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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Kate Wharton

Good morning.

Yesterday was Mothering Sunday, or Mothers’ Day as it’s generally known these days outside of church circles. Unlike many special celebratory days, we mark our UK Mothers’ Day at a different time from our American cousins. For us, because of its origins as Mothering Sunday, it falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent. Some Christians get annoyed that one of ‘our’ festivals has been commercialised and changed its meaning. Personally I don’t mind at all, I like to remember the history of the day, but recognise that inevitably things change their emphasis over time (though I do have strong opinions about where the apostrophe in ‘mothers’ should go!). For some of us, Mothers’ Day is a day of joy, fun and celebration. For others, for many different, complicated reasons, it’s a day of pain, hurt and sorrow.

Where that’s the case, maybe remembering the origins of Mothering Sunday can help us. In the distant past, this day was about ‘mother church’ rather than our mums. Domestic servants would have the day off, and many people would return to visit their ‘mother’ (that is, their home) church. So maybe there’s an opportunity here for us to honour and give thanks for our ‘mother church’ (or equivalent) – perhaps a church, or another place of worship, or a family or community, the place where we were loved and nurtured and encouraged in our faith journey in our formative years.

Loving Lord Jesus, we give thanks today for the people and places who have loved and nurtured us, encouraged and challenged us.

Amen.