God is our FATHER and the church is our mother

Mothering Sunday – the Mid-Sunday in Lent

The Epistle for the mid-Sunday in Lent (in the classic BCP and western Eucharistic Lectionary) proclaims: “The Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother” (Galatians 4:26). The Jerusalem above, our mother, is a wonderful and powerful theme for us to ponder on this special day of celebrating the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must not call God “Mother” for he is “the Father” but we may and should call the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of God our “mother.”

In Britain this day is also called “Mothers Day” and thus the original meaning pointing us to the heavenly Lord and his Bride the Church is often and regrettably eclipsed by the celebration of human mothers and motherhood as a beautiful this-worldly reality. Happily in the USA what is called “Mothers Day” is wholly separated from Lent and comes in May. So there is little danger of the mid-Sunday of Lent being called “Mothers Day.” However, this does not mean to say that US congregations truly keep “Mothering Sunday” in its full biblical meaning.

But now to our great theme!

The Jerusalem that is above, that is the Lord Jesus Christ and his redeemed people of the new covenant in heaven in an everlasting ordered society and reality, is free – that is, free from all forms of bondage due to sin, the law of Moses, the weakness of the flesh, the conditions of space and time and any other possible means of restriction and constriction.

Further, this heavenly Jerusalem, this perfection of the Church as a fully redeemed, sanctified and glorified people of the new covenant of grace, is for those of us still on earth, “our mother.” That is, those who are the baptized disciples of Jesus Christ, and are pilgrims and sojourners on this earth in transit to the realms above where Christ now is, are to look to, and to regard, God’s Church in her heavenly, everlasting perfection as their “mother”.

Jerusalem as a city on earth was regarded in Old Testament times as not only the city of David and Solomon but also, and more importantly, as the city of God. There was the Temple, and there was the focus and center of the Covenants, both the Mosaic and the Davidic covenants. Jerusalem was the “mother” of faithful Jews and to her they went in pilgrimage for the great festivals of the Old Covenant; towards her they faced when they prayed; from her bounty they believed that their covenant life before God came; and without here they were as lost people. Jerusalem was nothing less for them than the city of God on earth and in and around her the final events of human history would take place, as all roads would lead to Jerusalem and all people come there to worship the LORD.

The Church as the new Jerusalem is likewise the very center of the activity of a covenant, this time the new covenant, wherein Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit are engaged in the regenerating, nurturing, teaching, sanctifying and redeeming those who believe the Gospel, repent and are baptized. In this covenant, by the word of the Lord and the power of the Spirit, in Baptism a believer is born again, born into the kingdom of God and the Church. It is the Church as mother who is the sphere where he is born again, where he is nurtured and taught, and where he is fed by the word of God and by the food of the holy Eucharist, the Holy Communion of the body and blood of Christ. The Church as mother caring for her children provides the ministers who do the holy work of administering the sacraments, preaching and teaching, and providing moral and spiritual direction, with pastoral care. Thus the Church as Mother takes care of the new-born persons from their baptism right through to their funeral service and then receives them into her everlasting abode to be fully and really members of the holy and free Jerusalem which is above.

It has often been said that a sinner who desires salvation from God cannot have the First Person of the Holy Trinity, God the Father, as his Father unless he first has the Church, the Church of the Father and the Son, which is the new Jerusalem above, as his mother. This is true, very true, and is what we celebrate this day.

However, in affirming it, we must realize that the Church is the creation of the Blessed, Holy Trinity and therefore is in no way whatsoever at all in any way to be seen as an equal of God the Father. Certainly the new birth, the being born again, occurs within the Church but it is an act that is only possible by the presence and agency of the Holy Spirit at the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ. And most certainly after a person is born again by the Spirit, he has the high privilege and gospel duty to address the First Person as “Our Father.” The task of the Church is to act like a mother in bringing souls to birth, and in nurturing, feeding, teaching, guiding and caring for them. Yet she only does these things, through her ministers and members, as they are inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit and in obedience to Christ. As the mother actively caring for her family, she is dependent upon the love of the heavenly Father, the grace of the Incarnate Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Thus the Church which is our mother is not merely and only the human reality and society – often so culturally and socially bound to time and place -- that we encounter meeting for worship services within buildings we call cathedrals, churches and chapels – that is, the groups of people who call themselves Anglican or Baptist or Presbyterian or any other denomination. The Church, which is the new and free Jerusalem and which is our mother, is in much of her life and ministry hidden from our eyes and discerned only by our enlightened spirits. That is why theologians have spoken over the centuries of the Church as being both visible and invisible – not one or the other but both simultaneously. In fact to be the holy, catholic Church, she must be unto us both visible and invisible.

Just as our Lord Jesus Christ is more than what the eyes saw and the ears heard when they beheld Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee or Judea, so the Church is more than the visible reality of the congregations/churches we know. For the truth about Jesus was/is that he is certainly man, assuredly human, but he is also divine – he is One Person made known in two natures, divine and human – and of course the divine is, as it were, hidden behind the physical appearance of male humanity.

Thus the full nature of the Church as the new Jerusalem is also, as it were, hidden behind and experienced through the presenting reality of the preaching of the Word, administering of the Sacraments, exercising of discipline, fellowship, worship, pastoral care and acts of charity of the local churches.

The new Jerusalem is with Christ in perfected glory and she is wholly free – free to love and serve God totally, and she is wholly free to be a people who love each other without any restrictions or reserve; and of course she is free from all sin, weakness and impurity. She is the perfect Bride of Christ.

However, for believers as pilgrims on earth and until the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus and their full redemption, the Jerusalem above is the gracious Mother embracing them in her arms so that they may all know the Father as their Father, and truly be his adopted children. She reaches out to them through the sometimes very ordinary means of grace known in the local church.

To have God as our Father we must have the Church as our mother for God has chosen to make us his children through his grace which we receive from the embrace of the mother, the Jerusalem above which is free.

The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon MA., D.Phil (Oxford)