One interesting side-effect of Lent and Easter being so early this year is that right at the beginning of March we come to Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent, when traditionally in churches we look at - you've guessed it - the role of mother: as played by God, by the church, by our own female parent or even by anyone and everyone, male or female, who displays nurturing and caring qualities.
On Mothering Sunday we have almost too much to think about; and it isn't always an easy day, for a variety of reasons. Though Jesus frequently called God father - and we all know that God isn't a man, any more than God is a woman! - we may not be used to thinking about God as our mother, and for some it can be uncomfortable thinking of our ultimate authority figure as having feminine qualities: just look at the difficulties some of our fellow Anglican Christians have in seeing women as bishops.
Traditionally our Catholic friends have seen the institutional church as female and the mother of all Christians, on the same basis as New Testament writers talking about the church as Christ's bride. So, as you'll have been told frequently, on this Sunday in the church's year servants were allowed to come home and visit their family;you may be sure they were firmly guided towards spending their Sunday morning in church that week! But for us Nonconformists, putting ultimate faith in any institution, even religion, can go against the grain. We know that it's not the minister or the moderator but the whole body of the congregation that is the church; we believe that the Holy Spirit guides us in our decision-making as we listen and talk to one another; but we also know that we don't always get it right. This mother is definitely fallible!
And of course that has to apply to our own mothers too. One of the wonderfully positive things about Mothering Sunday is that, once a year at the very least, the women who have changed our nappies, fed and hugged us, waited up till we came home, believed in us, encouraged us and loved us when we didn't deserve it, get their due - especially the quiet ones who normally stay out of the limelight. But we also know that no mother, however wonderful, can be perfect. Some mothers, carrying burdens of their own, cannot or will not give us what we need to thrive; and those closest to us can have most power to wound. Some women who would have loved to bear children are not able to become biological mothers. Others have no maternal feelings, and feel the whole topic passes them by. And what about all the loving men who care for children, their own or other people's? Isn't it unfair, in these days of somewhat more equal opportunities, never to acknowledge our father's role in our upbringing?
It may seem easier to skip over the subject altogether. And yet, Mothering Sunday is still an important day in the life of the church. It shows our children - and reminds us adults! - that thanking and appreciating those who love and care for us is a good thing to do. It reminds us too of our responsibility to make our own church a maternal body which supports and nurtures all its members and friends. It challenges any lazy ideas we may have about God as an old white man with a beard sitting on a cloud. And it gives us an oasis of cheer in our long journey through Lent with Jesus.