B. Easter 5. 2009                                                                     Christ Church , York

It is the word of Scripture which most speaks to the very heart of God Himself. It is the word of Scripture which, more than any other sings the pure grace of the Gospel. And it is the word of Scripture which summarizes all that God is and was and will be. “God is love and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” God is love, proclaims the author of First John and God shows that love He has for us by sending His own Son into the world. What better day then to hear the words of this text which sing of love than on this Mother’s Day. For if there is any human analogy that best illustrates God’s love it is that love which a mother has for her children.

For most of us, Mother’s day is a good day, a sentimental day, a day filled with memories. Whether birthed, orphaned or adopted by another who became your mother, whether you were cared for by a sister, an aunt or a grandmother who was like a mother to you, whether that mother is still alive or is now in eternal rest, we all have a mother, someone who birthed us, gave us the gift of life and brought us into the world. On this day then we celebrate that great gift of life given to us and give thanks to God for all that is given to us through the gift of our mothers.

But every Christian has not only a birth mother but also a second mother in their lives and she is called Holy Mother Church . This phrase, Holy Mother Church , may not be familiar to many since it is not commonly used these days even in the Roman Catholic Church where I was first taught it. But it is an ancient image, almost as ancient as the Church itself and it is Saint Paul who first coins the phrase. Writing to the church at Galatia he says “But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above, that is the church and she is our mother.” Later the Reformer John Calvin would go so far as to say, “You cannot have God as your Father unless you also have the church as your mother.” Holy Mother Church then is an image grounded in Scripture and spoken of by many down through the centuries and it is partly that image which helped form and shape me in my identity as a child of God. And so while it is an image of the Church that is not used much anymore, and indeed in many quarters of that same Church it has all but been forgotten or simply ignored, it seemed appropriate on this Mother’s Day to examine this other important mother we have, Holy Mother Church . And now you see why it is that I wanted to sing “The Church’s One Foundation” as our hymn of the day because there we see just how many times the Church is referred to as “she” or “her.” In this wonderful hymn there is a full understanding of how the Church can properly be viewed, not just in the feminine form, but also as our Mother. For she is the bride of Christ, as we sing, the One joined in mystical union with her bridegroom who has come from heaven to claim her as His own. And if bride then mother, for the bridegroom has come to call all of us into His family as children of God.

Not every woman can be, or even desires to be, a mother. Many women live their lives as real and vital persons without ever knowing motherhood. But every church must be a mother or the Church will die. For in the baptismal font to which Nakayla and Naomi will shortly come, there will be a new birth in Christ Jesus, for in those waters we are all born anew and brought into the life of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. And so we become children of God and members of the Church which is the bride of Christ and our mother.

And just as I learned the earliest lessons of my life from my mother, so now gathered into the Church, I learn the earliest lessons about my faith in Christ Jesus my Lord. Here in the Church we learn that we are sinners. But here we also learn that we are saved through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the Church we learn that we receive new life through the waters of baptism and here we also learn that the Church is the means by which God provides for His people through the Word and the Sacraments which are the means of grace. And this is an ongoing process. For just as motherhood does not stop once a baby is delivered but rather that mother then goes on to tend and provide nurture for that child throughout life, so it is that Holy Mother Church is the one who nurtures and nourishes us in our Christian faith from the moment of our new birth in baptism until the last day when our coffin or urn will stand before these altar rails to be commended to almighty God.

Any mother knows that a lifetime of nurture is called for when we raise our children and some mothers will probably tell you that they never truly get their children raised. But mothers go about the business of feeding and nurturing their children so that hopefully they will grow strong and healthy. So it is that Holy Mother Church also nurtures her children. When we first come to the font we are helpless, weak and ignorant. As young Christians we have to learn about Christ, His life, His goodness and how to become as we are called to be, children of our Heavenly Father. So the Church, Holy Mother, takes us by the hand, holds us up, picks us up when we fall, encourages us when we falter. For like little children we do fall, stumble, complain, murmur, rebel and make lots of mistakes, which is why we know that we remain children of God because we are all in the process of growing up. But Holy Mother Church continues to feed her children through the Word read, taught and preached and through the visible Word we call the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.

And it is likely that your mother was the one who first taught you to say please and thank you, who taught you not to interrupt when others were speaking and who spoke to you, sometimes forcefully, about getting along with others, particularly your sisters and brothers if you had any. So it is that Mother Church tries to teach us how to act as Christians. Today we will call upon the parents of Nakayla and Naomi to faithfully bring their children to the services of God’s house; teach them the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed and the Ten Commandments; to place in their hands the Holy Scripture and to provide for their instruction in the Christian faith.” By these means and others, Holy Mother Church seeks to teach and educate all her children in the truth of the Word of God.

But in addition to all this love, nurture and education, mothers provide yet one more critical role and that is to teach the difference between right and wrong. Well do I remember, even as a small child, the chastisement from my mother if I failed to tell the truth, went somewhere without telling her or more flagrantly violated the rules of the house. So too Mother Church sometimes is called upon to chastise us, to tell us when we are wrong, to warn us and rebuke us when we go astray. Love is not always agreeing with another; sometimes a little of that tough love is called for if we are to be saved even from ourselves. So when the Word of God calls for us to confront others for their sins, it is done just like a mother out of real love.

And one final but very important word. While it is true that in our world, children are sometimes abandoned, cast out, disinherited for those things which the parents perceive that the child has done wrong, Holy Mother Church does not feel that way. None of us is too poor, too bad, too sinful, too dirty, too inconsequential or too troublesome but that we are still loved and cared for in the most loving of ways. Mother Church is willing to admit that, like all mothers, sometimes her children are disobedient or throw temper tantrums. But when that happens Mother Church worries just as all mothers do - that their child is running with the wrong crowd, developing unhealthy attitudes, getting into trouble and generally breaking our hearts. I have often said that if such things happened to my own children that I would be disappointed with them, upset at them and worried to death about them. But it would not mean that Sally and I would disown them just because they have sinned or made mistakes. And Mother Church feels the same about her wandering and disobedient children. No child of the Church is so wayward that we do not pray for their return. No child is so ornery but that they are still loved by her. Mother Church never sees any of her children as too ugly or unlovely to be wanted. There is not one of our children in the family of God that we can do without.

Holy Mother Church may be missing some of her children here this morning since they are not here worshipping with us. But Mother Church still claims them, seeks after them, prays for them and will welcome them when they return. For we are all children of God as Nakayla and Naomi will shortly find out and as children of the same heavenly Father, Holy Mother Church comes to enfold those same children with her love. Thanks be to God then for the gift of those whom we call mother and also for this Church, this Holy Mother, who enfolds now and always in her love. Amen.