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This script cannot exactly reflect the transmission, as it was prepared before the service was broadcast. It may include editorial notes prepared by the producer, and minor spelling and other errors that were corrected before the radio broadcast.

It may contain gaps to be filled in at the time so that prayers may reflect the needs of the world, and changes may also be made at the last minute for timing reasons, or to reflect current events.

View me Lord verse 1

READER:
鈥淥ur Savior is our true Mother in whom we are endlessly born and out of whom we shall never come.鈥�

View me Lord Verse 2

Fr Andre Hart:
Good morning and welcome to Holy Trinity church, Westbury on Trym in the city of Bristol on this fourth Sunday of Lent. Between the verses of our opening anthem we heard some words of the mystic Mother Julian of Norwich听 remind us this Mothering Sunday of our equality before God.

View me Lord听 Verse 4听听听听

If the truth be told Mothering Sunday evokes a host of conflicting emotions for so many of us, which depend so much on our personal history, our hopes and our disappointments in life, and the quality of our family relationships. But we all have or have had mothers. Mother Julian reminds us too, that we all can have a relationship with the God who made us who is more dependable than even the best mother or father.

We sing as our first hymn, Tell out my soul the Greatness of the Lord, a hymn based on the words of the Magnificat, the song of Mary at her joy at becoming the mother of Jesus.

Hymn听听Tell out my soul听听听听听听

Fr Andre Hart:
God of compassion, whose Son Jesus Christ, the child of Mary, shared the life of a home in Nazareth, and drew the whole human family to himself: strengthen us in our daily living that in joy and in sorrow we may know the power of your presence to bring together and to heal; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
ALL听 听Amen听听听听

We asked some of the young people in our congregation what the concept of motherhood meant to them and how they are inspired and influenced by their own mothers.

Play in - Vox pops 鈥撎�听听听听听听听

Hymn For Mary, Mother of the Lord听听听听听听

Fr Andre听
Let us pray

Fr Andre 听
Some verses from the book of Samuel. 听听

搁别补诲别谤听(1 Samuel 1:10-11, 20-22, 24-28)
In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, 鈥淟ord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant鈥檚 misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.鈥�

So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, 鈥淏ecause I asked the Lord for him.鈥�

When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, 鈥淎fter the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always鈥�

After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, 鈥淧ardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.鈥� And he worshiped the Lord there.

Psalm 听Like a child rests in its mother鈥檚 arms听听Christopher Walker

搁别补诲别谤听
A reading from the Gospel according to St Matthew听听听
ALL 听听Praise be to you O Christ听听听

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.
He said:

听鈥淏lessed are the poor in spirit,
听听听 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
听听听 for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
听听听 for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
听听听 for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
听听听 for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
听听听 for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
听听听 for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
听听听 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This is the Gospel of the Lord
ALL听Thanks be to God

We welcome to our Service our preacher the Reverend Joanna Jepson who will talk to us about Hannah's children, a project in America for women in prison who want to turn their lives around and become role models for their own children. Our service today also includes words by Mother Julian of Norwich and her wonderful revelations of wisdom and insight into God鈥檚 love.

Sermon 鈥� Rev鈥檇 Jonanna Jepson

I had never seen a retelling of the Gospel story like it.听
Gathered in the arena, in the scorching 40 degree heat, stood groups of men and women, heads wrapped up in cloth to protect against the sun, t-shirts sweaty, eyes squinting, waiting for the director鈥檚 instructions.听 That morning they were rehearsing Mary and Joseph presenting Jesus at the Temple.听 Out of the knot of people a couple emerged, walking slowly, faces intent on the bundle she was carrying.听 He helped her to sit and then reached a strong arm around her tiny shoulders and bent forward smiling gently towards this imagined Christ child.听 It was so tender, so intimate and I could only imagine what it took for this couple to act out this scene of love, devotion, connection and familial intimacy.

You see these actors were inmates within Louisiana鈥檚 maximum security facilities.听 Usually segregated, these men and women hadn鈥檛 had contact with the opposite sex for years, sometimes decades, and now here they were taking on the roles of the woman caught in adultery set free by Jesus, the woman healed of her haemorrhage鈥�.and Mary and Joseph becoming new parents鈥� before then being segregated and shackled and bussed back to their different prisons.听

Eventually I had chance to chat with the actors and ask them how they managed to give themselves to these intimate, tender scenes when all that had been taken from them in real life.听 Mary, I don鈥檛 remember her real name, had been convicted of an armed robbery.听 She talked about how her children had been taken away from her to live with their father鈥檚 family, and how she would be deported back to Cambodia once she had served her sentence.听 鈥業 woke up to what I lost in prison, and that鈥檚 been the beginning of my healing and restoration; becoming the woman and the mother I need to be.鈥�

To me it seemed as if she had a chasm to cross in order to reach her children and become that mother figure once more.

Our encounter and conversations that day reminded me of Hannah, a woman in ancient times, who also mothered across separation.听 A woman who, having longed and prayed for a child, promised to dedicate any son she bore to the Lord.听 Hers is a story of torment and longing and joy and fulfillment that many of us can relate to, the reality of infertility being so acutely felt by many couples.

Perhaps Hannah鈥檚 willingness to meet God鈥檚 answer to prayer with such total generosity, trust and self-sacrifice is something that we find it harder to understand.听 Quite possibly we would find very different words to describe her decision to hand Samuel, her young child, over to be raised as a minister in the temple.听 But what we find in Hannah besides her strength and devotion, is a woman who mothered from a distance.听 Coming to clothe her son once a year with garments made by her own hand.

It was only a little while later that I discovered how Hannah was the inspiration for Mary and the other mums among the inmates.听 For them - lifers serving time for murder, armed robbery and prostitution - the willingness to entrust their kids to God鈥檚 care came later, after their incarceration, after they felt that they鈥檇 already lost everything.听 But that鈥檚 what makes their story so much more powerful, because that鈥檚 the point at which so many of us give into despair.

Concerned that their children were seven times more likely to end up in prison because they are in prison they gathered together to decide what they could do to become better mothers and help their children avoid this statistical inevitability.

As I spent time with them, pregnant myself, all I could wonder was how I would even contemplate trying to be a mother in their shoes.听 Surely I would be too consumed by sadness and despair to begin thinking about motherhood.听 I could not bear it, i would be grief stricken.

Spending time talking with these women it鈥檚 clear that they have experienced those same feelings.听 The powerlessness of being cut off when their child is lonely or struggling, or not getting to see their little one learn to ride a bike or even take their first steps.听 It is its own life sentence.

One that would see many just curl up in the cell and emotionally check out.听 And yet this core of women didn鈥檛.听
They did something more radical.听
They hoped.听
Hoped and believed that they could do something, just begin to make something better and different for their kids.

It started with a letter.听 A letter of apology for abandoning their children for a life of crime.听 It鈥檚 hard to write such a letter and it鈥檚 hard to hear about it knowing that so many of their crimes sprang from injustice and domestic abuse.听 But this is what they did.

Because taking Hannah as their role model, and calling their project Hannah鈥檚 Gift, they speak of having reached that point of trust in God; the point that takes them beyond powerlessness and despair, to the choice to believe that even across the separation of miles and years, they can become the mothers that God can use powerfully. That their story can be source of truth and wisdom and example.

Their struggle is extreme and particular, but what they bear witness to speaks into all our lives.
How often do we also find ourselves in a prison of our own thinking refusing to allow the possibility of God鈥檚 hope to bring us into a new space?

In prayer we choose to make space for God to come and fashion something life-giving and new in what appears to be the prison of our own situation and experience.听 The legacy that these inmates are providing for their children is borne of sacrifice and hope and is making space for a new future, a future of life in all its fullness.听 May we too choose to make space for God to bring to birth new hope and possibilities in the world around us.
听
Choir 听听Dear Lord and Father of mankind听听

Reader:
Let us Pray
We bless you, O God,
For all those who have cared for us and supplied our physical needs to grow strong and healthily
We bless you, O God,
For all those who have comforted us and stayed with us in our dark times
We bless you, O God,
For all those who have cared for our spiritual needs, who have listened to our doubts and encouraged us听听听听
We bless you, O God,
For all those who have taught us the value of friends and good relationships and enabled us to play our part in our communities
We bless you, O God,
For all that we have received
ALL听 听Amen听听听听

Today, on Mothering Sunday, we pray for all mothers and their children who are forced to live apart from each other, especially those separated through a prison sentence. We thank God for the positive way that the 鈥淗annah鈥檚 Children鈥� project is encouraging women in prison to recognise their worth and become positive role models for their children.
We pray for opportunities that give us all hope that we can change the direction of our lives when faced with the difficulties that life throws at us.
O God, we pray in faith
ALL听 听Amen听听听听

O loving God, we recall the words of the prophet Jeremiah: A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more
We pray for mothers in the war torn areas of the world. Keep them strong as they face unbelievable terror and cruelty over which they have no control. Comfort them and give them hope that they will at last live in peace to cherish their children and remember those they have lost
We ask this in your name
ALL听 听Amen听听听听

Thank you God,
that you are tender as a mother,
as well as strong as a father.
You give us life, and care for us
like a mother who will not forsake her children.
We pray for our mothers today,
putting them into your hands for time and eternity
and we ask your blessing on all our relationships in the families of our homes,
our churches and our communities
ALL听 听Amen听听听听
听听听听听
Fr Andre
The choir now sing All shall be well, an anthem specially written for this broadcast by our Director of Music David Ogden with words by Mother Julian of Norwich.

Anthem听All shall be well 鈥� Ogden听听听听听

Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever
Amen.

Fr Andre:
Bow your heads to receive God鈥檚 blessing

May the Lord who brought us to birth by his Spirit, strengthen us for the Christian life. May the Lord who provides for all our needs sustain us day by day. May the Lord whose steadfast love is constant as a mother's care, send us out to live and work for others. And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be with you and remain with you always.
ALL听 听Amen听听听听

Hymn听听Now thank we all our God听听听

Organ Voluntary听Sonata no 2 - Mendelssohn