Mother’s Day is around the corner, and although it is not a liturgical holiday, it has a firm religious association.  For one thing, it was founded by church women and first celebrated in church.  Mother’s Day grew out of a peace movement by religiously committed women.  This social gospel connection is not, by and large, why we associate Mother’s Day with church.  We link the two because of the long tradition of mothers extorting their children into church attendance on Mother’s Day.  Going to church on Mother’s Day is the tip paid to God before you go to brunch where you tip the servers.

Leaving aside the noble roots of Mother’s Day, its popular manifestation is as a Hallmark holiday.  I have nothing against greeting card manufacturers, florists, or purveyors of mimosa-swigging brunches, but through most of my career I have successfully resisted eulogizing motherhood in church as though it was gospel.

But still, even a hard heart like mine occasionally softens, at least to the extent that I consider (however briefly) the idea of honoring saintly mothers in church.  The biblical material leans heavily toward the Mother of Our Lord, which is tricky for a Protestant minister to pull off without veering into territory best left to our friends in Rome.  There’s Sarah and the matriarchs, but their stories, when they are not ignored, are often just as morally ambiguous as those of the patriarchs.  (Sarah’s treatment of Hagar is no more exemplary than Abraham’s near slaughter of his son on Mt. Moriah.)

The long history of patriarchy means that most of the stories of wonderful, godly mothers have been forgotten, deemed too unimportant for inclusion in the history of the church.  Still, some famous churchmen have venerated their mothers.  Charles and John Wesley, the founders of Methodism, held their mother in the highest esteem.  She is widely hailed as the “Mother of Methodism,” so great was the influence she had on her children.  She was the mother of 19 children!  (10 survived infancy.)  Her wisdom, faithfulness, and grit is unassailable.  I have, however, always cringed a bit at her insistence that it was crucial for a mother to “break a child” before he or she turns three.  I suppose certain rough methods might be required when you have so many children to cope with, but still… 

Susanna Wesley was a tough-minded woman.  Nevertheless, it was her prayers that her sons leaned on in their ministry.

St. Augustine, the first person to craft an autobiography, and one of the most influential Christian thinkers in the history of the church, might never be known to us if it weren’t for his mother Monica.  We only know about her from Augustine’s recollections.  He credits her prayers and unswerving example of Christian love to the conversion of first his pagan father and eventually himself.

Whether you bless your mother’s memory or carry the scars that she inflicted (or some mixture of the two), there are few people who do more to shape our lives.  Mothers have a unique position of influence, but all of us, whether parents or not, whatever our gender or age, are shaping other lives by the relationships we forge.

Prayer:  Keep me mindful of the ways I was shaped (and broken) as I shape the people I touch.  Amen.