This question of who do you love more mom and dad, was in a way the same question early Christians had on their minds when they were trying to figure out the relationship between God the Father, transcendent, almighty creator of heaven and earth, and the Mother church, God’s body, close knit, caring and nurturing in the day to day.  Some effectively answered one or the other-mother or father-and when they did they distorted the Orthodox faith. A Saint named Cyprian said both and came up with the formula “One cannot have God as father, who has not the Church as mother.”