Honoring Mothers - Rector's Rambling for May 11, 2025

     

As a liturgical church, one with an inherited liturgy and calendar, The Episcopal Church keeps the second Sunday in May as whatever Sunday after Easter it is (Easter being a Feast Day that moves according to a lunar calendar).

In my last parish we had a few people from local protestant churches who attended our church on this day because we did not celebrate Mother’s Day as a liturgical holiday, with all hymns, readings, and the sermon based on the virtue of being a mother.  They were unmarried, or unable to have children, and appreciated that although we certainly acknowledged Mother’s Day, we were bound by the scheduled readings and ecclesiastical calendar for our worship and sermon theme.

Here at St. John’s, I hope we strike a happy medium with our wonderful Mother’s Day hymn, written by a former priest of this parish, and a hearty welcome and thanksgiving in prayer for mothers present and those who have gone on to eternal life.

But primarily we are today about the Third Sunday after Easter, with the emphasis on the Resurrection, and our looking forward to Jesus’ Ascension and the coming of the Holy Ghost.

Today, as all Sundays, is a wonderful opportunity for us to pray that Jesus Christ may be known and loved by more and more people.  And weekday Masses and Evening Prayer Services add to this as well.  It is good for the community, the world, and good for us, to be praying to glorify God, to be instructed in His Holy Word, to offer our intercessions and needs before his throne, and to be praying together (whether physically or via livestream).