“The house does not rest upon the ground, but upon a woman.” -- Mexican Proverb

I don't normally post the manuscripts of my sermons; the audio ultimately gets posted to the All Souls website-- and it's more accurate, with all my witty asides-- but I felt it was important for this sermon to reach a broader audience than might think to check the website to listen to a sermon, so, here it is. I apologize for any stream of thought writing or lack of punctuation but hey-- this is how I write a sermon. :) Watch the above video first; it was the "sacred text" for my sermon.

Mother's Day Sermon
May 10, 2015

My social media has been awash

This weekend

With people scorning Mother’s Day.

Anne Lamott,

An author whom I love deeply,

Wrote an essay saying

it’s the holiday she hates the most.

A couple of my esteemed colleagues

Have written blogs

On why they’re not preaching about

Mothers

Today.

And last night,

At a dinner with three of my nieces

And one of their friends

The friend said her husband wanted

To go to church

And she did not

Because it’s Mother’s Day

And she hated how the service

Would be all about mothers.

And I understand these sentiments;

I do.

Mother’s Day

Can seem like a cruel celebration

To those who have not been able

To have a child

Either by adoption or birth

Or to those who have lost a child

Or have lost a mother.

For some struggling with their children

Or with their moms

Where the Leave it to Beaver family mold

Was not available

This day may not be

A favorite holiday.

Even though we will spend 14.7 billion dollars on it

this is the holiday—

(that’s $127 per mom!)

With the biggest card sales

And second only to valentine’s day

For flowers,

Yet still

Hallmark has NOT come up

With cards that fit all families.

How can there be rows upon rows

Of Mother’s Day cards at the store

And there still isn’t one for all?

Where is the card that says

Thanks Mom

for not harming me more than you did?

And what about those

who have chosen not to have children

At all?

Ironically, Margaret Wise Brown

The author of the Runaway Bunny story

Laurie read for the Story for All Ages—

And author of countless beloved children’s books—

Was a lesbian who never had children.

For women who are married today

Who choose not to have children,

They still constantly face a barrage of questions

About why?

With implications of how selfish that is

To want a child-free adult life.

They might get a little tired of Mother’s Day

Platitudes.

Frankly, I think we SHOULD have a day

That honors those who choose to not have children.

We need their energy.

However

Regardless of whether you’re a mom

Or a dad

Or a dad who used to be mom

Or a mom who used to be dad

I think it’s important

That we celebrate Mother’s Day

It’s important to remember

Why we have Mother’s Day.

See, we’ve gotten Mothers Day wrong.

Mothers Day was begun in 1870

after a lot of lobbying

by women

(who, by the way,

didn’t have the right to vote yet

but they still made their political presence

felt).

And it wasn’t created because mothers

felt overwhelmed

with the task of raising children,

running the household

and still finding time to

foment rebellion.

It wasn’t begun as an

economic stimulus program

in hopes that all those flowers

and candy boxes

and presents

would boost retail sales.

It was created by mothers

so tired of having their sons

(at the time)

sent home in boxes

from one war zone or another

that they gathered today

women from every socio-economic status

some women who weren’t mothers at all

and they gathered together to say enough!

We are tired of losing our children to war!

Julia Ward Howe

a Unitarian rabble-rouser

and leader of the movement

to create Mothers Day

wrote in her Mothers Day Proclamation

in 1870:

“As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil

At the summons of war,

Let women now leave all that may be left of home

For a great and earnest day of counsel

.Let them meet first,

as women,

to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them solemnly take counsel with each other

as to the means

Whereby the great human family

can live in peace...

Each bearing after our own time the sacred impress,

not of Caesar,

But of God –

In the name of womanhood and humanity,

I earnestly ask

That a general congress of women

without limit of nationality,

May be appointed and held at someplace

deemed most convenient

And the earliest period consistent with its objects,

To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,

The amicable settlement of international questions,

The great and general interests of peace.”

So, according to Julia

this was never meant to be a day to honor mothers

it was a day to honor our children.

And to recognize the inherent worth and dignity

Of all mother’s children

And to seek peace.

Perhaps Julia Ward Howe

got the idea for this from

Ann Reeves Jarvis

who instituted

Mother’s Work Day

in her West Virginia town

as a rallying cry to improve sanitation.

Again,

who better than a mother

concerned with the health and safety

of children

to establish this?

After the Civil War ended

Ann Reeves Jarvis

used this day as a means of reconciliation

between the two sides

and it was her daughter

Anna Jarvis who spent nearly 10 years

seeking to have Mother’s Day

officially recognized.

But even in her lifetime

the sentiment had changed.

People sought to soften the holiday

and turn it into what we know it as today.

A time for sending cards and flowers

and letting our moms know

they were appreciated.

By the time Mother’s Day

was officially enacted

it had already lost the meaning

for which Anna Jarvis and her mother

and Julia Ward Howe

sought to have it recognized.

But today

THAT

Is the Mother’s Day

I want us to celebrate.

Today

I want to honor women

And girls

Who have made a difference

I want to say Happy Mother’s Day

To Malala Yousafzi

The young Pakistani woman

who was shot in the head

because she dared to continue

to seek an education

in a Taliban ruled country

that forbids girls to learn.

Not because she is a mother

But because already

In her young life

she understands the importance

of Mother’s Day.

Already

In her young life

She Is changing the world.

Winner of the 2013 Nobel Peace Price,

Then 17 years old,

She said

“Pens and books

are the weapons that defeat terrorism.”

Even though she nearly lost her life

She has never stopped fighting

The ignorance of terrorism

With the wisdom of education.

Another Pakistani woman

And human rights activist

40 year old Sabeen Mahmud

Was not so lucky

On April 24th this year-

Just a couple of weeks ago--

she had just held a meeting

about the”silenced” activists and students

in Baluchistan,

Pakistan’s most neglected and separatist province;

Hundreds of activists and students had been abducted,

probably killed.

And she held a meeting in a café she had created

For just that purpose

In 2006.

For years, progressives in Pakistan

Would meet there

To discuss issues of the day.

And this was no different

Though it was risky.

“There would probably be blowback”,

she told a friend; “I just don’t know what that blowback entails.”

That blow back was being shot to death

I want to wish her a posthumous Mother’s Day

Even though she was not a mother.

And I want to wish A Happy Mother’s Day

To her own mom

Who was with her and was also shot twice.

She is expected to recover.

These women

Won’t be getting a card today

Or breakfast in bed

But they heard Julia Ward Howe’s call

Through the ages

And they answered.

Today I want to call out the names

Of the 234 Nigerian girls

Kidnapped while they studied

For a chemistry exam

April 14, 2014.

Finally rescued

From Boko Haram terrorists

After a year in captivity.

234 girls finally returned to their villages,

214 of whom are pregnant

As a result of rape.

I wish I could hear and learn

Each of their names

I wish I could tell them

They will not

Or at least should not

Be known as the mother

Of the rape baby

The victim of terrorists

That they are wonderful girls

And young women,

That their life has meaning.

I want to learn the names

Of all women

Who have been erased

By whatever patriarchal society

In which they live.

To say you are more

Than somebody’s mother

Or daughter or sister

To say you have a name

Even here in our own nation

I want to say Happy Mother’s Day

To those whose presence

Is being erased by laws;

To the women in Wisconsin

Where there’s a new bill

Wending its way through legislature

That would give in-laws

The right to stop their daughter-in-law

From getting an abortion.

Here in our own state

And in many states

There is a constant push

To render invisible

The rights of women

Seeking to make decisions

About their bodies.

I want to say

Happy Mother’s Day

To the members of group

Moms Demand Action

For Gun Sense in America

-a group that was definitely founded

In the spirit of Julia Ward Howe’s

Mother’s Day proclamation

Founded in the aftermath of the Sandyhook shootings

To say Enough!

A group of which I’m a proud member.

A group who was the target

Of a TV ad

By a Florida Gun instructor,

Who shot six carefully placed bullets

In a target that we then see

Is one of the posters

For Moms Demand Action.

He ends this ad

By turning to the camera

And then saying

“Not a bad grouping.

Happy Mother’s Day.”

I want to say Happy Mother’s Day

To all the activists

Mothers or no

Women and men

Who day by day

Have it in their heart to work for peace.

Rather than declaim Mother’s Day

As a exclusive party for those who change diapers

We need to reclaim Mother’s Day

As a day

Where we meet first,

as women AND men,

to bewail and commemorate the dead.

And then to

solemnly take counsel with each other

as to the means

Whereby the great human family

can live in peace...

Maybe

if we who are mothers

can receive our cards and flowers

with joy and gratitude

and

also determine

to take back the original sense

of Mother’s Day

the desire to end injustice

and if we are joined by

the fathers and uncles and aunts

and brothers and sisters

and lovers

we can create a movement

of justice

we can reclaim Julia Ward Howes’

and Anna Jarvis’ vision.

We can realize it’s not just about

keeping our sons and daughters

safe from the perils of war

or providing clean water for our families

but about making sure our sons and daughters

live full and healthy lives

and that mothers everywhere

have the opportunity

to live long enough

to see their grandchildren

not just in our families

in our country

but globally.

You know,

tragically

Julia Ward Howe felt her voice

was not heard,

but maybe

just maybe

we can show her that it was.

May it be so.