do take off your mask, as I need you to help me answer a question:
How can a building be like a mother?
Do any of you have any thoughts about that? Look around you—-up, and down, and all around you—-how can this building be like a mother?
It is always here.
It is welcoming.
It is beautiful.
From a long time ago—-as early as the 1500s—-the fourth Sunday in Lent, this Sunday, was set aside as a day to honour and give thanks to Mary, the mother of Jesus. If you were poor, if you were from a family where you were sent out to work in another household, sometimes as young as the age of ten, sometimes far away from where you grew up, you were expected to go back to your 'mother' church - your family’s church. This was the way to celebrate this day. You were given the whole day off to somehow—ride on a cart, or walk, back, sometimes picking flowers along the way to decorate the altar and give to your mother, whom you would otherwise not see very often. So every Sunday you would worship in a daughter church, but on this fourth Sunday of Lent you would eagerly look forward to celebrating in your own, mother, church. Bringing offerings of thanks.
It is hard for us to imagine being separated from our mothers at the age of ten, I think. It is hard for me to imagine that!
Not all of us can be a mother, but we all have had a mother.
Can you imagine never having had a mother?
What are the qualities of a mother that you think matter the most? That make a mother, a mother?
She is loving, kind, patient, helpful, teaches you, comforts you, stays with you through hard times and helps you celebrate good times….
She cares about you more than herself…..
Mothers are hard to replace, aren’t they? They are able to offer us things that others can’t.
So, here is my question again:
How can a building be like a mother?
Like our mothers, it can offer us love, care, good teaching.
And in addition to all these things, it can also offer us something that other buildings can’t—-a special sense of God’s presence—-a sense of holiness.
Do you see the little booklet, the pamphlet, that I think most of you have? It is all about an exciting new plan to make this sanctuary even more beautiful, even more welcoming, conveying an even greater sense of holiness. To make this side space here more like a chapel for daily prayer—-look at the way the stained glass windows will be put in! And above me, here, there will be painted a wonderful blue sky, full of stars. I think that this plan will enable this building to be more like a mother.
Do you remember that story in the Gospels about Jesus’s mother, Mary? Jesus was surrounded by a big crowd of people one time, talking with them. And someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” But Jesus didn’t say: oh, they have priority! Make way for them—-they are more important than all the people I am with here—-he replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
When Jesus was on the cross, in the Gospel of John it is reported that near him stood his mother and some other faithful women, and a disciple he especially loved. When Jesus saw his mother, Mary, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.”
How can a building be like a mother?
It can enable us to gather in a way that no other building can.
It can gather us, like a mother, and offer us an opportunity to hear, and reflect upon, Jesus’s own thoughts about mothers. How we can care for one another like a mother, in a way that is deep and true and lasting.
As we all realise, these days, after what we have experienced this past year, it is important to celebrate together, in person, gathering together, like this.
So we give thanks today for our mother church! Amen.
The Revd Dana English
St. George’s Campden Hill, London
March 14, 2021