Mother's Day
I. Introductory Jokes
A. Calvin & Hobbes - One day Calvin and Hobbes come marching into the living room early one morning. His mother is seated there in her favorite chair. She is sipping her morning coffee. She looks up at young Calvin. She is amused and amazed at how he is dressed. Calvin’s head is encased in a large space helmet. A cape is draped around his neck, across his shoulders, down his back and is dragging on the floor. One hand is holding a flashlight and the other a baseball bat. “What’s up today?” asks his mom. “Nothing, so far,” answers Calvin. “So far?” she questions. “Well, you never know,” Calvin says, “Something could happen today.” Then Calvin marches off, “And if anything does, by golly, I’m going to be ready for it!” Calvin’s mom looks out at the reading audience and she says, “I need a suit like that!
B. A harried MOTHER had three very active boys. One summer evening she was playing cops and robbers in the back yard after dinner. One of the boys "shot" his MOTHER and yelled, "Bang! You're dead." She slumped to the ground. When she didn't get up right away, a neighbor ran over to see if she had been hurt in the fall. When the neighbor bent over, the overworked MOTHER opened one eye and said, "Shhh. Don't give me away. It's the only chance I've had to rest all day."
C. It is right that we should celebrate Mother’s Day. After all, without our mother’s, none of us would be where we are today. In fact, we would not be here at all.
II. History
A. Julia Ward Howe
1. Wrote the Mother’s Day proclamation in 1870 as a call for peace and disarmament
2. Failed to get formal recognition for the day.
3. Influenced by Anna Reeve Jarvis
B. Anna Reeve Jarvis
1. Young WV homemaker
2. Starting 1858, attempted to improve sanitation through what she called Mother’s Work Day’s, during the Civil War on both sides
3. 1868 began work to reconcile confederate and Union neighbors.
4. When she died her daughter, Anna Jarvis, began the crusade to found a memorial day for women.
C. First Mother’s Day Celebration
1. May 10, 1908
2. Grafton, WV
3. Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church
4. 1912
a. Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church recognized Jarvis as the founder and advocated its celebration
b. Spread to 45 states
c. Some states declared it an official holiday
5. 1914 was the first national Mother’s Day
a. Declared by Woodrow Wilson
b. A day to show the flag in honor of those mother’s whose sons had died in war
6. 1923
a. The day had become some commercialized that Anna Jarvis herself became a leading opponent of what the day had become.
7. Today, Mother’s Day is a day we celebrate our Mother’s.
a. We celebrate the gift of life given to us by them
b. We celebrate the contributions they have made to our lives.
c. We celebrate the gift they have give our culture through their children who have grown to adult hood.
d. If nothing else, it’s a day when we say, “Thanks Mom, for putting up with me all those years.”
(1) One year, I gave my Mom a sympathy card for Mother’s Day.
8. We have a lot to be thankful for when we think or our mothers.
III. Brett Blair points out a couple of traits that are generally true of Mothers.
A. Mother’s are to be thanked for their tenacious love.
1. Sick rooms wear father’s out more quickly than mother’s.
2. Rizpah
a. Had two illegitimate sons with King Saul
b. David had them killed due to their part in a conspiracy that resulted in the deaths of many people.
c. He ordered their bodies to be hung on public gallows for all to see.
d. Rizpah kept vigil by her son’s bodies
e. David heard, had compassion, and personally went to Gibeon to give them a proper burial
B. Mother’s are to be thanked for the contributions they have made on our lives.
1. Mary probably had more of an impact on Jesus than any other human being.
a. At the wedding in Cana, it was Mary’s involvement that brought about the first recorded Miracle of Jesus.
b. It was Mary, along with some of Jesus’ biological half brothers, that came to see him while he was teaching.
c. Among Jesus’ last earthly thoughts were thoughts for his Mother as he made sure John and Mary both knew that John was to care for Mary.
2. You cannot understand John Wesley without understanding his mother, Susanna Wesley.
3. Abraham Lincoln credited his Mother with making him the man he was.
C. I would add that Mother’s are to be thanked for always believing in us and always forgiving us.
1. Perhaps mother’s the subconscious motivating force behind the contributions mother’s make is the fact that no one believes in us the way our mother’s do.
2. Having the highest hopes, but only extending love when we mess up.
3. Heartbeat of God: “Neither do I condemn you – go and sin no more.”
IV. God loves mothers, and there is a special group of mother’s that are particularly close to his heart – single and foster mothers.
A. Scriptures
1. Deuteronomy 10:18 (NIV) 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow...
2. [1]James 1:27 (NIV) 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
B. If God has a special heart toward widows and orphans and expects us to express that heart, then we need to understand who these people are.
1. Orphan
a. One who is deprived of one, but usually both, parents
2. Widow
a. The Hebrew word for a widow — almanah — carries multiple meanings:
(1) any woman who is left without a provider for any reason;
(2) the state of loneliness, abandonment or helplessness.
b. In New Testament Greek, the word for widow is cheras and refers to a woman who has lost her husband in any way
(1) death,
(2) divorce,
(3) desertion or
(4) imprisonment.
3. It does not matter why a woman may be without a husband, that woman has a special place in his heart.
4. It does not matter why a child may be without the protections of one or both parents, that child has a special place in his heart.
5. Therefore, single mothers, be they biological or foster, have a special place in God’s heart.
C. Single Mothers are faced with a difficult challenge
1. Finances are more difficult
a. 46% of all children living with a single mother are considered poor compared to 9% of children living with two parents
b. They seldom receive child support, if it has been ordered by the court
(1) Out of the 5.7 million women who were due to receive child support in 1989, only 50% received full payment, while 25% received nothing.
c. Single parent households receive only 41% of the income two-parent households receive
2. Parenting is more difficult
a. Children in single-parent households are at higher risk for emotional, behavioral, and educational problems.
3. Time management is more difficult
a. Earning a living,
b. fixing meals
c. caring for kids
d. helping with homework
e. cleaning house
f. paying bills
g. repairing the car (if she has one)
h. handling insurance
i. doing the banking
j. the income tax
k. grocery shopping
l. etc.
4. How does she find time to meet her social and emotional needs?
5. When and where does she go to build the friendships she needs for emotional and spiritual wellness?
V. What is our answer?
A. As individual families
1. Have a conversation and ask.
2. Offer to take the kids on an outing, without Mom, for a day or weekend.
3. Invite Mom and the kids to hang out with on Friday, or some other night.
4. Build relationships with her kids.
5. Keep your eyes and ears open when you are with her or her children to discern needs.
B. As a church
1. Money, from our tithes and offerings, is available.
2. Some of you men need to get busy and organize yourselves to meet the “repair needs” this women have.
3. Pray
C. Invite all the mother’s up to be blessed
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[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.