Mothering Sunday Songs of Praise


Mothering Sunday

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It's Mothering Sunday, and I'm here in Basildon maternity unit

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in Essex to meet some brand-new mums

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and their lovely newborn babies.

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Welcome to Songs Of Praise.

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In today's programme I meet the mums

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and midwives bringing new life into the world.

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As a Christian, I think it's a calling to do the job I do,

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and I treat it as more than a job - I treat it as a vocation.

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Pam Rhodes talks to the young Christian who's reaching out

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to those who find it too painful to go to church on Mothering Sunday.

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Those who have struggled to have children or have lost children.

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To acknowledge that this day was difficult.

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And one mother shares her experience of raising a child

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with additional needs.

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When Barney achieves something, it's just like joy magnified.

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Mothering Sunday always falls on the fourth Sunday in Lent and,

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traditionally, it was an occasion for children

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working as domestic servants

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to have the day off to go home

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to their mother church and see their families.

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Today, millions of cards and gifts are given to those

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women in our lives who have often spent much of their time

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putting us first.

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This Mothering Sunday is extra special for me

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because in just a few weeks, I'm expecting a baby,

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and even though this is my second child, I'm still both excited

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and nervous, especially given that we're here, at a maternity ward.

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But above all I'm thankful, and our first hymn,

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written for Mothering Sunday, expresses our thanks to God for our

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children, our mothers and all those special relationships in our lives.

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Basildon Hospital serves over 400,000 people in Essex,

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and this maternity unit delivers over 4,500 babies each year.

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I can't wait to meet one of the most recent arrivals.

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Hi, Natalie.

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Hi, who's this?

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This is Aurelia.

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Aurelia, what a beautiful name.

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And she's less than 12 hours old.

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Yeah, she was born this morning at 1:03.

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And how do you feel? Is it your first?

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First, yeah.

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So it's just the most...

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-You're overwhelmed.

-Yeah, just totally overwhelmed.

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Completely in love with her.

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She's absolutely beautiful.

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-Thank you.

-And you look amazing considering you've just given birth.

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Thank you very much.

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Oh, my gosh, you are gorgeous.

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Meanwhile, on a neighbouring ward, another baby is on its way.

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We're expecting a little boy, it's our second.

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Name's going to be Eddie.

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Just wish this labour would hurry up!

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I'm excited and nervous all at the same time,

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and tired because, obviously, lack of sleep.

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There are nearly 200 midwives looking after the women

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here in the hospital and in the community.

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Joanne Hoare is one of them.

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It's not just about delivering babies.

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Being a midwife is being with women, and that's what it means.

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So we just walk with them on their journey, in their pregnancy.

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As a Christian, I think it's a calling to do the job I do,

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and I treat it as more than a job - I treat it as a vocation,

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that I can be there and help those ladies.

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I've got twins, so it's been hard but I've done it

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and I've had the support of my parents,

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who also are avid Christians,

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and they've given me amazing role models of parenting that I've

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been able to adapt for myself and that I can pass on to my patients.

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So I hear that Charlene, your girlfriend,

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has just gone into labour.

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Yeah, she's going to have a lot of contractions now. And...

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getting more nervous each time it goes along.

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Well, I'm hoping that she might deliver today in which case

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-we'll get, maybe, to see him.

-I hope so.

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Yeah, really excited.

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Fingers crossed everything goes well.

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I'll have to wait and see if baby Eddie arrives

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in time for me to meet him.

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But now a hymn that celebrates all of God's creation,

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including family love.

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On any maternity ward, amidst the joy there can also be sorrow.

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Deborah Olajugbagbe is both a midwife

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and a bereavement specialist.

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How many babies have you delivered?

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-I wouldn't have a clue.

-You've lost count.

-Thousands.

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Thousands.

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Being on a ward like this is a very happy and joyful place,

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but I'm sure that you do experience some difficult days.

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How do you deal with that?

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Yes, there are difficult times, and...

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..it's actually my faith that helps me through that.

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And I'll try not to cry!

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Well, what I believe, where babies go - I believe in an afterlife

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and that, you know, they're being cared for and that kind of thing,

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no matter what the gestation the woman loses the baby,

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and that really helps me.

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There's a Scripture in Psalm 139 talking about how God knew us

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in the womb, and that just is really encouraging to me,

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that we're not forgotten

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and those babies are not forgotten, even though they haven't survived.

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The best part is,

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yeah, when people have had a tough journey

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and you see them when there's a really good outcome

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and they're really happy, and just to share in that is really special.

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But for those who have suffered loss,

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Mothering Sunday can be a difficult day.

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Pam Rhodes has been to Liverpool to meet one Christian woman

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who's set up a service for those who can't face

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going to church on Mother's Day.

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Lizzie Lowrie runs this busy Liverpool cafe

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as part of a church outreach project.

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-Are you Lizzie?

-Yes, I am.

-I'm very pleased to meet you.

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-Nice to meet you.

-It smells so lovely.

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Yeah, we've been baking all morning...

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But the special service she ran last Mothering Sunday,

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here in Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral,

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had an impact way beyond her community.

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It was a really special service.

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So, it was called the Mother's Day Runaways service.

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And the service was for anybody who finds Mothering Sunday

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difficult, for whatever reason.

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If they'd lost their mothers, also those who have struggled to

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have children, or have lost children as well.

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So it was to acknowledge that this day was difficult.

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This is obviously very close to your heart. Why?

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I always kind of believed that my life would kind of move

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effortlessly from one stage to the next - that I'd meet someone,

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fall in love, get married and have children.

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And I've met someone, I fell in love, I got married,

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but I still don't have children.

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For me, my experience of childlessness has been

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through miscarriage, and I've had six miscarriages.

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And I always wanted to be a mother and that hasn't happened.

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What about your feelings towards God?

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Did it shake even your belief?

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It completely changed my faith.

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I think prayer is something, in particular, that is really

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difficult to...

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..navigate or wrestle with, when you pray for something

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and it doesn't happen.

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Then you just think, "What's the point?

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"Why pray, when we've experienced so much loss?"

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But the thing about the Christian faith that

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rebuilt my faith in God was

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the principle of redemption that is kind of woven throughout Scripture,

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that acknowledges pain,

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but also demonstrates that God can bring good from it.

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Is the church sensitive enough to how you and others like you feel?

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I think in church we've lost that language,

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that vulnerable language of grief and vulnerability and lament.

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And so if you're struggling, you can feel very out

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of place in church when, actually, it should be the best place to be.

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Do you think the news of last year's service has hit a raw nerve?

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Yeah, it's been incredible, the response.

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We've had so many e-mails from people requesting the service packs.

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And the people that came to the service,

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it was as though we'd all shared something together.

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Thanks to Lizzie sharing her story,

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many churches are hosting similar services this Mothering Sunday.

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That was Blessed Be Your Name,

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a song that praises God in times of celebration and of suffering.

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And our next is a hymn for this season of Lent, which reminds us

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of Jesus' own trials and of his presence with us always.

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Bringing up a brand-new human being is a daunting responsibility,

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so it's great to know there's help and support available.

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Katherine Hill is the UK director of the Christian charity

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Care For The Family.

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What would you say is the best advice for parents?

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Well, do you know, Katherine, I'm a mum of four,

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and I remember that first day, the first day we had our son,

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just looking at this little bundle and feeling completely overwhelmed.

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And at Care For The Family, when we go around the country,

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we say when it comes to their own children, there are no experts -

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not the people who write the books,

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not the people who speak on television.

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Parents really need to have confidence -

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no-one knows their child like them, no-one loves their child like them.

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So there's no one way to be a perfect parent,

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but there are hundreds of ways to be a great parent.

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Good advice. And when we think about the Christian faith, we think

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very much of God as the father, but is that all that there is?

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It's a wonderful image of God as our father, but there's

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so much in the Bible about God as a mother, as a mother to her children.

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And it says, you know,

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would a mother forget the child that she's borne?

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But even if she did forget,

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then God says "I will not forget you."

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It's that tenderness, that compassion,

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the, sort of, heart of God.

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There's a lovely story of a farmer walking through his farmyard

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after there's been a terrible fire, and he comes across a hen

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that has been burned - it's just the charred remains of this bird.

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And as he kicks it, there's a bit of a scurry

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and these little chicks come out from underneath.

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And the hen has protected them from the fire.

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And it just reminds me of that beautiful verse where Jesus

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looks over Jerusalem and he says, "How would I long to gather

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"my children just like a hen that gathers her chicks under her wings."

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And it's just that lovely, tender heart of God.

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I love that. I've never heard that story before.

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I think that, actually, if we look at that mother heart,

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this isn't just about those who have natural children,

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but there is an incredible role that many, many women can play -

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humming alongside families and just giving that little bit of wisdom,

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and giving them support and encouragement.

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It's really, really powerful.

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# Ave Maria

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# Gratia plena

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# Dominus tecum

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# Benedicta tu

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# In mulieribus

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# Et benedictus

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# Fructus ventris

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# Tui Jesus

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# Sancta Maria

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# Sancta Maria

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# Maria

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# Ora pro nobis

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# Nobis preccatoribus

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# Nunc et in hora

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# In hora mortis nostrae

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# Amen

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# Amen. #

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The moment you discover your son or daughter has additional needs

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is difficult.

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Even 25 years on, Pippa still vividly recalls being given

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such news about her third child, Barney.

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I remember it so clearly.

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He was born at home, which was planned. That was great.

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I was just holding him, relieved, grateful it was all over.

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The midwife said, "I'm just going to use the phone, if I may,

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"and ring the GP."

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I thought, "OK, fine.

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"Perhaps that's what they always do when it's a homebirth."

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And she came up about five, ten minutes later,

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and simply said, straight to me and to Pete, my husband,

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"We think your son has Down's syndrome."

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My mouth was saying, "Well,

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"he's as much a gift from God as our other two children."

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And I really meant that.

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But, inside, I had gone into...

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I can only describe it as being like a bereavement.

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And I just remember, in that room, I felt like I was drowning a bit.

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It felt like I was holding on to God - I couldn't, didn't almost feel

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him, but I knew he was there, and I was just saying,

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"OK, God, help me. I don't want to, you know,

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"I don't want to go under, here.

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"I want to trust you for this."

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But my emotions were...in bits.

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I knew that we'd love this baby,

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but I just didn't know what the future held for him and for us.

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It seemed in an instant as if the things that

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I dreamt of for this child had kind of just disappeared.

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I didn't even know I had those dreams

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until I suddenly saw that they went away.

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Hello.

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I'm Barnabas Martin Ankers.

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This is my lovely bedroom.

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The picture of Barney now is so different from those fears

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and imaginations right at the beginning.

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He's great. He has lots of interests,

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he enjoys talking to people,

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he loves food a lot, he loves drumming, he loves performing arts.

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So we're doing a summer show - I'm talking about Grease.

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There's all sorts of things that he can do that

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I would never have imagined, if you'd asked me on that July day.

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Going to be... # Greased lightning. #

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Barney has a strong Christian faith.

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That's a thing I like to do in my life - to follow him, to honour him.

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It's nice and clean, but I think we're going to need to...

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-Iron it.

-..iron it, yeah.

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What's really exciting is that he's going for a job interview tomorrow.

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Hopefully, he will be working as from next week, if he gets the job,

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on a couple of mornings a week.

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I think he can do it.

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Are you looking forward to your interview tomorrow?

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I think that I am.

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You are? That's good.

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But, you know what?

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You're going to have to get up early on a Monday morning.

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Oh, yeah, I do.

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Cos I think you might find that a challenge.

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Because it's really a big thing, a really big step for me.

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It is a big step for you, love. I know it is.

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Many of the things are similar to having any child -

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because there are the frustrations and the pains at time -

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but the joys are almost greater.

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When Barney achieves something, it's just like...

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joy magnified, really.

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I think Barney brings a lot of joy into the family

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just by being who he is.

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And I think that we've learned to appreciate one another,

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all of us, actually,

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for who we are rather than for what we do or achieve.

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So, Songs Of Praise, my favourite song I like to sing -

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Beautiful Name It Is.

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And we're delighted to say the interview went really well

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and Barney got the job. Congratulations!

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And, back at Basildon maternity unit,

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it's time for baby Aurelia to go home.

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-Hello!

-Hello.

-Are you on your way home already?

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-Yeah, we're going.

-Yeah, we are, yeah.

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-Nice to meet you, Dad.

-Yeah, nice to meet you too.

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-Congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Oh, my gosh, well...

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-Don't you forget your Auntie Katherine, OK?

-Yeah.

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-Oh, I'm so happy for you.

-Thanks so much.

-Thank you.

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-Take care, guys.

-You too. Thank you.

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Get home safe. Bye-bye.

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Next week,

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the Rev Kate Bottley is celebrating spring

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on a Christian farm in Derbyshire,

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where the owners give new opportunities to young people.

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And we reflect on the extraordinary life

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and legacy of the American evangelist Billy Graham.

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But for now, there's just one more person I've got to meet -

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baby Eddie has arrived safely.

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Well, my time here on the maternity ward is nearly done,

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and it's been such a privilege to meet some of the staff

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and mums bringing new life into the world.

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We finish now with a hymn of thanks to the one who,

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from our mother's arms, has blessed us on our way.

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Until next time, goodbye.

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And I'd better give this one back to his mum, I think,

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even though I don't want to.

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