Services
Today, on Mothering Sunday, we celebrate our Mother Church and all those (related and unrelated, male and female) who nurture and care in our lives and in our world.
We hear again the story of the infant Moses from Exodus 2:1-10 and the community of individuals of different faiths and ethnicities who came together to keep him safe and raise him. In it, Pharaoh’s daughter names him Moses (which comes from the Hebrew verb Moshah to draw or pull out of water) “because, she said, I drew him from the water”. When Moses was drawn from the water, he was given a new life just as we are when we emerge from the waters of baptism. Just as Moses is given a new family, we too are part of a much wider family because of our baptism, a family, like Moses’, which is made up of people who are like us and people who are not. We are called to care for them, protect them and nurture them, to be mothers to one another. Pharoah’s daughter was taking a risk when she protected Moses, by law she could have been put to death. In Luke 2:33-35, Jesus has just been recognised by Simeon as one who will care for not only his own people but all people, Simeon knows that this will come at a cost. Our readings remind us of our baptismal calling, asking us to become a community of mothers who take the risk of extending love and protection to all those God sends to us.
Why, Isaiah 55:1-9 asks, do we spend our time, energy and resources on “that which does not satisfy” whilst refusing the gifts God offers freely? The answer has something to do with why Jesus’ contemporaries thought that those who suffer misfortune were worse sinners than those who escaped misfortune: we think that we are responsible for good gifts we enjoy, we think that we have earned them. Jesus and Isaiah are each try to change the way we see both ourselves and those who are in need. We are all in need of God. None of us can succeed by our own efforts alone. We are the same. All of us are vulnerable. And if all of us are vulnerable, how should we act towards those in need? In Luke 13:1-9, Jesus, having castigated those who think people bring trouble upon themselves, tells a parable of the man who wants to cut down his fig tree because it is not bearing fruit, it is not paying him back for the efforts expended on it: the feeding, watering and tending. But the gardener asks that, instead, the fig tree be given even more time and even more care. Jesus is inviting us to stop seeing the world in transactional terms but instead to view life in relational terms. When we are aware that we too are needy we are more likely to show empathy for others in need. If our eyes are opened to see that there is no distinction between the fortunate and the unfortunate perhaps we will be more committed to building a world in which the needy are responded to with the abundant compassion and generosity of the gardener.
Our first reading, Genesis 15:1-18, recounts God making a covenant with Abram. Covenants were usually two-way affairs, binding both parties. This acknowledged by them each passing between divided carcasses, symbol of the dangers of division. In this instance, only God is bound. Promising that God will remain faithful even when humanity fails. It is trust in this promise that gives Jesus the courage, in Luke 13:31-35, to continue on his way to Jerusalem despite the dangers that await him. He is given the opportunity to flee, to act in his own self-interest, but refuses. He understands that standing up to power has consequences but so does appeasing power, it will lead to his people being scattered like the chicks who refuse to be gathered together by their mother hen.
We are currently witnessing something similar play out on the international stage. In the face of threats (to impose tariffs, end military assistance, cut aid) governments around the world face the choice of putting their own interests first, protecting their own backs, or standing in solidarity with the weakest and most vulnerable. Our decisions may not be so far reaching and yet we all make choices that result in affirming or denying our solidarity with one another and with those most in need. We too can be agents of gathering or scattering. We cannot always trust those with power to use it for the good of all. We need to trust that God’s power is manifest always in gathering and never in dividing.
On the first Sunday of Lent our readings reflect on the importance of the wilderness, a place of uncertainty, where we are not in control and can no longer rely on our own strength. It is in the wilderness that we learn to trust in God and are formed into the people he made us to be. In Deuteronomy 26:1-11, the people of God have left the wilderness but are reminded of its lessons: that they are made by God, that their flourishing depends, not on their own hard work, but on God’s grace and that they are to share their blessings with others. Like his people before him, Jesus heads into the wilderness in Luke 4:1-13. Here the voice of Satan tempts him, encouraging him to be a Messiah who can feed the people, perform miracles, gain power and authority. Jesus resists these expectations by his commitment to listen only to God. We too are tempted by many voices, society, culture, family and friends all have expectations of who we should be but only God can tell us who we are. When we have lost our way, when we feel unsure of ourselves, God is inviting us to listen so that we can be formed and shaped back into the person God made us to be.
On Sunday 9th March at 6.30pm in church, our monthly choral Evensong service. During Lent Churches Together in Clapham worship together in the evening so we shall be welcoming our sister churches and Rev Kit Gunasekera from St James’ will be preaching. All welcome.