May the words my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen Anna Maria Jarvis. She was born May 1, 1864 and died November 24, 1948. Does anyone know who she was? She was the founder of Mother’s Day in the United States. But the idea did not come from her. It came from her mother Ann Jarvis, from whom she found her inspiration. One time her mother wrote, “I hope and pray that someone, sometime will found a memorial mother’s day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity and every field of life. She is entitled to it.” So, Mother’s Day began in 1907 when Anna held a memorial service for her mother at St. Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton West Virginia. It became an official holiday by a proclamation by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. St Andrew’s now serves as the International Mother’s Day Shrine. But as Paul Harvey would say, “Now the rest of the story.” Anna Jarvis originally used a white carnation as the symbol for Mother’s Day. Its whiteness was to symbolize the truth, purity, and the broad charity of mother love. The carnation does not drop its petals, but hugs them to its heart as it dies as mothers hug their children—their mother love never dies. The holiday caught on. By the 1920’s the floral industry got into the act and promoted using white carnations. The success was so great that they increased the price of the carnations as demand increased. So the florists introduced red carnations to help the demand. The idea was that red carnations represented living mothers and the white ones honored deceased mothers. By this time Anna Jarvis was going ballistic. Her simple holiday honoring mothers had gone commercial. The candy and greeting card businesses had gotten in on the act. Anna Jarvis felt a printed card means nothing except that you were too lazy to write to the woman your thanks for all she had done for you. And candy! You take a box to your mother and eat most of it yourself. She actually started a drive to rescind the holiday, but we know how successful that was. Spending so much money on this campaign, she fell on hard times never profiting from any of her efforts. She died in a sanitarium and, ironically, her medical bills and burial costs were paid for by people from the floral and greeting card business. You can look all this up on the internet. In the gospel reading today, John records Jesus’ last words to his disciples that they might have strength for the upcoming days. It all has to do with love—love of one another. Love one another as I have loved you. No greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Just what Jesus did. Jesus now calls his listeners friends because he has told them everything that he himself has heard from his Father. While I love my mother dearly, and I’m not bashing Mother’s Day, I have become hesitant to publicly wish all mothers a happy Mother’s Day. I remember we were discussing this in Lutheran Confessions class one afternoon, a young lady, sitting to my right told us that this was one of the worse days of her life. She told us how abusive her mother was, both physically and mentally. And yes, there are abusive mothers and fathers in the world. All mothers aren’t deserving of a special day. And while most of us have loving parents, we pray for the children and parents that are in those kinds of situations. And there are all kinds of other situations. Obviously, there are adoptive parents, foster parents those who love their nephews and nieces as if they were their own. And there are men who become and are better mothers to their children than the natural mother. Jesus was trying to tell us to love like he did. Love our neighbor; be a friend. Jesus chose his disciples; they did not choose him. God chooses us. He chooses us to be his children. He is our father and mother. He loves us as any parent would love their child. He sets the example—an example that we as humans cannot attain. But we try. And we ask for forgiveness when we fail. So to all the women and men, those who have children and those who do not for one reason or another, treat children as God treats us—with love and compassion and grace. Remember your mother and honor her for she gave you life! But God gives you greater life—the joy of living with him in your heart because he chose you. Therefore, we can have the joy of being with children; their innocence, their joy and laughter. So on this day, tell your mother that you love her with your words, and if she has entered the church triumphant, look upward and tell her and tell her of your love. And use that as an example of how you treat other people. God chose you first; he loved you first. We respond by loving him and our neighbor, our friends. Therefore, live by these commands, the commands that Jesus gave us so that you may love one another. Amen and amen.