Make a Mother's Day 2022MSH - 21 Mar 2022
MAKE A MOTHER’S DAY 2022
Mothering Sunday is a special time to say thank you to all mothers and caregivers for the selflessness with which they nurture, love and help us to flourish.
Since 2006 our Make a Mother's Day Appeal has celebrated this and our ethical gifts have the added benefit of making a difference to mothers and caregivers in communities all around the world.
For Mothering Sunday we are reaching out to our communities and beyond, whether you are part of Mothers’ Union or not, there is something for everyone to celebrate.
Message from our Worldwide President:
Two years ago, Mothering Sunday coincided with the UK’s first national lockdown. The suddenness of being separated from our loved ones tested us all. Mothers’ Union members everywhere, like you and me, discovered new strengths, resilience and most of all we discovered the value of community and prayer.
So this year, please join me in prayer for mothers and other people we give thanks for all over the world.
In Madagascar, where 61-year-old Dophine is a mother of seven children and grandmother to 17 grandchildren, she has needed to persevere and be resilient to an extent few of us can even begin to imagine. In her rural community, which is heavily dependent on subsistence farming, climate change is having a devastating effect on rainfall and on their crop harvests. “As well as drought,” says Dophine, “there are also violent winds which destroy what we grow.”
This Mothering Sunday, you can give a gift of resilience for mothers and grandmothers like Dophine. You might like to dedicate your gift to someone who’s particularly special to you.
Many people in Dophine’s village had moved away to the towns when the droughts started. “We have not left,” she explains, “because we did not even have transport fees and food to eat during the travel.” She persevered and adjusted the family’s meals to a drink of hot water in the morning, cactus from the forest in the day, and rice, beans or maize between the whole family in the evening.
Dophine’s children depend on her and her husband.
Your gifts of resilience this Mothering Sunday can answer someone’s prayers at home as well. Imagine an asylumseeker feeling your kindness and compassion as, running from persecution for practising their Christian faith, they take their first steps into freedom. For a mother protecting
In the Gifts Catalogue, you can find more ways of making a Mothering Sunday present of dignity, strength and companionship. As Mothers’ Union members, we can help someone who needs their prayers answered to keep their faith like Dophine and keep trusting in God’s love.
Whether it’s a mother thousands of miles away doing everything she can to keep her family safe and alive, or someone in our own parish who needs the gift of resilience, this Mothering Sunday, you can help.
“Before I came to see you, I thought I would have to stay quiet and suffer all on my own. Since I have met you, I have not had to hide away or worry because I know I have someone who can help me.” – A mum receiving Mothers’ Union support in a women’s refuge.
Please help us share more gifts of resilience and perseverance this Mothering Sunday. Your kindness will help knit together communities who have been separated, and show compassion where it is most needed.
Happy Mothering Sunday, and thank you for your love and support,
Sheran Harper
Worldwide President, Mothers’ Union
PS. You can choose from the range of gifts of resilience in the catalogue enclosed. Dedicate your gift to a loved one, or you might like to make your gift in memory of a special person in your life.
What is a Gift of Resilience
Dophine and her family were so weak from famine they could barely stand. “We pray God for sure to send us rain so that what we plant grows well. We do not dream of getting rich and of having a lot of money. We just want to overcome this famine and have food to eat every day.”
Dophine’s prayers were answered when the family was “given food for a whole week by Mothers’ Union members who cooked the rice and brought it to us.”
After this initial relief: “they gave us maize seeds and sweet potato stems to grow, for a more sustainable livelihood. Sweet potatoes grow easily here because they do not need much water, and as well as the flesh we can eat the potato leaves with rice.”
A reflective prayer for Mothering Sunday
As you join with others across the country in this prayer, take a moment after every section to bring your own response to God and to remember those you know for whom it is particularly relevant.
In every family there are seasons
of joys and challenges:
Seasons of laughter
and seasons of sadness.
Times of unexpected joy
and times of unwanted trauma.
Circumstances to cherish
and circumstances to overcome.
Seasons of harmony
and seasons of discord.
Times of resilience
and times of weakness.
Moments to look forward with hope
and moments to look back with thanksgiving.
God in every circumstance and season
we bring you our worship and praise. Amen
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