In celebration of Mothers
This month holds a very special celebration on the third Sunday of Lent. It is Mother’s Day or Mothering Sunday as it was more traditionally called.
Mothering Sunday was originally a time when people returned to their ‘Mother Church’, the one in which they were baptised or where they attended services when they were younger. This meant that families were reunited and returned to the towns and villages where they grew up. In time, it became customary for young people who were working as servants in large houses, to be given a holiday on Mothering Sunday. They could use this day to visit their own mother and often took a gift or food. In turn, this moved towards the modern celebration, which we know today.
Many families get together around their mother and celebrate with a special meal out and I love to see generations of the same family all gathered together. The shops are bursting with beautiful bouquets and bunches of flowers to give as gifts to our mothers and the array of special cards are in abundance too.
However, for some it can also be a sad time, remembering the mother they can no longer hug, or perhaps some wish they had a different or closer relationship with their mother. Others may not be a mother yet and long for a day when they might have a child.
I love the image of a mother hen in this verse from Luke 13 v 34
‘How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings’
That feeling of love, safety, nurture and warmth is so necessary for young to thrive and a human need in us all.
However we will be spending Mother’s Day this year we can be sure that God longs to gather us up and meet all our needs in Him.
Services will be held around the Mission Community on Mothering Sunday 22nd March to which you are all warmly invited.
Linda Joy
Children and families worker
Holyford Mission Community
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