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A bit of the history of Mother’s Day from Holidays.net: “The earliest Mother’s Day celebration can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600’s, England celebrated a day called “Mothering Sunday.” Celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lend, “Mothering Sunday,” honored the mothers of England. During this time many of England’s poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch. As Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honor the “Mother Church,” the spiritual power that gave them life and protected them from harm. Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration. People began honoring their mothers as well as the church. In the United States Mother’s Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic) as a day dedicated to peace. Ms. Howe would hold organized Mother’s Day meetings in Boston, Mass. every year. In 1907 Ana Jarvis from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother’s Day. Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother’s church in Grafton, WV to celebrate Mother’s Day on the second anniversary of her mother’s death, the 2nd Sunday in May. By the next year Mother’s Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia. Ms. Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, businessmen and politicians in her quest to establish a national Mother’s Day. It was successful and by 1911 Mother’s Day was celebrated in almost every state. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother’s Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the Second Sunday in May.” Here is the prayer for Mother’s Day from our United Methodist Book of Worship: For our mothers, who have given us life and love, that we may show them reverence and love, we pray to the Lord . . . For mothers who have lost a child through death, may their faith give them hope, and their family and friends support and console them, we pray to the Lord . . . For women though without children of their own, who like mothers have nurtured and cared for us, we pray to the Lord . . .For mothers, who have been unable to be a source of strength, who have not responded to their children and have not sustained their families, we pray to the Lord. Loving God, as a mother gives life and nourishment to her children, so you watch over your church. Bless these women, that they may be strengthened as Christian mothers. Let the example of their faith and love shine forth. Grant that we, their sons and daughters, may honor them always with a spirit of profound respect. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Grace & Peace,