A busy week! Thought for the Week for w/b March 8th 2021

I am writing this short reflection on Monday, March 8th. Today is International Women's Day - a day where we a) celebrate the essential contribution that women make to our society, and b) mourn times past when they were disenfranchised and unable to live fulfilling lives, and when their voices were not heard.

This week is also special for many families, because this is the week that most children are returning to their schools and colleges. I know from experience how scary this can be for families - my little brother (who isn't so little now) returns to school this week; and although he is excited to see his friends, my family and I are naturally nervous about him mingling in large groups again.

Finally, on Sunday, we mark Mothering Sunday (often known as Mother's Day). There are many thoughts behind this day: the Christian thought is that, on Mothering Sunday, we turn to our 'mother' Church. Christianity often refers to the Church as the 'Bride of Christ', so on this day in particular we are encouraged to make a connection with our Church (even if we haven't had much of a connection hitherto). The historical meaning is that, on this day, most domestic servants were given a rare day off work to return to see their family. This, alongside Boxing Day, was one of the few times off they were granted. On this day most domestic servants would return a) to mother Church and b) to mother and father at home. It is said that the tradition of offering posies to 'mum' comes from these servants picking flowers from the roadside on their long walk home.

Although most of us would refer to God as 'He', 'His' and 'Him', the Christian faith has always been careful to make it clear that we do not think of God as 'a bloke'. In fact, some Churches refuse to use gendered language at all when describing God. I am not sure I would go that far, because I realise the cultural and religious significance of a father-child relationship in first century Jerusalem; and because the teachings of the Church from soon after the time of Christ referred to God as 'Father'. Indeed, Jesus often called God 'Father', sometimes even 'Abba' (meaning 'Daddy') - but, all this said, I feel that the extra verse in the well loved hymn, 'Praise to the Lord, the Almighty' sums it up well:

Praise to the Lord, who doth nourish thy life and restore thee,
Fitting thee well for the tasks that are ever before thee,
Then to thy need
He like a mother doth speed,
Spreading the wings of grace o’er thee.

So, friends: this week we give thanks for the contribution that women make in our society, we pray God's blessing on our school-children, we thank God for our mothers, and all those who mother us; and we thank the Lord that He transcends all human genders, loving us more than we could possibly imagine.

Let us pray:

Almighty God,
neither male nor female,
yet loving us like a Father and Mother;
we praise You for all that You have made
and seek Your blessing upon us as we journey through this week:
May Your Spirit rest upon our school-children, and those who teach them;
upon all our mothers and those who care for us;
and upon all those, whether man or woman, who seek to make this world a better place.
May we never think that sex, race, colour or creed affects how You see us;
and may we love our neighbour with the same love that You have for each us.
For the Lord Jesus' sake, we pray.
Amen

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Michael RJ Topple

Michael Topple is an ordained Elder in the United Reformed Church and serves as our Pioneer and Parish Administrator in the Church Without Walls Pioneering Initiative.