The Anglican Church of All Saints

Click here to read the 22nd March Midweek Letter – “Reflecting on Mothering Sunday”

Click here to see a calendar of service & events from 19th February until 31st May.

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26th March – The Fifth Sunday of Lent (Passion Sunday)

11:00am – Sung Eucharist  Celebrant & Preacher The Revd Richard Frost

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29th March – Wednesday

10:am Holy Communion – Celebrant & Preacher The Revd Richard Frost
11:15am Lenten Course “Creation Care” led by Judith Rigby, and followed by Lenten Lunch

22nd March 2023

Last Sunday we celebrated the 4th. Sunday in the season of Lent also known as Mothering Sunday when we gathered to celebrate the gift of life given to each one of us by our parents, especially our mothers! We may wish to reflect on whether it is about nature or nurture or the other way about which has made who we are! So, last Sunday, we celebrated motherhood and thank God ‘who from our mother’s arms has blessed us on our way.’

I imagine that many of us have good memories of our mothers although, sadly, for some people, that may not have been the case. The recent lockdown in many cases has highlighted negative relationships. Whether our mothers are living or dead they will have left their mark upon us as they have fed and clothed us, taught us to read and write, shown us how to make and bake and no doubt left us with some wonderful turns of phrase and stories to tell! Let us then thank God for our mothers.

My mother’s family had a farming background on the island of Anglesey off the North coast of Wales. In Welsh ‘Ynys Môn’ or more often as ‘Môn Mam Cymru’ – Anglesey Mother of Wales. However the welsh word Mam can be translated as either Mother or Nourisher. This is due to her flat landscape and fertile soil which provided much needed field crops for the mountainous mainland of Wales.

On this 4th. Sunday in Lent we think of our Mother – our source of life and the supplier of our nourishment as we grow from babes in arms to adulthood.

Mothering Sunday also invites us to reflect upon the place of the Church being our mother. The idea of God being our mother is not new. The 14th century mystic, Julian of Norwich, expresses that in her Revelations of Divine Love where she talks of Jesus as our mother who feeds and nourishes our hearts, minds, and souls.

I suggest that it is through our baptism, whether we have been immersed, dipped, or sprinkled in water, that we are brought to life in Jesus Christ; and it is here in the Church we are nurtured in such a way as to put on the nature and mind of Christ our Saviour. Our baptism is but the birthing and beginning of a life-long pilgrimage of faith with all its many twists and turns as we journey through life. For some of us we may have been blessed by godparents and grandparents who have celebrated the important stages of our lives and have quietly and continually held us before God in their love and prayers. For others, Sunday School, Youth Fellowship, and similar groups may have metaphorically put their arms around us, holding us in the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ, therefore enabling us to grow and flourish as human beings.

The Bible reading often used for Mothering Sunday from Exodus 2 presents us not with the image of a mother – rather, that of a midwife. A midwife aids the birthing process for the mother and baby. Does this passage today invite us to consider the possibility that we are all called to be a midwife to one another in the sense that we are all called to help bring to birth the gifts and graces that we together share, thereby enriching the quality of life for the individual and Church community?

If this is true then let me conclude with some words of the Austrian philosopher and theologian Baron Friedrich von Hügel, who has the following to say:
Christ taught us to care.
Caring is the greatest thing.
Caring matters most.

Peter Lockyer
Reader