It's Mothers'/Mother's Day!

My list is longer, but this is a great place to start. We still need an Equal Rights Amendment and full voting rights for all, full reproductive justice, free menstrual products available to all women, special efforts to stop the rise in deaths and trauma among expectant mothers, special efforts to stop the increase in the deaths of newborns, concerted efforts to stop the deaths and disappearances of Native American and Indigenous women and so much more. And guys---please stop mansplaining.

 

From the Chicago Teachers Union

This comes from Mark Sandlin, who I often take from for this blog:

On Mother’s Day (A Prayer/Meditation)

[Good and queering God,]

In sacred texts

we are reminded

of the abundance

of mothering qualities

of the Divine.

From eagles wings

which lift us up

to nursing mothers

which will not abandon us,

biblically,

we are assured

of a deep

and abiding

love.

Today,

we pause to give thanks

for the deep love of mothers.

We give thanks for those

who’ve been a mother

in less traditional ways

as well.

From older siblings

in a motherless home

to

single fathers

raising children on their own,

we are thankful for the love

they each share,

for the way they each care,

and for the way they nurture

the children of the world.

At the same time,

we pause to remember,

those who struggle

with the role of mother.

And for those who

want nothing more

than to be a mother

but so far have not found

the path that is right for them.

And on this day

as a nation celebrates mothers,

we remember those who

cannot bring themselves

to celebrate

because their mothers

were less than motherly.

They were

judgmental,

belittling,

violent,

abusive…

absent.

And we think of those

who long

for an embrace

from their mother

just

one

more

time.

This day

as we reflect on

and give thanks for

mothers and mother figures

in our lives,

may we recognize

the reflection of

Divine love

in them

and then may we each

live into that reflection

not just with those

we choose to call family

but with each person

we meet.

[Amen.]

From Steven Charleston:

We all have the mother we have. For some it is a happy relationship, for others it is a sadness. For some it is a blessed memory, for others a painful reminder. Motherhood itself is as we experience it. For some a vocation, for others a choice intentionally untaken. Today I want to invite us all to gather around these mixed truths of our mothers, celebrating the joy it means to so many, acknowledging the reserved response of many others. We all have the mother we have. We are all siblings of that reality, however we encounter it. May the Spirit bless us, with love or healing, as we embrace this day in our own way. And may the mothers we have be a door: to our thanksgiving and to our wisdom.
~ Steven Charleston is a Native American elder, author, and retired Episcopal bishop of Alaska. Adjunct Professor of Native American Ministries at Saint Paul School of Theology OCU, Citizen of Choctaw Nation. https://stevencharleston.com/

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