A mother places her three month old son into a reed basket and leaves him in the river. The baby’s big sister looks on until the baby is found.
A teenage girl arrives home to find the house all locked up and nobody home. She sits shivering and worrying on the doorstep for several hours before her mother returns.
A family gather around to celebrate a happy event. Mum and dad fuss proudly around their young offspring. Everybody is happy.
A father stands at the grave of his wife. His two young sons look bewildered at the mound of freshly dug dirt.
A mother stands at the foot of a cross, watching her son die a cruel and seemingly unjust death, listening to his final words, she weeps.
So here we are, another Mothering Sunday sermon, and I wonder what it is you were expecting? I wonder what it is my mum, sitting over there, is expecting – no pressure then!
If we were to take a quick poll I think we would find as many different experiences of mother as there are people here. Some will think of their own mother, others will think about themselves as mother.
As we can see by the snap shots described at the beginning, there are many and varied experiences of this thing named ‘Mother’.
Some experiences are painful, for some of us ‘Mother’ is not a word that holds much comfort. Perhaps we grew up without our mum, or she was so into her own needs that she failed to notice ours.
Some are good experiences, a mum that always seemed to be there when we needed her, a mum that smiled and laughed with us and taught us the value of love.
And what about our experiences of being ‘Mother’?
Some long to have children but choices and circumstances and nature have conspired to render it impossible.
Some have lost children, in infancy, in adulthood or before they were even born.
Some have children but the baggage they carry from their own childhood makes being a parent so hard, sometimes too hard. And often the cycle of abuse and neglect is continued on to a new generation.
Some take to parenting like ducks to water, rising to every new challenge and loving every part of it.
And then there are the men. At this time of year it is easy to overlook the feelings and needs of men. They too have good and bad experiences of ‘mother’ in a variety of contexts but the focus seems always to be on the women and the men folk barely get a look in.
So along with all of these differing experiences come a number of different expectations.
I have been known to avoid church on Mothering Sunday, especially before Peter and Ellie, came along. I didn’t want to hear about how mums are great and how we should celebrate them. My childhood left me with some issues to deal with and for a while I didn’t feel I had anything to celebrate when it came to the relationship with my mum. Today things are very different and I don’t know what I would do without her – I even find myself wishing sometimes that we lived a lot closer to each other!
The point remains though, that some would rather avoid church on this day altogether rather than sit through a service that only highlights the pain of their situation.
As I was preparing this I was very aware of two families. One of a young woman whose mother died last week and of another where the youngest child, a girl of three, died after a sudden illness. For these families Mothering Sunday this year will have a new and painful resonance as they contemplate their losses.
So with an awareness that one persons joyous occasion maybe another persons nightmare – where do we fit in? What is our place as a church and as individuals in the bigger picture?
Lets look again at the reading from Exodus.
At first glance this could be a reading about abandonment. The mum puts her little baby son into a basket in the river and runs away. We can only guess at the emotion this mother felt as she left her baby and ran away, perhaps praying that some how everything would turn out ok.
In the extract we don’t get any of the background to this action – just that it happened.
The background is that the king had demanded that every Hebrew male newborn should be killed. He was worried that the Hebrew numbers were growing way too fast and the Egyptians had all forgotten about Joseph and what he had done for them.
So this Hebrew mum had hidden her little boy for three months before she left him in the river. She just wanted her son to have the best chance of survival. So she left him where he would be found by elite Egyptian women in the hope that one of them would take care of him.
She left Miriam, the older sister, to keep watch and make sure he was safe and in the end everything did turn out ok. Her little boy grew up to be the one to lead the Hebrew people out of slavery. A happy ending.
Moses became part of a new family and grew up healthy, happy and loved. Modern families are made up in a variety of ways, some of that variety is reflected in our congregation, and we don’t need to venture very far into the community to find more examples.
We are all part of Gods family and as such we have an obligation to support one another, love one another and to be there for one another. In the good times, in the bad times, all of the time.
Come with me for a moment, back to that cross on a lonely hill outside the city walls. Listen – Jesus is speaking to his mother and his closest friend –
Dear woman, here is your son,"
"Here is your mother."
This verse is often discussed in the context of John taking on the care of Mary as she advances in years. As the oldest son this would have been an obligation borne by Jesus. Here he passes that obligation to John.
But – this relationship is not all one sided. Jesus does not just address John; he also speaks to his mum and gives his friend into her safe-keeping.
Jesus has created a new family unit and in doing so provides for the needs of all concerned.
Not all of us have good experiences of motherhood and mothering. So who is responsible for those who didn’t have mothers, or who had bad experiences?
Who is responsible for the lost, the un-mothered?
Who is responsible for the hurting and the vulnerable?
Who is going to care for those who grieve?
Jesus gives an example, in the midst of his own pain, he reaches out to provide his best friend with a mother
He reaches out and provides his mother with someone to care for her and someone for her to take care of.
Here is a reciprocal arrangement of mutual love and support, so that everyone has somebody to look out for and somebody looking out for them.
Who is responsible? We are.
Whose job is it? It is ours.
We are all responsible for each other. We are a family and like all families we are occasionally dysfunctional, but that shouldn’t discourage us from doing all we can for each other.
But it doesn’t stop there. It isn’t enough that we take care of each other within these walls we all so need to bring God’s love to the hurting world on our doorstep and in our local community.
Listen again to the words of Jesus – is there a message for us in our situation 2000 years later?
Dear woman, here is your son,"
"Here is your mother."
St Peters – here is Radford.
Radford – here are people who will care for you.
People of St Peters, here are those amongst you, sitting next to you, who need you. Look after each other care for each other, support one another, nurture one another, love one another.
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