This week’s Prayers and Readings for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Mothering Sunday
The Collect for this Sunday
Eternal God, give us insight to discern your will for us, to give up what harms us, and to seek the perfection we are promised in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Post Communion Prayer for this Sunday
The Old Testament Lesson for this Sunday is based on Exodus 2:1-10 and will be read by Debbie Haigh:
Through Miriam’s eyes.
I remember it as if it was yesterday. Moses was just a baby then, not the big strong leader he is today, And we were still living in Egypt then…Wow, it’s a long time ago, but it feels like yesterday.
The Egyptians were mean to all of us Israelites. We were God’s people but we were trapped there, living as slaves who had to work around the clock for the Egyptians. They called us names, worked us too hard, and sometimes hit us to make us work even harder.
I was just a little girl then, so I didn’t have to work, but I saw the way my people, the Israelites, were treated and I was very sad. We prayed for God to help us, to look after us and set us free, but we were still trapped.
For a while I still managed to be happy. Mum had just had brand new baby boy and I loved him. I followed Mum round the house, watching how she cared for the baby, and then doing the same for my doll. But Mum was still sad. One day she explained it to me. My beautiful new little brother wasn’t safe. The Egyptians wanted to take away all our little boys, to stop us from getting powerful as a people, in case that meant we would fight back or run away. Mum said she was frightened. And then I was sad and frightened again, too. But the next day Mum was smiling again. She had been praying and she had a plan. And she needed my help!
Together, we found a basket big enough for a baby, and made sure the water couldn’t get in. And then Mum said it was all down to me. If she left the house people would see, but I was small enough to hide in the plants along the river and follow the basket to make sure our baby was safe, and found by someone who could help look after him.
I cried so much when I put the basket in the water. That was my brother. We wanted to keep him with us, but the best way to look after him was to let him go. Now it was down to me, and whoever God would send, to keep him safe for us.
I was so scared! The river was big, fast and full of animals, but somehow God kept that baby safe. But after what seemed like the whole day, it reached a part of the river where the King of Egypt’s daughter was swimming. My whole stomach turned over. My heart was in my mouth. An Egyptian had seen the basket with my brother in it!
But it turned out God had sent her….she was kind and took the baby home, even though she knew what type of boy he was. She gave him the name still has today, “Moses”, which means “pulled out of the water”, or “saved”, because he was!
And although I was very frightened, I stepped forward - as if I had just been passing - and said I knew someone who could feed the baby if she needed help. Mum! So, Mum got her baby again, and she looked after him until he was old enough to become part of the King of Egypt’s family. Imagine that. - my brother in the palace! God was watching over him, and of course, helping me, Mum, and the King’s daughter.
Now you might have heard of my brother, Moses, he is very, very famous now! He’s had books written about him because he went on to save my people. God kept him safe because he had important things to do. Just imagine if we hadn’t been there to help God look after him….. the story would have turned out very differently.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The Sermon for Mothering Sunday is from Rev Denise Smith
I think this story this morning is one of our Bible stories that we read almost as a fairy tale that gets pulled out of the bag for special occasions such as Mothering Sunday. That is why I chose to do it in a different way, to try to make us think. As we dig a little deeper we see there is some profound teaching contained in this story, most especially about the value of children and our responsibility to nurture them into a sense of God’s destiny for them.
We can apply this teaching to our own children, grandchildren, nieces , nephews, if we have them, but very importantly to our church family children.The parents in the story are called Amran and Jochebed. They had a daughter called Miriam and then a second child called Aaron and Moses was their third child. Moses was born in the time when the cruel Pharoah declared , ‘Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw in the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.’
Jochebed nurtured baby Moses secretly for 3 months.what mother could hand a child over to such a brutal end? In Acts 7 v 20 Stephen tells us baby Moses was ‘well pleasing before God.’ in Hebrews 11 we are told the parents hid Moses as an act of faith. Could it be that they recognised something of the destiny of this baby? Did they sense that he was destined for great things under the guiding hand of God?
We might look at a baby and think it is adorable, but there is something different about seeing that baby as well pleasing in the eyes of God: a child of destiny. Don’t all children have a destiny to fulfil in the plans of God? We must never underestimate the role of the mother, of any parent or carer and it is up to us to support parents in the rearing of children within our own families and our church family. This we surely do through our Toddler group, Messy church and Baptisms. We need to continue to work hard to welcome young families back into church after the Covid pandemic.
Jochebed realised her own limitations of the care she could offer and so needed to let her child go. She wasn’t abandoning her child in the hope he would survive. No- it was an immense act of faith and trust in God on her part.
Question for the children.
How do think Jochebed felt when she said goodbye to her baby and placed him in the river?
It must have torn her heart out to leave him in the reeds; she could only do so because she knew God would be watching over him, her precious child. What faith that must have taken. The Nile wasn’t a gentle flowing stream, it is dangerous and fast flowing river infested with crocodiles.
Those of us with older children know how hard it is to let children go, for them to make their way in the world. We usually spend about 20 years nurturing,caring, providing and watching over them till the day comes when they walk out of the front door. We need to let them go to face the crocodiles and the current. We are not abandoning them; we are letting them go trusting that God will watch over them.
The basket used we know as a ‘Papyrus basket’. The Hebrew word is ‘tebah’ and it was only used twice in the Old Testament. Once here in the story of Moses and it is also the word used to describe Noah’s Ark in Genesis. Just as the Ark would carry the people of God with their animals through the tides and currents of life, so the Moses basket did the same so that he could grow to maturity and fulfil his destiny as a Deliverer. The tebah of God- whether an Ark or a basket protects the children so they will grow into their destiny.
Mothers and all carers must have the courage to place their children in the tebah of God, the loving care and protection of God, so they can fulfill God’s plan for them. It means WE have to have great courage and faith.
Jochebed who had felt the pain of handing her child over to God eventually got her child back again. Such was the faithfulness of God to her!
Children’s question.
How might Jochebed have felt when Moses was given back to her? ( she must have been so thrilled.)
We entrust our children to God but we never lose them; he will bring them back to us and even though our children may not be with us physically as they make their way in the world, the work of parents is never done. The nurturing, the caring, the courage and the faith is a lifetime’s work, a lifetime’s privilege, until the roles may be reversed as we all come to the end of our earthly lives.
Today is the day when we rightly show our appreciation to our carers and the part they play in the plans of God. Scripture is full of examples of women and mothers who have played a crucial role through their faith. The most obvious example is Mary, mother of Jesus. Without her saying yes to God, Jesus would not have been born. Because of Mary and her obedience to God , the Saviour was able to come into the world. She was warned that she would suffer because he would suffer. In a family when one person suffers all share the pain. We are all given to one another to care for each other. We need to cultivate the art of receiving mothering as well as giving it. We need to recognise that it may well involve both times of great joy and times of deep sorrow as we increasingly bear one another’s burdens. Mothering of this sort is rooted in God’s parenting of us.
Involve the children with the objects on the table.
Cotton wool,
Brick
Soft bath sponge,
Pan scourer
Our Mums or those who care for us need a special kind of love. It is a love which is gentle to care for us and strong to keep us safe. The Bible talks a lot about love. It says that God loves us in a way which is soft to comfort us and yet tough to protect us.
Psalm 91 v4 says ‘He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge.’
Let us always remember to say thank you to our mums for their love and to be happy that God also loves us and protects us with his gentle and sometimes tough love. Amen
LECTIONARY READINGS
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 63
1 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3 While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6 Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. 7 You are a hiding-place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. 8 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9 Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. 10 Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. 11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever. Amen
The Old Testament Lesson for this Sunday is taken from the Book of Joshua Chapter 5:9-12
9 The Lordsaid to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.’ And so that place is called Gilgal to this day. 10 While the Israelites were encamped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. 11 On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. 12 The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The New Testament reading for this Sunday is taken from the Second letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 5:16-21
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is taken from the Gospel according to St Luke 15.1-3 & 11b - 32
Hear the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, according to Luke Glory to You, o Lord !
1Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ 3 So he told them this parable:
11b There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” So he divided his property between them. 13 A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16 He would gladly have filled himself with[c] the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’” 20 So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21 Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” 22 But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate.
25 ‘Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27 He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.” 28 Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29 But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” 31 Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”’
This is the Gospel of the Lord Praise to You, o Christ !