Sunday 11th May Anno Domini 2008

THE DAY OF PENTECOST: Whitsunday (Year a)

Mother’s Day

It's the Day of Pentecost (The 50th of the Great Fifty Days) (Mothers' Day), also known as Whitsunday, in reference to the white robes worn by those baptized at Easter. Pentecost is a Jewish Feast and the time of the Holy Spirit descending on the disciples. Pentecost is a Greek word meaning 50 and comes from the feast of weeks of Leviticus or Day of the First Fruits, as it was also called. Pentecost was also the anniversary of the law. It was on that very day that Moses gathered Israel around Mount Sinai and God came out in majesty and gave His law with His thunder and lightning and they stood trembling and entered into the covenant of works with him. Today, Christians celebrate Pentecost as the birthday of the Christian Church. It comes ten days after Ascension Day, which is when Christians remember that Jesus went back to heaven after the resurrection.

In the U.S. Mothers' Day is a holiday celebrated on second Sunday in May. It is a day when children honor their mothers with cards, gifts, and flowers. First observed in Philadelphia, Pa. in 1907, it is based on suggestions by Julia Ward Howe best known as the writer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic as a day dedicated to peace, and Anna Jarvis as “a memorial mothers day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life.”

Hymnals contain few hymns dedicated to mothers, most are written as hymns to Mary mother of Christians as is the familiar Faith of our Fathers written by Frederick W. Faber as Jesus and Mary (London: 1849); refrain by James G. Walton, 1874. This hymn was sung at the funeral of American president Franklin Roosevelt, held in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. The original first verse was as follows: Faith of our fathers, Mary's prayers Shall win our country back to Thee; And through the truth that comes from God, England shall then indeed be free. The version we sing today had it's first two verses written by A. B. Patten, the other verses were published in 1981 in Canada.

HYMNS
Faith of our Mothers*
Spirit of God, descend upon my heart LEV 119 
God Gave Mothers to Protect Us*
Written by Delores Jenson (alt. by David Schütz).
Lutheran Church of Australia © 2004 
Spirit of the Living God LEV 115
 
Sweet, Sweet Spirit LEV 120

Let us pray for: All victims of terror, oppression and natural disaster esspecially the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, The famine stricken African countries, the troubled lands of Africa and the people of Guyana. We also pray for The Archbishop of York John Sentamu, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Diocesan Bishop Mark Beckwith, and the Retired Bishop of Gambia Jean Elisee. We remember in prayer Bob Bark ,Hazel Carter, Marie Edwards, Carolyn Goodwin, Eula Jefferson, Louise Meggett, Janice Nugent, Rudolph Perry, Tony Pina, Rev. Mildred J. Solomon, and Aquinda Toppins. Finally, with crime in the streets and chaos and calamity happening worldwide, we cry: "Come Holy Spirit”.

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