The Church of England is to broadcast a special service to mark Mothering Sunday this weekend.
The online service tomorrow, March 10 will feature music by Andrew Earis and St Martin’s Voices and will be broadcast at 9am on the Church of England’s Facebook and YouTube channels.
The Church says that while Mothering Sunday brings great joy for some, for others it touches on deep loss or unfulfilled longings. The Bishop of London will pray for those experiencing sadness, as well as for those for whom Mothering Sunday brings joy, in the pre-recorded service broadcast from the Old Deanery of St Paul’s Cathedral. In her opening remarks Rt Rev Dame Sarah Mullally says :
“This is a day of great joy and gratitude for some. For others, it touches on deep loss and unfulfilled longings.
“Some live equally fruitful lives without ever becoming parents. Most who do have children experience periods of sharp anxiety about our parenting skills.
“Many adults have complicated relationships with one parent or both. And there are people who have no biological children who play vital, nurturing roles in the lives of the young people life sets in their path.
“Today we want to rejoice in the gift of motherhood, but we are hugely aware of the sensitivities on which we may tread.”
Bishop Sarah will lead prayers for families suffering economic or emotional distress and for those who despair for their children in places of danger and deprivation.
The service will also hear reflections from the Church of England’s Deputy Director for Racial Justice, Rev Dr Sharon Prentis who says:
“Families come in different shapes and sizes and there is one thing that is always constant – and that is love.
“Love is the foundation which grounds and secures us, that holds us tight in the depths of sufferings and celebrates with us in the heights of joy.
“Mothering Sunday for me celebrates the gift of love from He who is love.”
The vicar of St Stephen and St Hilda, Audenshaw, London, Rev Amy-Elizabeth Sheridan is also taking part in the service.
There will also be hymns sung by St Martin’s Voices, based at St Martin-in-the Fields, in London.
Bishop Sarah reminds listeners that God loves, nurtures and ‘holds all of us’, whatever our circumstances, relationships or shape of our household:
“God is always with us, in our joys, our longings, our grief and our questioning.”
The Church of England has streamed a national online service from parishes across the Church of England every Sunday on Facebook, YouTube and the Church of England website at 9am for four years, with thousands joining together online to worship.