Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is the second of two in the book suggested for Mothering Sunday. Yesterday’s blog post covered my thoughts on this subject, so here’s a briefer review of this hymn by Timothy Dudley-Smith, “Our Father God in Heaven”.
For a hymn specifically about mothering, it may seem odd that the first line addresses God as Father. Some Christians (including myself) are happy to address God also as Mother, since clearly the God who “made them in his own image, male and female” is neither exclusively one nor the other, but both and more. I suspect Dudley-Smith, being of an older and more conservative generation, is not among them.
The first verse gives thanks to God for families generally – “parents, sisters, brothers, a home where love belongs”. Of course not everyone gets on with their parents, sisters and brothers, and many are the loveless homes, which is perhaps reflected in the more realistic second verse with the words “Our deepest joys and sorrows a mother’s path must trace, and earth’s unknown tomorrows are held in her embrace”.
Those “sorrows and unknown tomorrows” are found even in loving households. This was especially true for Mary the mother of Jesus. The third verse focuses on Jesus who “[found] in Mary’s keeping the warmth of human love”. Her love for him was unbroken, yet her heart was broken by his suffering; and while there can be no doubt of his love for her above all people, yet there were moments when he rebuked her and appeared to forsake his family, as he embraced his true vocation as the Son of God. In everyday experience, many are the mothers who have had to wave goodbye to sons and daughters who chose a path in life that took them away from the family, whether into a different culture or a different land.
The fourth verse comes back to giving thanks for mothers’ love, with a prayer that every child should be shown tenderness and care. That is the foundation for whatever path they may choose in their own lives, in the knowledge that there is always a loving home to return to.
The tune suggested here is a familiar and easily sung one, “Ellacombe”. But it is best known as a setting for the words of the hymn “The Day of Resurrection”, so it feels odd to be singing it this side of Easter. There are plenty of alternative melodies in 76.76 metre, try “Salley Gardens” for example.