Mother’s day is quickly approaching and you’re probably making the finishing touches on your sermon for this Sunday.
I was at church several years ago on Mother’s Day, and the pastor instructed all the mothers to stand up so he could acknowledge and bless them. This is a seemingly innocent and honorable thing to do, but I started to cry. The floodgates opened. Where were all these tears coming from? I was a mother, but I had no baby to show for it. I was supposed to be pregnant-I had been pregnant, but I had also miscarried.
Before you single out all the mothers by asking them to stand up or giving them flowers or another gift, think about who might be in your congregation. Here are some who may be in your pews on Mother’s Day.
- A woman who has lost a baby through miscarriage, stillborn, or early infant death
- A single woman who desperately wants to be married and be a mother
- A woman who has been trying to conceive and is unable to have children
- A woman who has had an abortion
- A woman who has placed her baby for adoption
- A woman whose mother is dying
- A woman whose mother has died
- A child or teenager whose mother has died
Acknowledge mothers this Mother’s Day, but please be sensitive to the women (and men too) in your congregation whose arms are empty right now or who have experienced a loss.
grieving with guinever 