Without wishing to be gender exclusive, Mothers Day is a good time to reflect on the role mothers have customarily played in the life of children. In many respects they parallel the role of the church – us – in fostering faith in others. Here are three words which come to mind to describe it:
PROTECT
Mums protect their children, fiercely. If you go walking in the Canadian woods and somehow come between a bear and its cubs, it will likely be the last walk you take! Young children are vulnerable. Mums protect them from accident or incident, from themselves or from others, and from harmful external influences.
People also need protecting in faith. Many outside influences will seek to squeeze out our faith in Christ – the forces of secularism and consumerism will erode and evaporate faith unless we protect ourselves from constant exposure.
NURTURE
Mums nurture their children. That is to say they teach and train them, they pass on beliefs and values and behaviours. They are not neutral bystanders existing to feed and wash and clean, and respond to the whims of their children. They are imparters of life and meaning, of roles and responsibilities. They ground their children in a worldview and value system that will equip them for life.
The church also is a nurturing community. We nurture others – and one another – to grow in our walk with Jesus and live in His way rather than our own way. We embed beliefs, values and behaviours in one another which reflect the way of Jesus. We encourage, urge, and spur one another to be who we were made to be.
RELEASE
The most difficult task of the mum is to release, to allow the growing child to make its own decisions – and take responsibility for them. This is the fruit of protecting and nurturing. This is a release of control and a trust in God, for the realisation comes that they are firstly God’s children and only secondarily ours.
The church, too, is a releasing community. We are not a cult or sect which seeks to control. We release people to the purpose God has for them, that participation in community is free and open, that we live with healthy inter-dependence with others. The church is a launch-pad for the flowering of divine fruit and purpose.
This Mothers Day may we thankfully acknowledge the work of mums, and may we recognise the parallel call on all of us to be a community which protects, nurtures and releases.