She said: “The Mothering Sunday is a celebration of the Anglican Church from the early Church. It was originally a day to honour and give thanks to the Virgin Mary, also known as “Mother Mary”, for her agony as recorded in Luke 2:35. The Celebrations required people to visit their mother Church – the main Church or Cathedral in the family area. As Christianity spread through Europe in the 16th Century, the celebration increased and was included in the Church Calendar as Mothering Sunday; an Occasion to thank and appreciate all mothers as well as a family honoured reunion. It also became a celebration when children, especially the girls who had been away from home as domestic helps or apprentice had a day off to join their family and see their mothers.

The Mothering Sunday is celebrated in the Anglican Church every Fourth Sunday in Lent, which is also three Sundays before Easter. Since it is celebrated mid Lent, it is also known as Refreshing Sunday, where fasting could be eased for the day and people could enjoy a delicious meal together as family amidst the lent.

The Mothering Sunday does not have a fixed date, as it is linked to Easter season, which changes annually according to the Church Year Calendar.

Difference Between Mothering Sunday, Mother’s Day, Women’s World Day Of Prayer And International Women’s Day

Although the four celebrations centre on women and are internationally celebrated, they are different from one another.

• Mothering Sunday is celebrated by the Anglican Communion Worldwide on the fourth Sunday in Lent. The celebrations embrace the motherhood of Mary, the Church as the Mother of all and our Mothers in different homes.

• Mother’s Day is an American social celebration in honour of mothers, which started on 12th May, 1908 by Anna Jarvis. It is celebrated every second Sunday of May. It is not connected to the Mothering Sunday, which is a church event.

• Women’s World Day of Prayer is an ecumenical World Christian Women Prayer, which comes up every 1st Friday of March. It is meant for every Christian Woman Worldwide to participate.

• International Women’s Day – is a United Nations Day for the celebration of women all over the world, no matter one’s nationality, tribe, religion, race, etc.

Significance Of Mothering Sunday In The Anglican Church Today
• It is a day of honouring all married women in the Anglican Church.
• It is a day to show love, gratitude and appreciation to all Mothers through acts of kindness and giving.
• It is a day when all women/Mothers are expectant of receiving gifts and goodwill from their Husbands and Children.
• Mothering Sunday is the only Sunday women are given free hand to officiate in Sunday worship, taking charge of all the functions.
• One of the days the family takes the centre stage in worship and special prayers are offered on behalf of families.
• The less privileged and vulnerable members of the society are visited and given gift.

A Message For All Mothers At This Year’s Mothering Sunday
Mothers are called upon to be Lois and Eunice of our time (2Tim. 1:5; Act 16:1). Lois and Eunice were the mother and grandmother of Timothy. Apostle Paul met these two women while he was on one of his missionary journeys. He was impressed by their sincere faith in our Lord Jesus— a faith without hypocrisy or fake exaggeration. Despite living in Lystra, a gentile city, they were committed Christian and passed this faith to Timothy. Their lives had great influence on the young Timothy, which helped him to grow spiritually and became one to whom Paul could entrust the Church’s leadership.

As women and mothers, we have greatest influence to impact our present generation and generations to come. Our lives speak volumes and people around us learn a lot from them.

Let us be Lois and Eunice of our time to bring up godly children and grandchildren, the moral vices and evils of our present age notwithstanding.

Mrs. Angela Ndukuba, Provincial President, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)

Addressing mothers during this year’s Mothering Sunday via ACNN TV Station of the Church of Nigeria, Mrs. Ndukuba, who is the wife of the Primate of the Church, described the occasion as “a Sunday, where mothers are remembered and celebrated by their husbands, children and those around them.”

President of the union, who said motherhood is a rare privilege, urged mothers to extend their care to the less privileged in the society such as children in the orphanages, hospitals and prisons so that they too will have the feeling of family lives.

She also admonished clergy wives to organise programmes that will promote the core family values, encourage healthy family lives and educate younger wives on domestic and practical home matters like cooking and housekeeping.

Ndukuba noted that some of them were not able to duly receive such training before marriage.

She said: “It is our responsibility to bring up children that are God-fearing. It is our responsibility as mothers to learn how to train and teach our children. From a very young age, no child is too young to learn. We should not leave the responsibility that we have towards our children to our house girls or the teachers in school. We are their first teachers. We should teach them to read, teach them to pray, teach them God’s word. There are certain things teachers may not teach our children in school.”

Favour in itself is of God and can be activated by human actions. Favour is an unmerited/underserved act of kindness. It is akin to grace. To be favoured simply means to be preferred over others. It also means to be cherished, counted worthy for benevolence or to be highly regarded above others.

In our anchor scripture, Luke 1: 28, God sent His angel to reveal His verdict about the woman and it is: “Hail, thou art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: Blessed art thou among women.”

The favoured woman in this context is Mary the mother of Jesus Christ. The Immaculate Conception by a virgin was prophesied in Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign, behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and call his name Immanuel.” The prophecy states that a certain virgin shall conceive, her name was not mentioned.

However, when it was time for the fulfilment of the prophecy, Mary was found in the equation. Although this was not known by man even Mary herself, the sovereign God knows. At the fullest of time, He sent Angel Gabriel to Mary for validation of the prophecy.

It should be noted that Mary was not the only virgin in Israel. There were other virgins in the land. But for Mary to be chosen, as the vehicle that would convey Messiah into this world for His redemptive assignment is nothing, but a favour.  She was favoured above other virgins in Israel. This favour was a product of divine grace.

However, Mary’s favour was necessitated by her ability to keep herself pure. No woman of broken virginity would have attracted this favour. Mary played her own role of sanctification and she eventually found favour in the sight of God.

Mary’s favour was so unique and extraordinary in the sense that no other woman has ever conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit without the normal biological process. The redemptive story of the entire human race cannot be told without making mention of the Virgin Mary.

We need not shrink from seeking to finding favour in God’s eyes ourselves. God’s favour is not reserved for a particular people. Favour does not look at your background, academic qualification, age, among others. We are accepted and loved by Him in Christ totally out of His grace (Ephesians 1:4-6). Yet that does not stop us from seeking lives that are pleasing to Him.

Every woman must know who she is and whom she belongs to. The woman belongs to so many people at a time, namely: her father, mother, siblings, husband, children, church, and the entire human society. But she belongs to the Lord more than she belongs to any man, and so can contact and enjoy the unlimited favour of the Lord. And when God has favoured a man, the earth will have to follow suit. Favour opens closed doors, solves problems without one’s involvement. Favour grants God’s provision and puts smiles on our faces, among other things.

For the woman to be highly favoured, she must possess some virtues that are preconditions to favour:

• Chastity. One of the reasons the woman has fallen below the price line before man is lack of chastity: women easily yield to the flesh and breed only weed. It is purity that produces true liberty.

Our soul is much more important than the body. What qualified Mary for the high favour was her chastity. Sex is not a tool to get all you want in life; it is a creation of God within the confinement of marriage. When it comes to sex, it is for “the married only.”

• Good knowledge of the Lord, His word and being a carrier of His Spirit. It is when we know the Lord that we can know ourselves. The Holy Spirit helps us each day to become more like Jesus.

• Readiness to accept the will of God always in all things. To be a beneficiary of God’s favour, the woman must always ask: “What is the will of God for me in this life? What are the things I should do and not do?”

• Rating the knowledge of God above that of men. She must hold unto Jesus in everything and follow her godly passion. She must discover her gifts/talents and use them without being intimidated.

• Accepting responsibility. When a woman accepts responsibility in God’s vineyard, the grace of God will locate her. She must be ready to showcase the grace of God in her life and not the flesh by not hiding what she can do for God and humanity.

• Humility also attracts favour. When a woman humbles herself, the Lord will favour her.

Mary the mother of Jesus Christ is not the only favoured woman in the Bible. Other distinguished favoured women in the Bible includes Sarah (Gen. 17:19) Rahab (Joshua 2), Hannah (1Sam.2:10), Ruth (Ruth 1- 4) Queen Esther (Esther) Deborah (Judges 4 & 5), Abigail (1Sam. 25 – 27), Elizabeth (Luke 1:5ff), Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:1-3, John 20:1-13, Matt.28:1), among others. These favoured women impacted not only the nation of Israel but the entire world. Each of them brought her character/quality to bear on her situation and for this, we still remember them centuries later.

As we celebrate Mothering Sunday, we remind everyone, especially women that the God we serve is still a God of favour. We, therefore, urge you to position yourself for divine favour by living a life that is pleasing to God, as Virgin Mary and other favoured women in the Bible did and divine favour shall locate you and announce you too. Woman you are favoured, believe it and experience it. God bless you!

• Mrs Hope Njideka Nwaobia, M.ED, JP. is the President of Mothers’ Union and Women’s Guild, Aba Province and Diocese of Isiala Ngwa South.