Church celebrates Mothering, not just Mothers! (From Watford Observer)

Church celebrates Mothering, not just Mothers!

4:14pm Monday 15th March 2010

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Last Sunday many people celebrated Mothers Day.

In the church, we celebrated Mothering Sunday.

They have lots of things in common, but some important differences.

At our Communion Service, we heard the story of the Prodigal Son, who went away from home and wasted all his inheritance - but was still welcomed back into the family by his father.

At our Family Service we heard about Moses in the bullrushes, We learnt how the infant Moses was saved from death by the bravery of his mother, his older sister and the daughter of Pharoah, who adopted him and raised him as her own son.

Only one of the people in those stories was actually a mother. But all of them show us examples of ‘mothering’. Mothering involves caring for those who are vulnerable, protecting them, feeding and nurturing them, forgiving and healing them, taking risks with love; and most important of all, letting go, so that they can grow up and make their own way in the world.

You don’t have to be a ‘mother’ to do ‘mothering’. Mothering can be done by male and female, young and old. Mothering happens whenever people care for others and meet their needs.

It’s good to say thank you to our own mothers. But the church celebrates mothering, because that reflects the motherly love of God for us all.

And that’s not a modern feminist viewpoint! It was recognized in the 14th century by Mother Julian of Norwich who said: ‘As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother, and he revealed that in everything, and especially in these sweet words where he says: I am he, the power and goodness of fatherhood; I am he, the wisdom and the lovingness of motherhood.”