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Two women are regarded as the founders of Mother’s Day. The first is Julia Ward Howe, the famous writer, abolitionist, and social reformer. We remember her for the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Her original idea for a Mother’s Day grew from her anguish at the devastation of the Civil War. She dreamed of a day for mothers to proclaim their dedication to justice and peace. She authored the first Mother’s Day proclamation and fostered a series of Mother’s Day meetings in Boston in the l870s. Her first proclamation captures Howe’s fiery spirit. The second founder was Anna Jarvis of West Virginia. Her reasons were somewhat different. Her concern was for the welfare of mothers neglected by their adult children. She cared for her own mother her entire life. She worked for nearly ten years to establish a national holiday. Mother’s Day became official in 1914; its purpose to advocate the honoring and caring for mothers, especially mothers no longer able to care for themselves. Ironically, by the time she died in 1948 Jarvis had become bitterly disillusioned with the holiday’s commercial emphasis on cards and flowers. It seems likely that Julia Ward Howe, had she lived so long, would have shared Anna Jarvis’ disappointment. But this history shows us that, at the heart of Mother’s Day, we find an affirmation of peace and justice, of compassion and caring. And just as these values are at the heart of Mother’s Day, I believe they are also at the heart of motherhood itself.

The scriptures this morning evoke the familiar image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Think, for a moment, of mothers as good shepherds. What are a shepherd’s qualities? First of all, shepherds are tender and nurturing. Baby lambs are fragile, wobbly, and vulnerable. The scholar and literary critic Harold Bloom speaks of growing up in a tenement in the Bronx. His parents were poor immigrants from Odessa in Russia. One of his earliest memories was of sitting on the kitchen floor of their tiny apartment reading a book. His mother was quietly moving barefoot about the room. As he sat there concentrating on what he was reading, he felt her fingertips rest lightly on his head. He looked up and saw her feet; and he reached out and touched her toes. Her hand on his head; his fingers on her toes. I find that very moving. Nurture. Connection.

Second, shepherds and mothers can both be tough. Comedian Eddie Murphy talks about what he calls "Mother Radar" – the capacity to pick up any vibration of misbehavior. His mother could hear things nobody else could. Murphy said that if he really stepped out of line, she might even throw her shoe at him. He said that his mother could wing her shoe, and it would clip him upside the head (ow!), and return to her hand like a boomerang. Maybe. But you get the idea. Mothers and shepherds are tough enforcers. And tough community builders - ever had your mom break up a fight between you and a sibling? Peacemakers, but tough ones. Shepherds traditionally carry a rod, a staff, and a sling. They use this arsenal to whip individual sheep into shape and keep the flock in line.

And third, good shepherds and good mothers are the ultimate protectors. When we hear a mother compared to a she-bear protecting her cub, we know exactly what that means. I was introduced to that quality in my kind and gentle wife, Lois, a number of years ago, when a couple of older neighborhood kids led her children, Abbey and Peter, to wander off through town after dark. Once her children were back safely in tow, she turned the full fury of her verbal wrath upon those hapless miscreants! Whoa! Watch out! We can sense something of the ferocity of Julia Ward Howe leveled at those who would send young men off to unlearn all that their mothers "have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience." We now live in a time in which we are trying to assess the consequences of a war just ended. And however we feel about the proclaimed purpose of that conflict and what the future holds for both Iraq and the United States, the words of Reinhold Niebuhr, America’s greatest twentieth century theologian and political realist, speak to us all. In another time of war, he wrote, "Let us pray for God’s forgiveness for our fallen state, our imperfect actions, and our inability to have avoided war in the first place." This is quoted in New York Times war correspondent Chris Hedges’ book entitled: "War is a Force That Give Us Meaning." A sobering title. Let us hope that, this Mother’s Day, we can reaffirm that what truly gives us meaning is our commitment to peace and justice, to compassion and caring, for these are at the heart of our faith as well. AMEN.

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