What's in a name: Mothering Sunday?

Over the past few days I have seen the price of flowers rise, the shops are filled with cheap DVDs, twee little figurines, overpriced cards and chocolates. My friends, and children, are wondering what gift they should buy to make real the reality that they too are caught up in the act of worship before them. Sadly though I'm not speaking about Mums but about shopping!

'Mother's Day is a chance to buy something that says 'I love you!'  So says a sign in a shop window and yet, of course, this wasn't always the way it was for once it was about belonging, gratitude, love and, yes you've probably guessed, Church.

Mothering Sunday was one of THE events of the year, especially if you were in service for it, along with Boxing Day, was a day that was generally given as a day off from the daily toil. This was a day when people returned to the church where they had been baptised to give thanks for their baptism and, as it was their home church, it also meant a family gathering afterwards.

As they made their way home to family and feast the children would pick some of the emerging flowers and this is where the tradition of giving flowers on Mothering Sunday began. At the home there would be a special (Simnel) cake to go with the meal - usually decorated with twelve marzipan balls. It was a time for families coming together and celebrating that they were one and this is why we met last week; for we are one family despite the different names and denominations.

My prayer is that we would celebrate being made one through the love of God as shown by Jesus, the Christ (and Easter's coming to remind us of this), as Church and that we would value our earthly families and cherish Mother (and Father and brother and sister and children and . .  .) and work to live in love and peace with them and all people in the coming year.

Don't wait for Mothering Sunday - every day is an opportunity to go 'a mothering' and to celebrate our Mothers too.

So may you have a blessed and joyous Mothering Sunday and may you give thanks for those who gave you life, taught you how to live, nurture (or perhaps nurtured) you and surrounds you with love - as as you stop to think of them remember that both apply equally to earthly Mother and spiritual Mother Church.

Pax

Amazing (or selective) Grace

An American psychologist tried an experiment which saw him standing in a prominent place handing out money as a proclaimed 'free gift'. As people passed by they were offered a crisp new banknote with the message that it was free. Interestingly, few took the proffered offering!

Now whilst some were surprised by the response and the low take up of the money, I have to say that I wasn't and for a number of reasons:

1. Distrust - our natural cynicism leads us to doubt things on the grounds that it 'looks too good to be true'.

2. Distrust - who would offer something of value for free?

3. Distrust - who is this person giving out money? An unknown person with unknown motives - sounds like an invitation to a time share presentation or a starring role on 'Candid Camera'.

4. Distrust - if I grab the money it will make a statement about me. It will say I am needy, or greedy, or one of a number of things that present me in a negative light.

Although I could go on I'll stop at just four reasons, although of course there are many more, and parallel this with salvation and grace.

I am repeatedly on the end of a discussion which ends up with me being told that how it is so very wrong that anyone could have a God, especially a 'God of love', who would deliberately create everyone knowing in advance that more than half of us would end up in eternal punishment.

To this point I would like to respond by taking the example of the psychologist with which we began as a parallel with this salvation issue. The money was offered to all and yet only some chose to take it. The reasons for not taking the offer differed but the results fell into a number of distinct groups, the two main classifications being:

a. They accepted the gift, and
b. They rejected the gift.

There were subsets, those who wanted to see if it was still on offer the next day or wanted to think about it, some wanted to see what happened to others who took the banknote and perhaps dialogue with them to see what they had and why they had it.

The parallels are obvious and so I will let you dialogue internally (and hopefully externally too) on this concept of amazing grace and selective acceptance and leave you with some questions to ponder;

Where are you with this - is the gift yours?

Where are those you love - accepted or caught in distrust or lost in self?

What about those in your workplace, on the bus, train or tube?

The offer of the gift will last but being finite we won't!

Pax