The wee boy was only just five years old. He had been at school for about six months. That Friday afternoon he and the rest of the class had spent a good hour sticking tissue paper petals onto a card. In his best handwriting, he had inscribed the legend:

‘To mummy, Happy Mother’s Day love Dean xxx’

At the end of the afternoon, full of excitement, and trying to remember to keep the card hidden until Sunday morning; he ran across the playground to where his mummy stood. As he got to her, he thrust out his hand with the card and said:

‘Happy Mummy’s Day’

forgetting that it was supposed to be kept for the coming Sunday. My Mum, I think, still has that card kept safe, just as my memories of that afternoon are deeply lodged in my brain cells. Some of you might have similar keepsakes or memories given to you by loved ones, when younger.

The name; ‘mummy, mum, ma, mother, mam, mom’ or whatever form you use or are known by, is a name that is communally shared by the vast majority of the female population of the world. Sometimes it might be a name that is over used or in some cases rejected. Sometimes, it might be a name that a woman has longed to be called but who has never heard it said to her. Sometimes, too, it may be a name no longer said to the person to whom it used to be addressed.

Today, I do not deny, can be a very difficult day for some people both female and male. Not everyone has had a good relationship with their mother, not everyone has known their mother, not everyone who has wanted to be a mother has been able to be one and some mothers are no longer with us. The name mother or mum or whatever can be a name that causes tears and pain, as much as joy and smiles.

There may be also times when a mother does not wish to hear herself called so. Days when the ‘little darlings’ are driving her mad and demanding her attention, when she might actually desire a bit of peace and quiet. I can remember days like that for my mum.

“Mum, mum, dad’s fallen out of the apple tree and cut his head open.”

My sisters and I ran in shouting this and it fell on deaf ears. My mum was fed up with us that afternoon and had decided to turn a deaf ear to us for a while. Only when dad staggered into the kitchen pouring blood did she hear what we were saying!

As children we learned a lot that day. If mum was deaf to the name mum we would catch her out by calling her by her actual name – an unusual one at that; ‘Cosette’. ‘Cosy’ worked too. Poor mum, I realise now that she hardly ever had a minute’s peace.

The image of an ever attentive, ever listening and ever responding mother is a good analogy for the feast we are keeping this morning. Although Mothering Sunday has become associated with our own mother’s (or those who fulfilled that role for us) it is actually to do with Holy Mother Church.

A celebration of the fact that everyone can find a place, within her ever open and welcoming arms. Well, that’s the theory. In practice rules and regulations placed upon the church (often by men) can mean that some people end up being excluded from those loving arms.

The history of the church is at times bloody and cruel. Those within her welcoming confines have sought to keep her to themselves and to make it difficult for others to enter in. For example; when Jesus initiated the Holy Communion he did not say who could and who could not partake of the bread and cup. He shared what he blessed with all of his disciples including Judas. Members of the church, though out the ages have, however, created hoops for those who wish to receive the sacrament, to jump through:

“Are you baptised? Are you confirmed? Are you of good standing with your denomination? Are you a regular at this church? Are you one of us?”

Rather than offering the sacrament to all who gather at Christ’s table, the Church has often tried to make it a members only club, affair. Thankfully we ninth Scottish Episcopal Church are somewhat more relaxed today but we constantly need to examine how open our church is to God’s people. I have stopped being surprised but am still saddened by those out with the church who say to me:

“I’d like to go to church but I am not sure if I am can as I am not a member or if I am allowed.”

The church is not a club but it can often appear to be such to those in the wider world. I wonder what Jesus would make of it all? In fact he might wonder what the Church is as he did not set it up. It was those who followed him who did so. I hope he would see the Church as an institution that at its best is good and wholesome and can offer a loving home to those who wish to follow his ways but I suspect he’d give us all a hard time as to why it is like it is.

As a Church and a Congregation we need to constantly ask ourselves if we put people off coming to Church by the things we say and do.

Do we keep our church to ourselves or do we regularly invite others to join us. Do we decide who is welcome or not? Holy Mother Church has her arms ready to embrace all and any who care to enter into her company.

This Mothering Sunday, with memories of those who have loved and welcomed you in to fellowship both in your lives and in the church, think about who it was who first invited you to church and then think whom you could ask.

Who do you know who might be waiting for an invitation to come to the Good Shepherd? Is it not worth risking them saying; ‘No thanks’ to your invitation in the hope they might actually say; ‘Yes please’? Even if someone asked says; ‘NO’ most of us still like to have been asked. God’s people need to know that they are not excluded from the love of Mother Church or of our God.

Your task is to ask someone to come to church with you. You never know they might actually say; ‘Yes’ and it might change their life.