Mother's Day: A Peace Movement
What if we returned to Mother’s Day as a peace movement? What kind of world would this be? What kind of community could we create?
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If “to mother” is to help bring about the world that God, Our Mother, so loves and labors alongside us to bring forth, then all of us are called to mother. –I wrote this sentence here.
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Dearly Beloveds,
Welcome to May! I hope the sun begins to shine more brightly wherever you are and that you take time to bask in it, soaking in that Vitamin D like the prayer that it is.
Take a deep breath for good measure, then let out a long exhale. Try that again.
Spring has sprung here in Nashville, and I can’t keep count of how many birds I see and songs I hear and flowers I smell. Some days I want to fly and sing and bloom along with them. Other days, my heart is still wintering, and I remember that love grows in every season, thanks be.
Throughout the month of May, I’ll be highlighting mothers and motherhood and mothering—people and concepts that, for me, are less and less about gender and biology and more and more about a way of being and living in the world. I may have new things to say, new mothering mothers to highlight, and, then again, I may simply point you to what I’ve written about mothers and mothering before.
For today, since Mother’s Day is one week away, I offer a brief summary of the origins of Mother’s Day as we’ve come to know it here in the United States. You can read the full article about the herstory of Mother’s Day here.
Did you know Mother’s Day began as a peace movement?
Anne Reeves Jarvis brought mothers of Confederate and Union soldiers together after the Civil War to promote reconciliation.
Abolitionist and suffragist, Julia Ward Howe, wrote a proclamation in 1870 imploring mothers to unite and promote world peace.
Anna Jarvis, Anne Reeves Jarvis’ daughter, is the one who campaigned for Mother’s Day to become an official US holiday in 1914. She wanted the day to be about children celebrating the sacrifices their mothers made for them.
Not a mother herself, she argued that holidays were biased toward male achievements and started a massive letter writing campaign to see to it that Mother’s Day become a national holiday.
As Mother’s Day became more and more commercialized, though, Anna became disgusted with its divergence from her original intent and spent the remainder of her life protesting Mother’s Day profiteers.
What if we returned to Mother’s Day as a peace movement? What if, instead of individualizing and stereotyping mothers and caregivers, we united in ways that created systemic change for caregivers everywhere?
What kind of world would this be? What kind of community could we create?
Let’s find out.
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Mother-Centered Orgs You Need to Check Out
Lovely Village x Jesus Said Love
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Give a copy of Blessed Are the Women to the mothers and caregivers in your life. Sure, you’ll be spending money, but instead of spending on more traditional items, you’ll be spending your money on a book about the women of our faith. Without the women, we’re hard pressed to have any of it. With the women, we find Jesus, mercy, and love.
Give to a woman-led, justice-centered nonprofit organization. (I offer many suggestions in each chapter of Blessed Are the Women and have named a few of my favorites above.)
Spend quality time with your mother and caregivers. Pack a picnic lunch to share. Take a hike together. Go on a walk. Call them on the phone. Share a funny story. Laugh.
Remember, beloveds, if “to mother” is to help bring about the world that God, Our Mother, so loves and labors alongside us to bring forth, then all of us are called to mother.
See you back here next week, beloveds.
Love,
Claire
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