Dear Friends,
Throughout this past week we have experienced days of sunshine when we have been aware of the gifts of God in and through his creation. Our gardens have exploded with colour and we have responded with wonder and joy.
This Sunday we are invited to respond in wonder and joy to the gifts we receive through our relationships and in particular our relationships within families and the role of mothering. We are invited to thank God for our earthly opportunities for mothering and being mothered and also remember the mothering parenthood of God.
We have examples of different mothering through stories in the scriptures. There is Moses whose mother saves his life by placing him in a reed basket in the river and is discovered by and then mothered by the wife of Pharaoh. There is Samuel conceived after much longing and prayer and then dedicated to God and left at the temple at an early age. There is Mary, mother of Jesus who cares for her child having been told that in his life a sword would pierce her heart.
In all these stories there is no attempt to sentimentalise what mothering involves; the pain and the aching, the bewildered confusion and times of misunderstanding and grief, as well as the joy and affection, shared laughter and the delight in watching a human being develop and mature.
When on the cross Jesus commits his grieving mother into the care of his disciple John, we are seeing a wonderful example of the way we are all given to one another to care for and look after. May we recognise that caring may well involve both times of great joy and deep sorrow as we increasingly bear one another’s burdens and suffering.
Throughout our lifetime many of us who have mothered are then in receipt of mothering, not least through the hard work and dedicated care of those who visit homes as daily ‘Carers’ or those who work in ‘Care’ homes.
So let us all respond with wonder and joy to the gifts we receive in and through our relationships, remembering that all stems from the mothering love of God who is the giver of life.
With love, In Christ
Daphne