Thoughts for Mothering Sunday

4th Sunday in Lent : 6th March 2005

1 Samuel 20-end  |  Colossians 3.12-17  |  Luke 2.33-35

There are around 360 references to 'Mothers' in Scripture-pretty notable in a somewhat 'male' dominated book!The poem 'Incarnation' by Kathy Galloway, never actually mentions 'mother love' but it gives a strong sense of tenderness & mothering-& the hard stuff; Likewise, the Bible is not always clear about what is being said - nevertheless there is a strong sense of the tenderness, the love of God ...and of course, the hard stuff ...unanswerable questions.

Paul says in Romans15:4

"The scriptures written long ago were all written for our instruction..."

...and in 2Timothy3:15

"...inspired scripture is useful for teaching the truth & refuting error..."

I find myself in agreement with Paul.

Parallel lives

In the first book of Samuel, where we find today's reading, we learn of Hannah's anguish, not only barren, but taunted cruelly by her husbands other wife Penninah, who had had five children. However, at last after pleading with the Lord and many tears, she at last bears a son, Samuel.

Because she had made a vow, to give her child back to the Lord, the time came when she accompanied Elkanah, her husband, to the temple at Shiloh, some distance from her home, and handed her little one over to the priest-I find myself greatly moved by this & could have understood if she had not honoured her vow. I would guess she experienced much pain at the parting.

She lived so far away that she could only see him when she went up with Elkanah to offer the annual sacrifice, taking a little coat that she had made for her firstborn,-we are told that she eventually had five more children. But in spite of her inevitable underlying sadness at that time, she sang a song, starting with the words:

"My heart exults in the Lord, I rejoice because you have saved me"

I then discovered that the new testament accounts of Mary, when she presents Jesus in the temple, tells of her song:

"My soul tells out the greatness of the Lord, my spirit has rejoiced in God my saviour"

(look up 1Sam 2:1-10 & Luke 1:46-55)

I feel sure that there is a strong possibility that Mary knew Hannah's song off by heart! She was probably steeped in the Scriptures.

So then I reflect that these two mothers had much else in common-great faith, great love of God, great love for their children, also a willingness to give them back to God; we sort of do the same in Baptism today - but we don't generally leave them in church, though sometimes we might want to.

Engaging with God....

So there we have it, and I am left pondering how much we modern mothers have in common with those women of the scriptures!  I certainly have found that the bible is an endless treasure store of inspiration and great stories - if you take the time to really engage with it, you begin to experience life getting more interesting and exciting as time goes by - because you are, in fact, engaging with God.

Elaine Noonan
Lay Preacher, St John the Evangelist, Pevensey Rd, St Leonards on Sea