A Special Mothering Sunday Service

Mother's Day, Mission in Britain” has a very large compass and I could tell you of the work of Chaplains in prisons, hospitals, schools and Universities or in the Armed Forces, amongst other things but, for the ‘Mission in Britain’ service on Mothering Sunday and in this church’s Centenary Year, I want to speak about ‘Home’”, declared the visiting preacher, the Revd Dr Mark Wakelin, at Caversham Heights Methodist Church on Sunday, March 22. Mark is the Methodist Connexional Team Secretary for Internal Relationships(formerly known as ‘Home Missions’).


This is the Revd Dr Mark Wakelin, Methodist Connexional Team Secretary for Internal
Relationships, at Caversham Heights Methodist Church to celebrate the church's centenary year. On the Communion Table behind him is the special candle presented the previous Sunday by the President of the Methodist Church of Great Britain to unite all the churches he will have visited in his year as President. In the foreground is the basket of Mothering Sunday posies that were later presented by children to all the ladies in the congregation.

Dr Wakelin continued, “On Mothering Sunday, we return to the church where we were nurtured in the faith and celebrate all that that church means to us. It is our spiritual home and we give thanks for it. Today has also come to be known (thanks to the greetings card companies) as Mother’s Day and so it is important to emphasise the importance of home and the Mother in the family and in bringing children to faith.

“If you dig down deep enough inside each one of us here, you will find something very beautiful, because each one of us – every person everywhere – is made in the image of God and capable of showing His likeness to the world about us. As we follow Jesus and grow closer to Him, we will be able to show and spread His love wherever we go. The central message of Christ’s Gospel is Love – God’s love for us -and I sense a feeling of excitement in the whole Methodist Church that is about to explode in a new way in our country.”

Dr Wakelin with church stewards, Jim and Daphne Phillips