From Earth’s to Mother’s Day

This is a Great Idea of our own concoction – based on numerous recent resources that guide us through some of the joys and sorrows of motherhood and expand our awareness of how motherhood injustices affect us all.

Build on Earth Day enthusiasm – and let creation care infuse your everyday congregational life – by preparing for Mother’s Day with expanded awareness around the justice issues particular to the role of mothering – and those who fill that role.

Read, study, and act/engage in whatever order is best for your context. Suggested resources include:

• Connect the dots between caring for Earth and the female-bodied people who birth us with: Love Your Mother: 50 States, 50 Stories, and 50 Women United for Climate Change (Broadleaf)
• Get theological – and connect Easter and the Feminine Divine:
  • Jesus Sophia: Returning to Woman Wisdom in the Bible, Practice, and Prayer (Cascade) – ‘understandings of the cross are revisited, female imagery for God is reclaimed and celebrated, fresh and ancient practices of faith are offered, and inclusive, exquisite liturgies are shared’
  • Dear Mama God (Watchfire) does all that with children…
• Visit political intersections of power, motherhood, and justice with:
  • Pregnant While Black: Advancing Justice for Maternal Health in America (Broadleaf).
  • Introduce or follow-up with The History and Political Power of Black Motherhood by Zenobia Jeffries Warfield – Yes! Magazine
  • which features an interview with author Dani McClain, whose book We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood (Bold Type) offers a history of ‘the trajectory of Black mothers in this country without pathologizing [their] experiences’
• Develop awareness and empathy for complicated pregnancies:
  • Missed Conceptions: How We Make Sense of Infertility (Broadleaf) – the title says it all
  • Dear Star Baby (Beaming) – for children and adults – ‘will help families who have lost a baby to miscarriage or stillbirth grieve and move forward together’

Both creation care and mothering justice are topics our communities can address and include every day. Contact The Ministry Lab for creative ways to build both into congregational life in consistently meaningful and impactful ways.

Find additional resources for Confronting Misogyny, Exploring God, and Creation Care in our lib guides.