Sermon for Mothering Sunday (Colossians 3:12-17 and John 19.25-27)
Originally given 19 March 2023 at St. Alban’s Church, Coventry
Everybody wants to save the world. Nobody wants to help do the dishes…or the laundry, or the cooking, or the cleaning, or the endless list of domestic chores that often (but not always) fall on a mother. Perhaps these two ideas seem so laughably disconnected, but are mothers not part of the world. In helping just one person you can help save, at the very least, their world…just like the starfish I talked about a few weeks ago.
I’ve started with talking about mothers because today is called Mothering Sunday. But Mothering Sunday isn’t about mothers. At least, not historically. Historically it was simply a day in the Church that people would return to visit their ‘Mother Church’, which was the church where they were first baptised and officially became part of the church family. Despite the historical origins, the day has morphed into something quite different, and perhaps more American and more secular. It’s a day when children are expected to tell their mothers how wonderful they are. But what if their mothers aren’t wonderful? Or what if their mothers are no longer on this earth to be told how wonderful they were? It’s also a time when mothers get to feel special for the life they’ve been able to give to another human. But we don’t talk about the childless mothers. The people who struggle with infertility, or the people whose children have died. We don’t talk about the babies that were born sleeping or the babies that were never even named. We don’t discuss the pressure from society that if you do have a child or children after a loss, you’re meant to somehow move on from or even forget about the one or ones that are no longer with you, or the one you never got to hold. Because all these conversations are just a bit too uncomfortable. In church, there seems to be a pervasive belief that we’re meant to talk only about the joyful things, leaving no space for lament.
I don’t think that’s what Jesus wants for us though. In today’s Gospel reading he addresses his mother and his beloved disciple, naming these two as each other’s son and mother. He knew the deep grief his mother and his disciple would feel at his death, and so he gave them to each other for comfort in their time of sorrow. And the brilliant thing about the beloved disciple is that they remain nameless. So the beloved disciple works out as anyone who Jesus loved, or anyone who Jesus loves. So you are the beloved disciple. And therefore you have a mother to love and comfort. A perfect mother who loves and comforts you. Jesus does not expect us to avoid grief or mourning, but Jesus gives us a path through that grief. And when that grief feels overwhelming, we have the knowledge that we are surrounded by the beloved disciples to carry us through when we have no strength for the journey. That doesn’t mean we pretend we’re not hurting. To be human is to experience pain, which Jesus knows only too well. But when we openly lament, when we openly grieve, when we openly hurt, we can then open ourselves to the love of Christ to start to heal with the help of the beloved disciples whom Jesus has given us in our lives.
This takes us to the Colossians reading, full of advice for how we should live in faith and how we should help others to live in their faith. Verse 15 tells us, ‘Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.’ The Christian faith is not an isolated island. We are a community. We celebrate Holy Communion together not only with all who are present in this specific location and time, but also with all around the world, with all who have come before us and with all who will follow after us. The Christian faith is about relationship. Yes, our personal relationship with God, but just as importantly our relationship with each other. So we see in verse 14 it says, ‘And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.’ The law given by Jesus is to love God and to love each other, and both of these together form the entire law. One is not greater than the other, and they are one in the same. In loving God, we love each other, and in loving each other, we love God. In this we are acting as the beloved disciples, and we are also acting as mothers.
So as we come to this Mothering Sunday, I implore you, do not let your hearts be discouraged. We all come with our different stories and different experiences. Some of you may be joyfully looking forward to celebrating this day with your biological mothers or your biological children. Or maybe you’re looking forward to honouring someone who has filled the role of mother for you. Some of you may have come dreading this day due to estrangement or bereavement. But know that whatever your earthly experience is, we have a hope that is greater than this. In Christ Jesus, we know we are all the beloved disciples, loved by our perfect Mothering Father. And in our Christian faith, we know we all take on the caring, nurturing, and loving role of a perfect mother for their child. So I say to all of you, look at each other, this is your child. And look at each other, this is your mother. And above all else, look to the Lord your God, who is always with you through the people who are beside you in your journey, the people who love you, the people who mother you through God’s perfect love.
Reflections of a Christian 