The Story of Mother's Day

The Story of Mother's Day
Good morning.... and a special morning it is! What's the name for this day anyway - come on and yell it out.... Try it again....

You betcha! We sometimes call it "Christian Family Sunday' but the fact remains that today is a special day in our world to honour our mothers - whether they are young - like your mothers - or old like mine - or even gone to heaven - like the mothers of many of the older people here.

Today - the flowers that you are going to give out to every woman here - are given to you for this by the women of this church - the UCW - as a sign of your love - and our love - for those who gave us birth and for those who cared for us a mother cares for a child.

Do you know that there is a story behind the flowers that are presented on Mother's Day. A story from over 100 years ago - a true story about a mother who loved all her sons and the sons of all other mothers too - and about her daughter - who many years later helped convince the President of the United States of America to pass a law stating that today - the Second Sunday of May - would be known as Mother's Day.

Let me tell it to you. Way back in the days before computers and televisions, why even before the first car was built or the first refrigerator made your drinks cold - over 150 years ago - there was a great war in The United States of America. Some say the war was about bringing freedom to slaves - and some say the war was about less noble causes - but the fact remained that many good men who believed in a good God began to fight - and while there such a thing as right and wrong - and we all got to pay attention to that stuff - another fact remained - many good men, and indeed many good boys, teenagers - hardly old enough to have a drivers license - if they had had cars back then - were dying.

And only as a mother can - a mamma by the name of Mrs. Anna Reeves Jarvis felt the pain that all mothers feel when they see their children suffering and dying - and so she organised a special day for mothers who had sons fighting on both the opposing sides. A day of prayer. A day for peace. A day for bringing comfort to those who were hurting - and a prophetic challenge to live as one family in peace. And so it was. The day was declared and meetings held and prayers were offered - prayers for mothers - and prayers for their children.

Later during the war, another woman, Julia Ward Howe, who wrote a great and rousing hymn, "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord", organised a Mothers' Day meeting in her home town of Boston. And it was a great success in bringing people together and reminding them of what is important.

And this kept on happening down there in the "U S of A", even after the war ended, until - in the year 1907 - Anna Jarvis, the daughter of the Mrs. Anna Reeves Jarvis suggested a national observance of a day each year - a day to honour all mothers. Indeed, she began a movement to make it an American national event. Within the next few years, the idea of a day to honour mothers gained popularity, and Mother's Day was observed in a number of large cities in the USA. Finally, On May 9, 1914, by an act of Congress, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. He established the day as a time for "public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country." And it has been so, not only there in the US of A - but in many other countries as well.

And the flowers - these carnations that we give - well, Anna Jarvis loved her mother Anna Reeves Jarvis deeply. After her mother died, at a memorial service for her mother that was held on May 10, 1908, she gave a carnation (which was her mother's favourite flower) to each person who attended. Well that idea caught on because Anna Reeves Jarvis was a special mother - and because Anna Jarvis turned out be a special daughter - and by the time the President made Mother's Day a national event it everybody had more or less developed the habit of giving and wearing carnations on Mother's Day. White carnations are worn to honour mothers who have died and red ones to honour mothers who are here with us. Of course we get rainbows of colours too - because colour is just so colourful.

So that is the story of the flowers - given to honour mothers - and that is the story of mother's day started first by a woman who cared for all mothers and for all their children and wanted them to live in peace.

Before handing out the carnations and singing our hymn, let us pray together, repeating after me....

"Gracious and loving God - we thank you for our mothers - and we pray all good things for them - may we their children - live as one - and may our world - be a safe place - for all our brothers and sisters