Mothers’ Day is not on the church’s liturgical calendar and yet the statisticians tell us that church attendance on Mothers’ Day is surpassed only by Christmas and Easter. Worship leaders who fail to mark the importance of this day do so at their peril; the same kind of peril that compels so many reluctant offspring to accompany their mothers to church. However, a simple liturgical nod in the direction of mothers or an over-the-top sentimental sermon all too often fails to capture the magnitude of the day’s significance in the history of women. Planning the liturgy is challenging enough, but writing the sermon is a challenge which promises to keep me toiling away into the dark hours of this coming Saturday. So, for my colleagues who share a similar plight: below you will find links to previous attempts to commemorate this day of days. Feel free to share your efforts with me in the comments section. Please! I need all the help you can offer!!! click on the links below for previous Mothers’ Day sermons:
Sophia/Wisdom
MOTHERS’ DAY – Peace is the Way
Preaching on Mothers’ Day – Don’t Compromise
Another Option for Mothers’ Day: Bring Many Names
SHE Who Dwells Among Us – A Mothers’ Day Sermon
Arise on this Mothers’ Day: a sermon
ONE in GOD – a sermon
Very insightful – and helpful – information. However, I had understood the Mother’s Day founder was Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Jarvis. I know Wikipedia is not foolproof, but this is their stance: https://www.bing.com/search?q=ann+jarvis&filters=ufn%3a%22ann+jarvis%22+sid%3a%221ef4e8a1-86a6-4953-bc49-96efdc0cbd61%22&qs=MB&pq=ann+jarvis&sc=8-10&cvid=7647D0485FE54B12BDAEADA0D032A3DB&FORM=QBLH&sp=1
Your thoughtfulness regularly aids my thoughtfulness. Thanks!
Noni Dye, Pastor Shepherd of the Pines UMC Overgaard AZ 85933 nonidye@outlook.com
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
________________________________
Mother’s Day has a much longer and varied history than Wikipedia reveals. Indeed, the celebrations of motherhood go all the way back to the Greeks and Romans. The American celebration dates back before Ann Jarvis to the suffragette movement of the late 1800s. Julia Ward Howe campaigned for a “Mother’s Peace Day”. Abolitionists also petitioned to establish an official holiday. While Anna Jarvis is often credited with the founding of the holiday, it was celebrated long before the official seal of approval came down from Washington. As a Canadian, Mother’s Day includes British antecedents in its establishment as a holiday. See Mothering Sunday – the return to one’s mother church on the fourth Sunday of Lent – dating back to the 1600s…returning from one’s place of employment to one’s mother-church had the added benefit of a trip to one’s actual mother. An interesting aside: Anne Jarvis became so disgusted with the commercialization of Mother’s Day that she actually campaigned to have it abolished.She was arrested for attempting to stop the sale of flowers. A long and complicated history that point to our current commercial practices as lacking the desired militancy of our fore-mothers.