Sunday 30th March 2025 – Family Service led by Martyn Macphee
Martyn confessed that Mothering Sunday had snuck up on him unnoticed as he planned his reflection around the lectionary readings (the Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son). When it had struck him really hard between the eyes that it was mothering Sunday, he’d decided to focus a bit on the parables but wrap it all together around the relationship between Jesus and his mother, which would give us a glimpse of this mysterious, marvellous, and challenging thing we called motherhood.
What we knew about Mary was to be found in a few very brief vignettes through the Bible. The first was the visit by the Angel Gabriel to Mary to tell her that she was going to bear a son. It had come as a bit of a shock for her as she was still a virgin, but reassured, Mary began preparing a place for Jesus in her heart, as mothers do. And we were reminded that just as our bodies were nourished in the waters of our mother’s womb, so also were our souls nurtured by the loving thoughts and prayers of the mother who was carrying us.
The next vignette in the Bible came about 12 years later when Jesus went AWOL after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. A child going missing was gut-wrenching experience for any parent – but this one allowed Martyn to move to the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Son.
The kingdom of God was explained as like a good shepherd who has a flock of a hundred sheep who, losing one of them, would leave the others and go after the one that was lost until he found it and brought it back. The Lost Son emphasised that we never ceased to love and care for our children – regardless of how stupid they could be on occasions.
These Gospel stories confronted us with the magnitude of God’s infinite mercy, forgiveness, and love, but also struck at the heart of our value systems. Martyn came from the Isle of Mull where, when he was young, every crofter would go out walking the hills every Sunday to ensure that all their sheep were safe. He wondered if it was the same in 2025, or whether now it would just be seen as the cost of doing business: one sheep out of a hundred being an acceptable loss. But with God, every sheep counted. Nothing was lost.
We all gave up easily, didn’t we? When others fell through the cracks, we were quick to write them off. Not so in the Kingdom of God. Regardless of the son’s stupidity, the love of his father (and mother) welcomed him home. We lived in community with each other so that being lost was really about being separated from each other. Being lost had to do with our connection to each other, so that to talk about one who was lost was at the same time to talk about the effect the one who was lost had on others – like the man who said in the wake of his wife’s death. “It’s not only that I’ve lost her, but I’m lost without her”. Mothers and children were in many ways like one person. So back now to Mary.
Mary and Joseph had travelled all day before they realized that Jesus was missing so had had another day’s journey back. They’d found him in the temple, talking to the Elders, breathed a sigh of relief, and then Mary did what most mothers would have done. She hugged her son, gave him a kiss and then gave him a rocket up his backside. Mothers had this capacity to reassure and reprimand their children in the same breath. Contradictory forces, but for a mother they went hand in hand. Mothers wanted to expose their children to the possibilities of the world while at the same time protecting them from its dangers – a difficult thing to do.
Mary next appeared in Jesus’ life at the scene of his first miracle – the wedding party at Canaan of Galilee where the wine had run out. It was Mary who had stepped in: Jesus, hadn’t wanted to get involved, his hour had not come. But Mary had said, “Get on with it”. It was probably fair to say that up to that point no one knew he had the power except his mother. She knew what her son was capable of – perhaps better than he knew himself.
One of the most difficult moments, for Mary had come little bit later in another vignette. She’d got wind of the gossip going around that her son was acting irrationally and possibly possessed by a demon. When Jesus had got word that his mother and brothers were outside, he’d said, “Who are my mother and brothers?” and “Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and my sister, and my mother”. Jesus hadn’t denied his relationship to his mother, but he had set the limits of her authority. He was accountable only to God and it was up to Mary to now step aside. And that was one of the hardest things, for a mother to relinquish control. Mary had had the courage to let go and take a back seat.
The final act in Jesus’s relationship to Mary came on the hill at Golgotha, at the cross. We could imagine the anguish she felt. Standing beside her was her was Jesus’ beloved disciple John. It was his final act of devotion to entrust the care of his mother to his closest friend. She had gone with John to Ephesus, where she lived a long life, and served as a model of faith and devotion to Jesus in the development of the early Church.
So Martyn had extricated himself. And he ended with a postscript, ‘When God Created Mothers’ an amusing but powerful piece by Erma Bombeck
“When God Created Mothers”
When the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was into His sixth day of “overtime” when the angel appeared and said. “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.”
And God said, “Have you read the specs on this order?” She has to be completely washable, but not plastic. Have 180 moveable parts…all replaceable. Run on black coffee and leftovers. Have a lap that disappears when she stands up. A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair. And six pairs of hands.”
The angel shook her head slowly and said. “Six pairs of hands…. no way.”
It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” God remarked, “it’s the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have.”
That’s on the standard model?” asked the angel. God nodded.
One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, ‘What are you kids doing in there?’ when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn’t but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and say. ‘I understand and I love you’ without so much as uttering a word.”
God,” said the angel touching his sleeve gently, “Get some rest tomorrow….”
I can’t,” said God, “I’m so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick…can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger…and can get a nine year old to stand under a shower.”
The angel circled the model of a mother very slowly. “It’s too soft,” she sighed.
But tough!” said God excitedly. “You can imagine what this mother can do or endure.”
Can it think?”
Not only can it think, but it can reason and compromise,” said the Creator.
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek.
There’s a leak,” she pronounced. “I told You that You were trying to put too much into this model.”
It’s not a leak,” said the Lord, “It’s a tear.”
What’s it for?”
It’s for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride.”
You are a genius, ” said the angel.
Somberly, God said, “I didn’t put it there.”
And of course, we ended with the traditional bunches of daffodils for the ladies -and some of the men. I checked and they had not come from outside!
Potters Bar United Reformed Church 