On June 2, 1872, Julia Ward Howe began the celebration of Mother’s Day as a holiday to honor mothers by working for an end to all war.
Psalm 11:1 – 6
In the Lord have I taken refuge: how then can you say to me, “Fly away like a bird to the hilltop; for see how the wicked bend the bow and fit their arrows to the string: to shoot from ambush at the true of heart. When the foundations are being destroyed: what can the righteous do?” The Lord is in his holy temple: the Lord’s throne is in heaven. His eyes behold the inhabited world: his piercing eye weighs our worth. The Lord weighs the righteous as well as the wicked: but those who delight in violence he abhors.
Make us students of your way, Lord: that we might study war no more.
Julia Ward Howe made this proclamation on the first Mother’s Day: “Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be of water or of tears! Say firmly: ‘We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.’ From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says: ‘Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.’ Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. 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.”
Lord, help us assemble ourselves before you today through our acts of peace and reconciliation with neighbors near and far. Help us to teach the children in our communities what it means to be children of a God who loves us like a mother. Amen.
Selections for Mother’s Day extracted from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.
Follow daily prayers at https://commonprayer.net. Reprinted with permission.
