Mother’s Day • May 8, 2005

Seventh Sunday in Easter • Mother's Day • Festival of the Christian Home

Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35; 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11; John 17:1-11

Sermon by Michael R. Martin
First United Methodist Church of Saranac Lake, NY

Christian Home Month 2005: Families Called to Love

• Develop and strengthen faith in the home.
• Celebrate and support families in their faith journeys.
• Lift up love in the family. As God intended, the home is a place for living in the light of God's love and daily practicing the Christian faith.

The 2005 Christian Home Month theme is "Families Called to Love." Read Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.). Here we are reminded to love God and to keep God's words throughout the day in visible ways. Through Jesus' words in John 13:34 ((NLT) So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.), we hear the commandment to love one another. As we are called to show love individually, we are called as disciples to show love in our homes and with those we call family.

Prayer for Families

Gracious God, you created all of humankind and showed us the importance of relationships with one another. We commend to your care all the families of this congregation, community, and world. We pray that each home may be a home where love is felt. We pray for homes where, instead of love, there are households of hurt and abuse and suffering. We pray for children, youth, and adults, recognizing the importance of and the gift of every age as we grow. We pray for parents, stepparents, and foster parents. We pray for those who are single and for those who are married. We pray for those in loving relationships. May your grace be present to all. Grant us wisdom to know where there is no love, courage to act out of love for others, and peace to rest in your mercy. Help the commandments of love for you and love for others be our goal for life together. Amen.

Mother’s Day

The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's, England celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday". Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter*), "Mothering Sunday" honored the mothers of England.

During this time many of the England's poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch.

As Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honor the "Mother Church" - the spiritual power that gave them life and protected them from harm. Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration . People began honoring their mothers as well as the church.

In the United States Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) as a day dedicated to peace. Ms. Howe would hold organized Mother's Day meetings in Boston, Mass ever year.

In 1907 Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the 2nd Sunday of May. By the next year Mother's Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia. Ms. Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, businessman, and politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother's Day. It was successful as by 1911 Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother's Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.
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Proverbs 31: 25- 31 (NLT) She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs with no fear of the future. When she speaks, her words are wise, and kindness is the rule when she gives instructions. She carefully watches all that goes on in her household and does not have to bear the consequences of laziness. Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: "There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!" Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

• wise & loving counselor
• blessed: one who enjoys happy circumstances & from whom joy radiates to others.
• fear of the Lord: a loving reverence for God that includes submission to his Lordship & to the commands of his words.

Michael R. Martin – May 8, 2005
First UMC of Saranac Lake, 8:30AM