Dear family and friends of St. John's,

Parenting is not easy and the importance of mothers is not well recognised, at least not in 21st century Australia. A recent survey suggested that just 5% of young women put being a mother at the top of the list of their priorities for life. That wasn't to say that they didn't want to have children at all, just that it didn't rank as highly as other things they wanted to do. I don't know what the other things were on the list but it isn't difficult to imagine careers, travel and owning a house towards the top. On the other hand, the birth rate in Australia is currently at baby boomer levels and that is encouraging.

The Bible encourages us to affirm the immeasurable significance of Christian motherhood. It begins right from Genesis 1 where the mandate for mankind was to ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.' This was part of God's original creation of mankind as male and female. It is enshrined in God's promise to Abraham: ‘Go out and count the stars if you can. So will your descendants be... as the sand on the sea shore.' Psalm 127 says, ‘Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him... blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.'  Malachi 2:15 summarises God's desires in the context of an argument against divorce: ‘Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.'  God's purpose is revealed to us in the Book of Revelation where there are countless multitudes gathered around the throne of heaven to worship the Lamb, Jesus our Lord and Saviour.

The whole plan depends on you mothers!!