Mothering Sunday, 19 March 2023, Austwick
In May 1373, a 30-year-old woman lay dying. A local priest arrived to give her the last rites and held a crucifix in front of her. Julian of Norwich, an anchorite and mystic, had been fervently praying for a greater understanding of Christ's passion, and in that moment she experienced a series of divine revelations, 'showings', as she later called them. Through these showings, Christ's sufferings were revealed to her with extraordinary intensity, but she also received assurance of God's unwavering love for humankind and his infinite capacity for forgiveness.
This experience formed the basis for Julian’s Revelations of Divine Love, the first book in English known to have been written by a woman. The Revelations are one of the most original works of medieval mysticism and have had a lasting influence on Christian thought and spirituality. [1]
In one passage, Julian compares God to a mother, saying that
… when [a child] is hurt or frightened it runs to its mother for help as fast as it can; and [God] wants us to do the same, like a humble child, saying, ‘My kind Mother, my gracious Mother, my dearest Mother, take pity on me.’ [2]
There is a line of thought in our scriptures which supports Julian’s suggestion that God is maternal. From the very first chapter of Genesis where God says, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us’, and we read, ‘male and female he created them’, [3] it is clear that God has a feminine side. In the book of Isaiah God tells the people of Israel, ‘Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.’ [4] When Jesus looks over Jerusalem, ‘the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it,’ we hear him say, ‘How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings’. [5] And he teaches his followers that the Holy Spirit is one who gives birth - to us, in baptism, where he says, ’Spirit gives birth to spirit.’ [6]
The life-giving, nurturing, protective, compassionate sides of the Divine Trinity described in these and many other passages, invite us to see God as our Mother.
And our scriptures are also full of celebrations of women - ‘extending back to Eve’ - who, knowing themselves to be valued and encouraged by God, thus shaped history. Later in the service we are going to sing a song about them: [7]
Sarah - who dared to laugh when God told her she would give birth to a nation in her old age;
Tamar - who risked her life to stand up for herself and secure her wellbeing in the face of the powerful patriarch Judah;
- and Hannah - who bargained with God for a child, and who, against all odds, became mother to Samuel.
When we sing in celebration of the women of the bible we will sing of Mary, of course, who bore God’s child, and accepted all the joys and pains of that exceptional motherhood: and who grasped the world-turned-upside-down nature of God’s kingdom, and sang powerfully of it in her Magnificat.
We celebrate the line of women in scripture ‘who took on powerful men’, defying unjust laws, such as Shiphrah and Puah, midwives who ignored the command of Egypt’s Pharaoh to kill all male Hebrew babies, and who avoided punishment by spinning him the line that the Hebrew mothers had such short labours that their babies had been born before the midwives could arrive.
We celebrate Rahab - who sheltered Israel’s spies in her Jericho home and told the soldiers who came looking for them that they’d gone, afterwards helping them escape.
And we celebrate Esther - who took great risks in the court of the king to prevent a genocide against the Jewish people. [8]
Today is a day for celebrating the line of women who were Jesus’ friends: Anna who sang as she held the infant Jesus in the temple; Martha and Mary and the other women who stood by Jesus, who fed and housed him while he ministered, who held him when he died, and who were the first to claim that they’d seen him risen.
Today is a day for celebrating the many women who nurture and sustain us, who fight for our right to flourish in life, who save and support us. Scripture sings their praises, role models all. So, as scripture also celebrates the maternal side of God, on Mothering Sunday of all days, let us sing their praises too.
Notes
[1] Alison Hudson, God as Mother and Julian of Norwich. British Library Medieval Manuscripts Blog, 8 May 2016; Elizabeth Spearing, translator, Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love, Publisher’s Summary.
[2] Elizabeth Spearing, translator, Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love, p.144.
[3] Genesis 1.26–27.
[4] Isaiah 49.14.
[5] Matthew 23.37-39.
[6] John 3.5-6.
[7] This and subsequent references are from the song There is a Line of Women © John L Bell 2002, 2018 WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow. Published in John L Bell & Graham Maule, Known Unknowns: 100 contemporary texts to common tunes. #78. Words below.
[8] Sarah: Genesis 18.1-15; Tamar: Genesis 38; Hannah: 1 Samuel 1; Mary’s Magnificat: Luke 1.46-55; Shiphrah and Puah: Exodus 1.15-21; Rahab: Joshua 2; The Book of Esther; Anna: Luke 2.36-38; Martha and Mary: Luke 10, John 11.
There is a line of women
extending back to Eve
whose role in shaping history
God only could conceive.
And though, through endless ages,
their witness was repressed,
God valued and encouraged them
through whom the world was blessed.
So sing a song of Sarah
to laughter she gave birth;
and sing a song of Tamar
who stood for women's worth;
and sing a song of Hannah
who bargained with her Lord;
and sing a song of Mary
who bore and bred God's Word.
2. There is a line of women
who took on powerful men
defying laws and scruples
to let life live again.
And though, despite their triumph,
their stories stayed untold
God kept their number growing,
creative, strong and bold.So sing a song of Shiphrah
with Puah close at hand,
engaged to kill male children,
they foiled the king's command.
And sing a song of Rahab
who sheltered spies and lied;
and sing a song of Esther
preventing genocide.
3. There is a line of women
who stood by Jesus' side,
who housed him while he ministered
and held him when he died.
And though they claimed he'd risen
their news was deemed suspect
till Jesus stood among them,
his womanly elect.
So sing a song of Anna
who saw Christ's infant face;
and sing a song of Martha
who gave him food and space;
and sing of all the Marys
who heeded his requests,
and now at heaven's banquet
are Jesus' fondest guests.
Tune: THE SEVEN JOYS OF MARY (Traditional)
© John L Bell 2002, 2018 WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow
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