The fourth Sunday in Lent is known as Mothering Sunday or Mother’s Day in Britain and Ireland. This is the story …
Epistle for Mid-Lent Sunday
The fourth Sunday in Lent, which in 2024 is Sunday 10 March, was often called Mid-Lent Sunday, since it fell in the course of Lent. Since mediaeval days, the set lectionary reading for mid-Lent Sunday, was from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians from chapter 4 verse 21 to the tip of the chapter. In this letter, St Paul told the story of the 2 moms: Hagar, mother of Ishmael and Sarah, mother of Isaac. Paul explained that “this has one other meaning as well. Each of the 2 women stands for one among the agreements God made together with his people” (Galatians 4:24, CEV). Paul sees them as an allegory, where Hagar represented the old covenant of law, and Sarah the brand new covenant of grace.
Key Verse
The key verse within the epistle is where Paul wrote about “Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all” (Galatians 4:26, KJV). In the New Testament epistles the heavenly Jerusalem is known as “town of the living God” (Hebrews 12:22) and “the holy city, latest Jerusalem… prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2 NIV). The latest heavenly Jerusalem is the spiritual Church, the bride of Christ, and our spiritual mother.
Mothering Sunday
It was due to Galatians 4:26 that mid-Lent Sunday was historically related to moms. The tradition grew that on Mid-Lent Sunday people would return to the family home that day. It was usual for apprentices and domestic servants to have the time off to go to their moms, and married little kids would take their very own children. Families could be re-united, and together visit their home or “mother” church, and have a meal with their mother. This was often called “going a-mothering”, and hence the day got here to be colloquially called Mothering Sunday.
Mother’s Day
These days Mothering Sunday can be often called Mother’s Day. Confusingly Mother’s Day in Britain and Ireland will not be the identical day as Mother’s Day within the US, which falls on a distinct day. American Mother’s Day has quite a distinct origin, but was also Christian. It stems back to Miss Anna Jarvis, who was deeply inspired by her own Christian mother. In 1908, on the second Sunday in May, she organised a memorial service on the anniversary of her mother’s death, at their church in Grafton, West Virginia. This was arranged not only to honour her mother, but all moms. Following its success, she resolved to make it a national event, and drove a successful campaign to put it up for sale. Many churches across the US began to adopt the brand new Mother’s Day. Within a number of years, it became so popular that in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson officially declared the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day within the US.
Revival of Mothering Sunday
Meanwhile the old traditions of Mothering Sunday in Britain had nearly died out. In 1913, Constance Penswick-Smith, a vicar’s daughter in England, examine Mother’s Day in North America. She thought it was an excellent idea, but didn’t see the necessity to have a latest Mother’s Day, when there was already Mothering Sunday. She began the Mothering Sunday Movement to advertise its revival. She designed Mothering Sunday cards for Sunday School children to offer their moms, and in 1917, throughout the Great War, she wrote to army chaplains to encourage them to get soldiers to write down home to their moms.
In the Nineteen Twenties Mothering Sunday was then picked up and promoted by the Mothers’ Union. By the time that Constance Penswick-Smith died in 1938, Mothering Sunday had change into re-established across Anglican churches in Britain and Ireland, and other church traditions began to adopt the concept as well. By the Fifties, Mothering Sunday was firmly established as Mother’s Day in Britain and Ireland.
This Mothering Sunday as you honour your individual mother, possibly keep in mind that Mothering Sunday all got here about due to a verse within the Bible. That verse summarises the concept those whose trust is in Jesus change into children of God through grace. God becomes our spiritual father, and the Church our spiritual mother.
