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mother's day
If even a llama loves its mama, as the children’s saying goes, what about a baby goat? Or a chick for that matter?
Holy One, who gathers us as a mother bear gathers her cubs,
A few years ago, the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, wrote this prayer for Mother’s Day worship:
The carnations were placed in vases on a table near the front door of the church. As the congregation filed out of the sanctuary and shook hands with the pastor, members of the worship committee handed carnations to women in celebration of Mother’s Day. Not all women received a flower, however. Only those who had children. I still remember the look of pain on one woman’s face who was denied a flower. She was approaching her mid-40s, yet she still clung to hope that she would have a child one day. I was still just a seminary student, but that began my questioning as to how the church should handle Mother’s Day (and Father’s Day, for that matter).
The closest the Rev. Bethany Peerbolte has come to heartache associated with Mother’s Day was a couple years ago, when her parents moved from Michigan to North Carolina. “I’m like, ‘If that was hard for me, I can’t imagine what the people in my church are going through when they’ve lost a mother or haven’t had a mother figure who’s really been kind and loving to them, like a mother should be.’”
Upon first feeling the chill of the air, upon leaving the swaddling security of the womb, the newborn wails. Having been forced from her snug home of nine months, she is adrift in what must seem like limitless nothingness.
Then the newborn is passed to her mother’s breast. She finds a familiar voice and embracing arms — a simulation of the oneness from which she has just been severed.
Upon first feeling the chill of the air, upon leaving the swaddling security of the womb, the newborn wails. Having been forced from her snug home of nine months, she is adrift in what must seem like limitless nothingness.
This Mother’s Day took on special meaning at First Presbyterian Church of Fairfield, Connecticut when it hosted several members of a Ghanaian Presbyterian church from the Bronx.
At a gathering of Africa-area mission co-workers in Rwanda last month, “mishmoms” sat together to share their experiences on raising resilient children, as only parents can, with deep understanding. In honor of Mother’s Day, Presbyterian News Service shares their unique perspectives.
In some ways, my marriage is a reverse Cinderella story, one in which I realize that no matter how hard I might try, the shoes of my husband’s family might never really fit me—and that’s OK.
I’ve learned that when it comes to marriage—and mission work—it’s not about making the shoe fit, but the relationship that develops after we try it on.
