where are the mothers?

Tomorrow we remember Mary Sumner the founder of the Mother's Union. Today the MU is a worldwide organization but it started in the living room of the Rectory where Mary lived with her husband. When her eldest daughter became a mother Mary remembered how difficult she had found motherhood and formed a group, from all social classes in the parish to meet and discuss their experiences.
It was that simple. As we look on in horror (or are caught up in) these riots around the country I echo the words of the police commissioner for London - know where your children are, but add that we must  resolve that from today we will be better parents to all the children in this country - and that means doing things together. So much of the experience of being human is so similar no matter who we are or where we are from. Mothers around the world know what it is to be woken by a crying child, to think you just cannot life another finger, to want to give up and run away - if only for a moment.
Mother's Union might sound like tea and cakes, but it works in some of the most difficult situations in the most difficult communities in the world. It pushes hard questions to the top of the political agenda. A question I would like to see asked is - where are the mothers?
We hear said again and again that the youth have no hope but they have often been raised by mother's who have lost their own hope.And if children are born with no hope to mother's who have nothing in themselves which can demand for their own, if they are already broken before they begin then the task of healing and restoration is harder than we might imagine.
But restoring hope is what we are called to. Perhaps it is fitting that the Gospel reading for tomorrow is about children - Jesus says that not one of them is to be lost - as we look at our TV screens this seems a far cry from the reality of life on the streets of our capital city - a life of anger and fear. The child grows, narrows his eyes and only ever lifts his head in defiance - this is not the child who is easy to love or easy to see as Christ's.
And it is baby steps, allowing women who have never felt they are good enough to be just that, good enough and to break the cycle with real challenge and opportunity and more importantly real belief and hope for the next generation. We come to this from a place where we are more than good enough, where everyone is more than good enough, a place where we are loved by God.
There is no easy answer, but perhaps thinking back to that Rectory living room, seeing common experience and learning from one another offers a little ray of light.
Tonight we pray for an end to the violence, pray for the children on the streets and pray that somehow, the lost mothers may find a little light in the darkness of their night.