Southwell Minster 1/10/16 Micah 6:6-8, Matt.12:46-50
MU 140 years celebration Eucharist
Who are you? I wonder how you’d answer that question? In the western world we often identify ourselves by what we do – I’m a teacher or I work with computers, or I’m retired….In my last parish, I remember distinctly asking a number of times in my early days questions like, ‘Who’s that lady over there?’ only to be told something like, ‘she’s Mary – you know, Tom’s wife, you know – Fred’s daughter, lives at no 7, been here all her life’, which wasn’t very helpful for me the newcomer, although all the locals knew exactly who Mary was by that description.
Who are you? As Christians we may identify ourselves as a member of a particular congregation or church or group, but we may also use terms such as ‘a follower of Jesus Christ’ ‘a child of God’, ‘someone who needs God’.
We’re here today to celebrate our belonging to or support of a movement that over the past 140 years has sought to bring an answer to that question, ‘who are you?’, oftenunasked, but nevertheless in the hearts of many people, especially those in need or time of trouble. We all need to know that we are valued, loved and accepted. And I would suggest that the Mothers’ Union has lived out the sense of identity in Christ, in practical ways around the world since its humble beginnings in 1876 with Mary Sumner’s vision of ‘fellowship for prayer and mutual support to bring together mothers of all social classes’.It desires to make a difference and to bring flourishing of lives where support is needed to enable that to happen.
Described by Rowan Williams and his wife Jane as ‘the most influential and widespread lay movement in the churches of the Anglican Communion’, the number of MU members now approaches 4 million, in 78 countries, over 1200 of them in our own Diocese.
700 years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Micah displayed a deep sensitivity to the social ills of his day especially as they affected the small towns and villages of his homeland. He spoke into a situation of need and lack of real identity to a people whose identity was, or should have been, deeply rooted in their relationship with God.
God was unhappy with Israel, for they had broken the covenant with him, moving out of relationship into simply pleasing themselves. In the verses preceding our reading today, God has reminded his people of who he is and of all he’s done in the past – and asks for a response. Sadly, they responded with a lack of understanding – feeling that their choice and generous sacrifices, their ritual, which had become an end in itself, would put it right. The trouble was, they seemed to have lost not only the covenant relationship but also lost the desire to be at one with God again.
It’s easy for us to criticise, but I would suggest it’s even easier to fall into the same trap. Life is full of temptation and we can all fall into a false sense of security where we assume our relationship is sound because we’re doing enough good works and serving our neighbour and the needy well. Good works should spring from our faith, not be a replacement of it. We would always do well to hold in our hearts and lives Micah’s response to the Israelites as we go about our daily life:
‘He has told you O mortal what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God’.
It seems to me that the relationship that has united the Mothers’ Union and its work over the years has been this kind of covenantal relationship of acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God, a relationship that God has richly blessed in stories around the world too many to mention or even know about.
And that’s echoed in the words of our gospel reading today, when Jesus identifies his brother and mother as those who do the will of God. And the will of God may perhaps be summed up in those words of Micah – to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God.
But we always need to be mindful of the ease with which works can overshadow or even replace relationship. We are who we are in God first and foremost because of the relationship we have with him – walking humbly as his followers, keeping the example of Jesus Christ always before us as we seek to act justly and love mercy.
In July 2012, I visited Burundi – a nation defined by its tribal system and a nation that has suffered many years of civil war because of that same defining sense of identity in whether you are a member of the Hutu tribe, the Tutsi tribe or the Twa. It was a fascinating insight into how much can be overcome by the simple yet profound deliberate intention of acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God.
The Anglican Church in Burundi is growing at a fantastic rate because it seeks a new identity not defined by tribe but by relationship with God. Whilst there, I was privileged to visit a number of Mothers’ Union groups. Mothers Union has been active in Burundi for nearly 70 years and currently has around 17,000 members. I asked the ladies, ‘What does the Mothers’ Union do?’ If that question was asked of your group, what would your answer be? Would it be about fellowship? Or fundraising in order to support families or charities? Or learning through speakers? Or supporting needy families in your area?
The answer in Burundi, every time was, ‘We pray’. We pray!
It was only when I pressed further as to what else that out came the stories of taking orphans into their own homes; setting up credit unions so families could access money for hospital fees; teaching women whose husbands had been killed in the war to sew or bake so they could provide food for their children; literacy programmes; financial education programmes; supporting those displaced by political unrest and violence – and doing it all with so little financial means themselves. So many incredible stories of love and compassion and faith in action. But their first task was to pray – to keep right relationship with God.
Mothers’ Union in Burundi is changing lives. They are the agents of change in their communities and are bringing hope into hopeless situations.
These are women who have learned what it means to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God. It was a great privilege to meet some of these women who received us with joy and great hospitality at cost to themselves. It was a real privilege to witness their humility in serving the needs of others out of their secure relationship in Christ, in the fellowship of that great organisation, the Mothers’ Union.
I was hugely challenged by those women. It made me stop and ponder my identity in Christ, my responsibility as a child of God and my commitment to the life and work of the Mothers’ Union.
What does the Lord require of you but to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.
So who are you? First and foremost a child of God who desires that relationship of covenant with you as you seek to live out your life. And part of that has been to commit yourself to the MU. There will be times for all of us when we fail in that call – easy to slip into complacency, easy to put ourselves first, easy to go astray. But I want to thank you all for, and encourage you in, your commitment, firstly to Christ and secondly to the Mothers’ Union.
Micah was no moralising prophet but a dynamic reformer calling the nations back to its spiritual heritage. The Mothers’ Union is no moralising prophet of its time but a means of dynamic reform calling all people back to their heritage in Christ and helping them achieve that when they are not able to do so themselves. Together we can and are making a difference in the lives of ordinary people. Together we support one another in what God requires of all his flowers – acting justly, loving mercy and walkinghumbly with God. The Mothers’ Union has come a long way since its humble beginnings
Love and cherish one another, love and cherish those who hold together the organisation in Southwell & Nottingham and offer support to us all. Above all, love and cherish your relationship with God, beginning always with prayer.
So today may we all recommit ourselves to acting justly and loving mercy as we walk humbly with God so that Jesus may say of each of us, ‘here are my mother and my brothers and my sisters’.
Amen.
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