Easter 6b - conclusion

The lectionary might designate this Sunday Easter 6b but everyone else knows it is Mother’s Day, which, by the way, has the third highest church attendance behind Christmas and Easter. But few children, or mothers, for that matter, know Mother’s Day in the U.S. began because one Anna Jarvis was intent on honoring the work of her mother Ann Jarvis of Webster, West Virginia who organized Mother’s Day Work Clubs to address health conditions and the high rates of infant mortality in the surrounding counties. In 1861 Webster was embroiled in the War Between the States as both sides fought over a nearby railroad terminus. When an epidemic of typhoid broke out Ann opened her Work Clubs to treat the infected insisting on “no mistreatment of any of our members. We are composed of both the Blue and the Gray.” She saved thousands of lives and after the war continued to promote reconciliation through Mothers Friendship Days. So I guess the Easter 6b lectionary got it right for Mother’s Day “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”