Week Four – Mothering Sunday
written by Rachel Collins
A day of light and darkness
Mothering Sunday can be a time of joy or a time of struggle. There are so many reasons that people find it a difficult day. When preaching on Mothering Sunday in a previous year I found a liturgy that included lighting a candle for some situations but also extinguishing it when praying for others. So often we light a candle to mark something significant, but how often do we use the changing of flame to smoke to show solidarity with those in pain and be willing to sit in the darkness? Sometimes we need to acknowledge the darkness of the world before relighting the candle to show the hope of Jesus.
To ponder:
- Where do we find joy and want to mark it with light?
- With whom in our world do we need to sit in the solidarity of darkness?
- Where do we wish to light candles to bring Christ’s hope?
Prayer:
Light a candle for those who discover today is a day of joy. The newly expectant mother. The mother seeing her child grow and develop. The Grandma holding her first grandchild. Others known to us.
Extinguish the candle for those who find today is a day of pain. The single mother struggling to feed her children. The middle-age woman trying to cope with yet another miscarriage. The mother who no longer gets to hold her child in her arms. The woman whose friends’ lives are filled with grandchildren when hers is not. The person whose mother is no longer with them. Others known to us.
Relight the candle to mark Jesus’ light in the world, and we as children of the light.
Hymn: Singing the Faith 120 We gladly celebrate and praise
Bible link: Ephesians 5: 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.
These Lent reflections are written to link with the 2017 Easter Offering Dedication service, ‘Shine like Stars’ which will be used by most circuits of the Methodist Church in Britain during the weeks following Easter. Orders of service and other resources can be found at www.mwib.org.uk
