Workers and servants in days gone by were allowed this Sunday away from work to attend worship in their mother church. Nowadays, the occasion has been transformed to Mother’s Day, where children remember Mum, write a card, possibly send flowers or prepare a meal or make time to visit her.

In church, there is scope for celebrating motherhood (perhaps parenthood?) and delighting in a God who wants us to know that all of us are God’s children.

You might be interested in sharing a Simnel cake (associated with the origins of Mothering Sunday). Young women in service would take home Simnel cakes for the family to share. A Simnel cake is a fruit cake baked with a thin almond paste (marzipan) layer in the middle. After baking, the cake is topped with a further thin layer of marzipan which is glazed and browned under a grill. Of course, sharing bunches of spring flowers is less fattening…