"Arise, then…women of this day!"
A Mother’s Day Homily
Pastor Bill Chadwick
Oak Grove Presbyterian Church
John 14:23-29
May 9, 2010
(Minnesota Teen Challenge presented the main message this day. The following homily and prayer were on the theme of Mother’s Day.)
There is a long and varied history of Mother’s Day going back at least 2500 years. An interesting piece of history of the American version concerns Julia Ward Howe. She is best known for composing what hymn? The Battle Hymn of the Republic, which is a stirring masterpiece, written in support of the Union Army during the American Civil War.
But just a few years later, during the Franco Prussian War, Julia Ward Howe, had a significant change in her thinking. She writes, As I was revolving these matters in my mind, while the war was still in progress, I was visited by a sudden feeling of the cruel and unnecessary character of the contest. It seemed to me a return to barbarism, the issue having been one which might easily have been settled without bloodshed. The question forced itself upon me, “Why do not the mothers of mankind interfere in these matters, to prevent the waste of that human life of which they alone bear and know the cost?” I had never thought of this before. The august dignity of motherhood and its terrible responsibilities now appeared to me in a new aspect, and I could think of no better way of expressing my sense of these that that of sending forth an appeal to womanhood throughout the world, which I then and there composed….The little document which I drew up in the heat of my enthusiasms implored women, all the world over, to awake to the knowledge of the sacred right vested in them as mothers to protect the human life which costs them so many pangs.
Her little document called for a Mother’s Day for Peace. Let us read it together.
"Mother's Day Proclamation 1870" by Julia Ward Howe
Arise then... women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly: "We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, But of God --
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
As we celebrate Mother’s Day let us recommit ourselves to the hard work of peacemaking and the protection of all God’s children all around the world. Amen.
A Mother’s Day Prayer
A bit later Pastor Beth will lead us in our regular prayers of the people. Now we come to prayer around the subject of Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is a wonderful celebration for some of us. And it’s very painful for some of us. And for some of us it’s both.
It’s a hard day for people who are missing their mothers who have died, for those whose mothers are ill or far away. It’s a hard day for those whose mothers weren’t or aren’t good mothers, who weren’t a loving presence in one’s life, for those where there is a broken relationship between mother and child. It’s a hard day for mothers who have lost a child. It’s a hard day for those who would like to be mothers, but are not, for those who have experienced miscarriage or abortion. There are many situations that make this a challenging day and we want to be sensitive to these and hold all in prayer this day.
(The middle portion of the following is adapted from a prayer circulating on the internet.)
Let us pray,
Eternal God, Mothering God, on this day we lift up mothers to you.
We thank and praise you for moms who sacrifice in countless ways, who go years without adequate sleep, who gently guide and teach your ways, who provide tough love when that is needed, who do their best, knowing that sometimes they mess up.
Scripture has prepared us to recognize that your mothering takes many forms. We pray for mothers around us…
For those who, like Jesus’ mother Mary, have been surprised by the unexpected responsibility of parenting.
We pray for those who like Naomi find themselves parenting someone outside the predictable patterns of mothering. Bless this day all stepparents, foster parents, adoptive parents, grandparents, aunts and kindly people who care for children.
And we give thanks for those like Ruth who become caregivers for their elders. Because the generations that need to be mothered and the seasons of our lives can change, we sometimes find ourselves mothering those who have even forgotten who we are. We take strength in knowing that you remember their identity when they no longer do. Grant strength and stamina to all those who provide care in your name.
We pray for those like Mary or Rachel who have known the deepest agony of a child’s death. Remind them again that nothing can separate their child from your certain love. Give strength and peace to those who mourn and those who cannot stop mourning.
We remember mothers who are parenting alone and pray a great blessing of stamina and strength for them and we dedicate ourselves to come alongside them and as a community to share the challenges of parenting.
This day we remember Julia Ward Howe’s call for a worldwide Mother’s Day for Peace. Let us honor all mothers by committing ourselves to care for children, to learn new ways of relating to one another, laying down our weapons of war, and taking up the hard task of feeding, clothing, housing, educating, and providing medical care for the children of the world. In the name of the Prince of Peace we pray. Amen.
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