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The Origins of Mother's Day in the United States of America

Mother's Day as we know it in the 21st Century originated in the United States of America.  On May 9, 1914, by an act of Congress, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.   President Wilson established the day as a time for "public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country."

A special day to express love and reverence for mothers is not entirely new.   In England, since at least the 17th Century, the Fourth Sunday of Lent was known as "Mothering Sunday".   It was a day when mothers were honoured.   Servants who worked and normally resided in the homes of the wealthy were given the day off and encouraged to return to their homes and spend time with their mothers.   A tradition arose involving the baking of special type of fruit cake, known as Simnel Cake, which would be shared both at home and at various gatherings.   (The Fourth Sunday of Lent, complete with the very same cake, was also observed in some places as "Laetare (Rejoice/Refresh) Sunday", the predecessor of our modern "Laughter" or Holy Humour Sunday.)   There appears to be no direct connnection between Mothering Sunday and Mother's Day.

It is worth noting here that Anna Jarvis became disillusioned with how Mother's Day evolved, and in particular with the commercialization of the holiday.   Jarvis "filed a lawsuit in 1923 to stop a Mother's Day festival and was actually arrested for disturbing the peace when she protested the sale of carnations to raise money for a war mother's convention.   Jarvis told reporters shortly before her death at age 84 that she was sorry she had ever started Mother's Day." (cited from a PRCL note by the Rev. Alice W. Erickson, United Church of Christ, Glouster, MA, 2005)

Since 1914 many countries have either officially or unofficially adopted the observance of Mothers' Day (For example Australia, Belguim, Finland and Holland have all adopted the second sunday of May as Mother's Day). This has placed pressure on the Church to recognise and observe Mother's Day in its proclamation of the Word and in its Worship and Prayer.   Phil Ware reflects on on the some of the pastoral and theological issues involved in celebrating Mother's (and Father's) Day in his article titled A Complicated Joy.   We recommend this article for those struggling with what it means to lift up parents in a society where many children experience the pain of separation, divorce, parental abuse and so forth.

Some churches, such as the United Church of Canada, have responded to the pastoral issues that can be raised by the celebration of "Mother's Day" by designated the Second Sunday of May as "Christian Family Sunday" and enouraging its members to try to avoid the commercial and sentimental excesses of Mother's Day.   (In North America Mothers Day is the busiest and most profitable celebration for flower shops and restaurant owners).   Because of those excesses other churches have attempted to ignore Mother's Day completely.   Our own approach is to use the occasion as a chance to meet the people of the church at the point where they live with the Word that tells us how to live and which speaks to us about "honouring our mothers and fathers".

There are no special texts provided by the Revised Common Lectionary for Mother's Day / Mothering Sunday.   Our resources generally use whatever texts are suggested for the Sunday in the Christian Year that Mother's Day happens to fall on - though in the spirit of "free churches" we have occasionally departed completely from the Lectionary.

Resources For Mother's Day Listed Above

• The Story of Mothers' Day Open a second window for a history of Mother's Day that is suitable for use with children during worship.
• 1870 Mother's Day Proclamation: Open a second window and read Julia Ward Howe's original proclamation.
• A Complicated Joy - Open a second window and read Phil Ware's discussion of the Pastoral issues involved in Mother's Day
• Simnel Cakes: Open a second window for recipes for the Lenten Cake associated with "Mothering Sunday" and/or "Laetare" or "Holy Humour Sunday"

Sample Sermons and Liturgies For Mother's Day


• Sermons: Various Mother's Day Sermons from Sermons.com
• The Christian Family: A Mother's Day Sermon and Pastoral Prayer from Kir-Shalom (non lectionary)
• I Will Not Leave You: A Mother's Day Sermon and Liturgy, with Children's Time from Kir-Shalom. The service uses the texts for Easter 6A
• What I Want For You: A Mother's Day Sermon and Liturgy, with Children's Time from Kir-Shalom. The service uses the texts for Easter 5C
• Mothers' Day Resources from Bass Mitchell: Open a second window for a single page by Bass Mitchell that features a number of poems, humorous stories, sermon extracts that may be of use on Mothers' Day. (May 02)

Ideas For Celebrating Mother's Day

• Arrange to pass out carnations to every woman present, with red for those whose mother is still living and white for those whose mother's have died.   Alternately a carnation might be passed out all persons present to denote their remembering of their mothers.   One might also honour with a corsage the oldest mother present in the congregation, the newest mother, and the mother who has travelled the farthest to be present with her family (one might also highlight the family group who has travelled the farthest to be with their mother or grandmother.
• Stan Duncan (2005) writes: "I have a bulletin insert about the anti-war origins of Mothers Day. During the service I often say, everyone who has ever had a mother stand up. They all laugh and most shouffle to their feet. Then I say, "some of us are mothers, some are not; some are fathers, some are not. But, good or ill, good relationship or bad, all of us would not be here without them. On at least this day, if not others, we should all honor those who birthed us and brought us into the world....etc." I also send out mothers day cards to the middle aged non-mothers in our congregation, saying something like, "Mothering is not an act of biology. Bless you and thank you for "mothering the children in our church school (or some similar task they perform); we wouldn't be the same without you."
• Arrange to have the children of the congregation sing a song during the worship - perhaps one that focuses on living in peace or the spreading of love.
• Preach on the lectionary texts for the day. The Word of God is active and alive. As you preach the texts be aware that people are expecting some kind of message for Mother's Day and do not be afraid to relate the texts to the pastoral occcasion. One can also make good use of the children's time and the pastoral prayer to address people where they are at.
• Don Hoffman (Chreston Christian Church, Washington, 2005) writes: It's important to acknowledge both the good and the bad experiences people have in relation to motherhood, or you end up not talking about the elephant in the living room.... At the very least in the pastoral prayer I try to list all the positive and negative experiences. Quick list off the top of my head: Those whose mothers were abusive, neglectful, addicted, or who enabled fathers like this. Those who grew up in single-parent families, or who never got the chance to know a mother/father. Those who have not been able, for whatever reason, to form adult relationships with their parents. Those who wish they could become parents but can't. Those waiting/wishing to adopt. Those fortunate enough to have adoptive parents who loved them. Children of blended families with step-parents. Those who had an abortion long ago and now feel bad about it. (Look, I'm neither pro nor con on the "abortion issue," but how can we not acknowledge that there are people on both sides who are in pain?) Those who never had an opportunity to become mothers. Those who have had to "mother" their own elderly, crippled, or demented parents. There's bound to be a bunch I left out. There should be two messages: 1) the person sitting next to you may have had a different experience of what mothering is all about than you've had; 2) the church (and God) intends to validate whatever experience you may have had, but also to hold up an ideal Christian family life which every one of us can only partially achieve, but should aspire to.
• Remember in the prayer time those whose mother has died and those mother's who have lost one or more of their children to death.
• If you are celebrating Mothering Sunday (the 4th of Lent) in the tradition of the Anglican / Episcopal Church bake a simmel cake. Bake one anyway if you are celebrating on the Second Sunday of May.

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