She gets up while it is still night and provides food for her family. Proverbs 31:15

This Sunday is a very special day in people's lives and in our church. We celebrate Mother's Day each year because we all have, or have had, mothers who brought us into the world, loved us and taught us how to love. Many of us are mothers, or like a mother to the young people who are entrusted to our care. Mother's Day is an opportunity to recognize and appreciate these special women.

Did you know that two Methodist women started this tradition? In May of 1908, Anna Jarvis organized the first Mother's Day celebration at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia. She envisioned Mother's Day as a time to write a personal letter to your mother, a time to send her an inexpensive carnation (a flower in which the petals hold tight like a mother's love) and a time to visit or attend church together.

Her daughter, Anna (who was never a mother herself), continued promoting the tradition her mother began. Anna was an outspoken critic of card stores and flower markets when the day became a commercial venture. She believed that they contributed to depersonalizing what was intended to be a very personal occasion.

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day in the USA.

My message this Sunday is entitled A Mother's Love. The focus is on the relationship between Mary and her son, Jesus. Join us to celebrate the special women in our lives. Invite a special woman in your life to join you at church this week. We have a gift for all of the women who attend this Sunday's worship services.

Blessings,

Pastor Mary