St Margaret's Church Prestwich

This sermon was given by Rev Sue on Wednesday 26 July. Here it is for you again:

When we think about children’s books, a common figure that appears is a grandmother. She is full of wisdom and good advice, with a quotation for everything. She teaches empathy and caring for others. She is a person to go to when the child feels misunderstood by his parents and generally has more time than the harassed mum who is coping with lots of things at once. Sometimes she’s the one who is good with herbal medicine. She knows about the whole history of the community – who fell out with whom over what 50 years ago, and who the child’s distant relatives are. Examples are Alexandra in “To Kill a Mockingbird” who although she has her judgmental side, plays a vital role in providing the children with stability and unwavering love. Or there’s Granny Weatherwax, the witch in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld who teaches her young protégés how to use Headology to help people who come with their problems expecting a supernatural solution.

Traditionally grandmothers were often people who stayed at home, whose expertise was in the domestic side of life and in relating to other people. In the Bible Lois is the grandmother of Paul’s companion Timothy. Paul writes, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” Lois, Eunice and Timothy lived in Lystra, a largely pagan community, but Timothy was imbued with the values of his family.

Sometimes the Bible is frustratingly short on the details of everyday family life. We have stories of Jesus as a baby, a brief incident when he was 12 and then fast forward to the age of 30. The Bible tells us nothing of the ordinary lives of Jesus or Mary. We don’t know what they looked like or what sort of homes they had. Jesus’ brothers appear occasionally in the story, but Joseph is missing once Jesus is an adult. It’s not surprising that traditions grew up filling in the missing narrative. One such story names Mary’s parents as Anne and Joachim. We know nothing for certain, but with some detective work we can make some good guesses.

Mary’s song of praise, “My Soul Shall Magnify the Lord” is clearly based on the Hebrew Scriptures, and the Song of Hannah in particular, so we know that Mary had been taught them as a child. The education of girls wasn’t a high priority, so we can assume that Mary learned the stories from her parents. We can imagine them, after the day’s work was finished, saying prayers and reading the scriptures as a family.

Anne and Joachim had the task of bringing up Mary, a child who God had great plans for. As a young mother she had to cope with strange visitors from foreign lands bringing expensive gifts, with being refugees in Egypt fleeing from the violence of King Herod and bringing up a son who must have been remarkable, even as a child. As far as we know, her own childhood was stable and ordinary, but it enabled her to develop the strength and wisdom which characterised her life.

Joachim and Anne are the unsung heroes, the ordinary people who did ordinary things, bringing up Mary with love and giving her the boundaries that allowed her to develop into a steady and mature young woman.

In today’s world many grandparents are working and have less time to spend with grandchildren. Families often live many miles apart – sometimes even in different continents. Others also act in the grandparent role – other family members or friends can become equally important in children’s lives. They all can be a source of stability, of unwavering love, of wisdom. Very often they are the ones who bring the children to church, who teach them to pray, who read them Bible stories. So the church is right to celebrate today the grandparents of Jesus, even though we know little about them.