"The Woman, at the usual time after her delivery, shall come into the Church decently apparelled, and there shall kneel down in some convenient place, as hath been accustomed, or as the Ordinary shall direct....The Woman, that cometh to give her thanks, must offer accustomed offerings; and, if there be a Communion, it is convenient that she receive the holy Communion......"
Many of you will know that I was ordained back in the Dark Ages. In those early days of my ministry it was not uncommon for a newly-delivered Mother to present herself to be "Churched", often accompanied by her Mother or Grandmother.
The Presentation of Jesus had everything to do with the Levitical view that Mary would have been ritually unclean until the customary forty days after Jesus's birth was reached. "The Churching of Women" in the Book of Common Prayer makes no connection with the new Mother being ritually unclean, but even back in the 1970s there was a sense that the new Mother shouldn't go out until after the Churching ceremony.
Leviticus 12 is the background to the account of the Presentation of Jesus.
'The LORD said to Moses, 'A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over."
Mary, in common with all new Jewish Mothers, would have understood herself to have been ritually unclean until she (and Joseph) presented herself and her baby .
"'When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. He shall offer them before the LORD to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood. If she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.'"
According to Jewish law, women were considered unclean after the birth of a child, and were not permitted to enter the Temple to worship. This state of uncleanness lasted 40 days after the birth of a son and 80 days after the birth of a daughter. At the end of the 40 or 80 days, the mother was brought to the Temple or synagogue and was ritually purified, in the waters of a Mikvah Bath. After this she could once again attend religious services and go out in public. Mary, as a good practicing Jewish Mother, went through all this.
We are led to understand from Luke's account, that Mary did not bring a year old lamb. The reading mentions ‘a pair of doves or two young pigeons,’ one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. This implies that Joseph and Mary were not very wealthy, so went for the "cheaper option". As faithful Jews they did their duty and observed the Law of Moses when it came to such things as childbirth, circumcision, and other rituals.
Some of those who requested "Churching" in my time had the idea that they should not mix with others until they had been Churched, but any idea of "uncleanliness" is far from implied in this short service.
It has been suggested that in an agricultural society this could have been a simple means of protecting a new mother from resuming work too soon after giving birth. Enforced rest after childbirth, confinement, was encouraged for my Mother's generation, where new Mothers might be confined to their beds or their homes for extensive periods. Care might be provided either by her female relatives (mother or mother-in-law) or a neighbour. "Churching" served to mark the end of these weeks of separation and reintegrate the new mother into her community, after a time of comparative rest. It would be the last rest she'd enjoy for the next few years!
The Collect from the Book of Common Prayer:
O Almighty God, we give thee humble thanks for that thou hast vouchsafed to deliver this woman thy servant from the great pain and peril of child-birth: Grant, we beseech thee, most merciful Father, that she through thy help may both faithfully live and walk according to thy will, in this life present; and also may be partaker of everlasting glory in the life to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Collect from the Roman rite, prior to The Second Vatican Council:
Almighty, everlasting God, through the delivery of the blessed Virgin Mary, Thou hast turned into joy the pains of the faithful in childbirth; look mercifully upon this Thy handmaid, coming in gladness to Thy temple to offer up her thanks: and grant that after this life, by the merits and intercession of the same blessed Mary, she may merit to arrive, together with her offspring, at the joys of everlasting happiness. Through Christ our Lord.
The Roman Catholic Church regrets that fewer families make use of Churching as a thanksgiving for the gift and safe delivery of children. In the Anglican Church too, in spite of a poignant and fine piece of liturgy in Common Worship / Pastoral Services, this service of thanksgiving for the gift of a child, born to a family or adopted, is rarely used. Having said that, this has been offered as an alternative to Infant Baptism.
God our creator, we thank you for the gift of these children,
entrusted to our care.
May we be patient and understanding,
ready to guide and to forgive,so that through our love
they may come to know your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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