Pastoral Letter
Dear Friends,
The fourth Sunday of Lent is traditionally known in the Church as 'Mothering Sunday'. This year it falls on 22nd March. Mothering Sunday shouldn't be confused with 'Mothers Day', which is celebrated in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Japan, Turkey and United States on the 2nd Sunday in May.
In this country we celebrate 'Mothers Day'on the same day as 'Mothering Sunday', which is where the confusion has crept in. Mothers Day celebrates motherhood and all the burdens and joys that mothers experience in bringing their children into the world; watching over them, bringing them up and helping them take their place in the world. In the United States it came into being as a direct result of the American Civil War, when so many mothers experienced the dreadful burden of the loss or the maiming of their sons who went off to war. Mothers were prayed for, and given presents to comfort them in their loss, and to bring a ray of sunshine into their lives.
Mothering Sunday is very different. Centuries ago the Church developed a tradition of encouraging worshippers to make an annual pilgrimage to their local Cathedral, or 'mother'Church on the 4th Sunday in Lent. This annual visit to the Cathedral became known as 'Refreshment Sunday', to reflect the refreshment of faith associated with visiting a great Cathedral. In those days daughters of poorer families often left home at an early age to work in service in the manor houses. Those in service were encouraged to take part in this festival day, and so those daughters would inevitably be re-united with their families at the Cathedral on 'Refreshment Sunday'at 'mother' Church - and so the Sunday became known as 'Mothering Sunday'.
On the journey to the Cathedral the girls would pick wild spring flowers from the hedgerows and woods to make a posy to give to their mothers when they met up with them.
Inevitably, the journey to the Cathedral would be tiring, and the weary travellers would require physical refreshment as well as spiritual refreshment, so the tradition grew up of the Cathedral giving every visitor a piece of cake. The cake was called a Simnel Cake, which is a fruit-cake with two layers of almond paste, one on top and one in the middle. The cake would be decorated with sugar icing and 11 marzipan balls representing the 11 disciples (Judas didn't count!).
We maintain the traditions of Mothering Sunday in our Churches today. We give each child a posy for them to give to their mother, and some Churches also distribute Simnel cake.
Mothering Sunday is a lovely occasion to celebrate the blessings of family life, and to give thanks for the role that mother Church plays in being at the heart of those key moments in our lives - marriage, new birth and death. We try to make it a truly family occasion, and to engage both children and parents in thinking about the key part that God wants to play in family life through His Church. We also celebrate the crucial role that mothers play in giving life to and in sustaining their families, and above all we celebrate the crucial importance and meaning of love in our lives.
Do come along and share Mothering Sunday with us.
May God bless you all,