Jesus you reminded your friends that
They were your mother and father,
Your brother and sister
Whilst you were on earth:
They were your family!
That includes us!
That is a concept so difficult to grasp,
Yet helps us to come to terms with this day
In the church’s year.
Some of us treasure our mothers,
Either in person or in memory.
Some of us have never known the mother who bore us,
Or have so little to recall.
Yet others have memories of regret, of grief, of bitterness.
Motherhood is not exempt from the trials
The realities of life.
So those of us who love you
Jesus
Are reminded that the church is called
To be like a family:
To mother the motherless of any age,
To nurture and to nourish,
To listen and to be alongside.
Mothering is not smothering:
It may need to be smoothing and soothing,
Encouraging and revitalising,
Even carefully critical,
Concerned for the life of the child.
The Life
We give thanks for all those
who have been mothers for us,
Loving Jesus,
But we want to lift to you those mothers
Whose lives are so hard,
So damaged,
So lacking in hope
That they need mothering themselves.
In your mercy,
Gracious and Life giving God
Reach out that they may
Reach towards you
And find hope.
Amen Hazel Parsons
Reading: Mark 3:31-35
SthF. 685. In Christ there is no east or west
