Mothers Union Sydney 2023 Seminar Review

“Seize the Day” - Work and Rest in the Light of Eternity

by Jocelyn Loane

Attending the Mothers Union Sydney Seminar is one of my favourite ways to start the year!

I’ve always found it a fantastic mix of both challenge and encouragement that gets me into the right headspace for the year ahead, and this year was no exception. The topic being tackled in 2023 was Seize the Day: Work and rest in the light of eternity. It was clearly a subject that interested a wide range of people, with the Cathedral full of women from all sorts of life stages and many more joining through the livestream. In all, around 900 people registered from all over Australia. The first speaker was Ruth Schroeter, who took us through Psalm 90. She encouraged us to consider the eternal nature of God and his being our dwelling place and home. We then looked at the problem of our own mortality, and the wisdom of praying like Moses that we would learn to number our days and live as finite beings in light of our eternal God. I was particularly challenged by Ruth to consider how to make our days count, not by our busy striving but in knowing that only God can make our efforts meaningful. We can work and rest in our God given limits, knowing that he gives our life meaning and can make it bear fruit for eternity.

The second talk was given by Paul and Cathy Grimmond on Days Well Spent. They thoughtfully reflected on the mixed messages our world can give us about work and sought to bring us some biblical insight into how we make those decisions. Paul very ably gave an overview of the biblical story of work and rest. We looked at how God works and rests and works, at how he made work good and that we were made to work and rest in his image. The fall brings sin that ruins everything but can be overcome in Christ. So now work can be an option for idolatry, and is frustrated. Our work now reminds us that we can’t fix the world or ourselves by our own labour, but while human work has failed the goodness of God’s work in Christ can make us clean. I found very helpful Paul’s insight into what we consider work contrasted with what the New Testament means when it speaks of work. Chiefly the work of the Christian is belief in Jesus (John 6:29), and the good works he has prepared for us to do that bring us joy and him glory. In this sense work is not just our job, but all of our life as we work as his disciples in this world. This will mean we push back against the world’s ideas that work is about our status, success and fulfilling our personal dreams…instead we will work to seek to do good to others as Christ has done good to us. This will involve both paid and unpaid work.

Cathy then spent some time sharing her wisdom about how we then should work. I so appreciated her pastoral insight, gentleness and considered reflection on what this will look like in the Christian life. I felt particularly challenged by her encouragement to take joy in the good works God has given us to do, knowing that the way we work brings glory to Jesus.

What a rebuke to the grumpy manner in which I sometimes set about the things I have been given to do!

Another highlight of the seminar this year was hearing from author Jodie McIver about her new book Bringing Forth Life: God’s purposes in pregnancy and birth. Jodie is a theologically trained midwife and mother and has written a book about where those three aspects of her life collide. The book is a great resource for the church as it takes a look at the physical, spiritual and emotional aspects of the process of becoming a mother. It’s available now from The Wandering Bookseller.

The last speaker this year was author, single mother and full time worker Ruth Baker, speaking on Parenting for The Days to Come. Ruth has such a beautiful speaking style and with humour and graciousness she shared her experience and wisdom in parenting when you don’t have much time. She discussed the mum guilt that can so often attack and how unrealistic expectations might play into that. She encouraged us to take up the responsibility of training up our children in the way they should go and discussed what we should aim to be teaching our kids. I found Ruth had a mountain of practical wisdom on what it might look like in day-to-day life to be discipling our children by keeping some big principles in mind. Her encouragement that it’s not about being successful but faithful was a great way to finish a wonderful conference.

No review of the Mothers Union Seminar would be complete without a mention of the wonderful members from the Southern Highlands who work so hard to provide morning tea for hundreds of attendees each year. I really must track down the recipe for the chocolate tart, it’s a showstopper!

Thanks again to Mothers Union for providing this conference for free each year. You can watch all the talks at your leisure on the website or listen to them on the Mothers Union Sydney Soundcloud account: soundcloud.com/mothersunionsydney

Jocelyn Loane