MOTHERING SUNDAY John 19.25-27 Today we give thanks to God for mothers and for those who were mothers to us. But mothering Sunday is not just a family affair. The idea was prompted from a bible reading ( Galatians 4.26 ) that is still read when the BCP lectionary is used. It speaks of the Jerusalem from above which is āour mother from aboveā. It became the day to celebrate the community of the Church, of our āmotherā, of all those people in space and time who have put their trust in the promise of God and in Jesus Christ. Apparently this was the Sunday when people would travel to their āmother churchā, and in time those in domestic service would be given a day pass to visit their mothers. So today we celebrate both human families, and in particular our mothers or those who were mothers to us, and also the community of the people of God. Our readings reflect that. Exodus 2:1-11 tells us about Moses and his two mothers. I have very little knowledge of the workings of the court of Phara...
Luke 13:1-8 The barren fig tree. Source of image unknown. Please let me know in comments. This is a very Lenten passage. It is headed in many versions as saying āRepent or perishā. The audio of this talk can be found here It is one of those passages which might be used by street preachers. It is a call to repent, to turn back to God. 1. We are called to repent of our judgementalism. Some pilgrims in Jerusalem, who had gone to make an annual sacrifice, had been murdered by Herodās troops. We have no alternative source for what happened, but we know that religious festivals could be high tension times and there were regular clashes between the authorities and pilgrims. It seems that the people talking to Jesus imply that the murdered pilgrims must have been doing something sinful to have suffered their fate. Perhaps, people said, they were offering the sacrifices but had hidden sin in their heart and God was not to be deceived. Perhaps they w...