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Good Morning Tomorrow’s Mothering Sunday is a moveable feast because it’s celebrated three weeks before Easter on the fourth Sunday of Lent. It started in the Middle Ages when children, often in domestic service, were allowed home to join their families and to worship in their Mother Church. It was also known as ‘Refreshment Sunday’, when the solemn fasting of Lent was interrupted by sharing Simnel cakes. Families reunited gathered around the table. Mother’s Day is a much later secular invention and the two have confusingly merged, though here in the UK the Christian calendar still determines the date. But those preaching or speaking on Mothering Sunday in churches tomorrow will need to reflect on how society has changed. I noticed that Oxfam in a wider inclusive language guide published this week have instructed staff to use the word parents when describing family roles, rather than mother and father. This reflects what most schools do today: talking of parents and carers, ensuring that as many children as possible feel a part and no one feels excluded. In giving out bunches of daffodils tomorrow in thousands of cathedrals and churches we should also remember those for whom such a day is more than difficult. The writer Lizzie Lowrie pinpointed this when she wrote – “Every year those grieving the loss of a mother, those living with the struggle of infertility, those who’ve lost children, those who are single and long to be married with a family, and those who are hurt by or never met their mother can feel isolated.” So, in our own times, how can Mothering Sunday speak to everyone, including those who do genuinely feel excluded? Surely, if the Christian Gospel is about anything, it is about love. Whether speaking about family life or being a good neighbour Jesus persists across the Gospels with the mantra that no one, any longer, needs be on the outside looking in: rather, everyone is welcome into the family of God, the only condition being that we show our love of God by how we treat or yes love one another. Society is changing. It’s certainly being more honest. While Mothering Sunday has traditionally been a way for us to celebrate one kind of loving, it’s perhaps now an opportunity for us to think about how we can welcome everyone, with open arms, celebrating acceptance. A moment to ask ourselves if there are new ways for us all to choose love in our day to day lives.