Mothers
“On this Mother’s Day, we give thanks to God for the divine gift of motherhood in all its diverse forms. Let us pray for all the mothers among us today; for our own mothers, those living and those who have passed away; for the mothers that loved us and those who feel short of loving us fully; for all who hope to be mothers someday and for those whose hope to have children has been frustrated; for all mothers who have lost children; for all women and men who have mothered others in any way—those who have been our substitute mothers and we who have done so for those in need; and for the earth that bore us and provides us with our sustenance. We pray this all in the name of God, our great and loving Mother. Amen.” The Reverend Leslie Nipps, Women’s Uncommon Prayers, p. 364.
My mother and father when they were young having fun.
Sarah Kinney Gaventa wrote an excellent piece in GrowChristians.org called “Liturgical Trapdoors: Preparing for Mother’s Day” about how difficult secular holidays such as Mother’s Day and Father’s day can be for some people and how the church can compound their pain. Having all the mothers stand up at church can be painful for those in the midst of fertility workups. Those with painful childhoods also will have difficultly if there is a comparison to the love of a mother or father to the love of God. So many people often come to spiritual direction for these very issues.
Gaventa offers this more universal prayer for mothers from Women’s Uncommon Prayers as a start. We know the love of God through other people, but when there is a stereotype for a certain person such as mother or father and ours did not fit that, we can become even more wounded when a comparison is made to our own parents.
Gaventa suggests we talk more about the feminine aspects of God and Jesus. We can talk about their caring for us as a mother but not comparing it to certain mothers. She also reminds us that Ann Jarvis, the woman who started the Mother’s Day movement during the Civil War was a peace activist. Perhaps some way of honoring all mothers might be to suggest an outreach project for peace where mothers would never have to send their fathers and husbands and sons to war.
Joanna joannaseibert.com