How Redding UMC Honored Mother's Day During May 1925

The May 14th, 1925 Redding Herald ran Rev. C.H. Marple’s column on happenings at the Redding United Methodist Church. This time, he wrote on Mother’s day.

Sunday was Mother’s Day. Its observance was full of sentiment and meaning. This new festival on our church calendar with its spirit of love and reverence is a wholesome sign in an age of practicality and pragmatic demand. On Mother’s Day, we have revealed to us the fact that beneath all the superficiality of the are, there is a perennial spring of idealism. Mother is the soul, the moving spirit of the home. It was Richter who said, “Unhappy is that man to whom his mother has not made all other mothers venerable.” If a man does not honor and respect all mothers and all women, he cannot honor and respect his own mother. If a man does not love and honor his own mother, he has not the power of true manhood.

“If I had all the mothers I ever saw to choose from, I would have chosen you,” said the immortal Carlyle. 

The place of our mothers in social reform is evidenced by the testimony of Simmons who said, “If you would reform the world from its errors and vices, begin by consulting the mothers.” 

Mother typifies love, patience, sacrifice. The mother and the child constitutes the noblest, purest, and most exalted picture in life. No wonder sculptors have chiseled this picture in marble, and artists have painted it on canvas; or that poets have put it into song and orators have eulogized it.

The best way to honor mother is to live worthy of her. Be true to her highest ideals. Follow her God. Love her and comfort her in her old age.

I love old mothers, mothers with white hair,

And kindly eyes and lips grown softly sweet

With murmured blessings over sleeping babes.

There is something in their quiet grace

That speaks the calm of Sabbath afternoons;

A knowledge in their deep, unfaltering eyes,

That far outstretches all philosophy.

Old mothers, as they pass with slow time’s step,

Their trembling hands cling gently to youth’s strength.

Sweet mothers, as they pass, one sees again,

Old garden walks, old roses, and old loves.

On Sunday evening, we preached the baccalaureate sermon to a filled house. The theme was, “The Measure of Manhood.” The text was from Philippians: “Be Strong.” The measure of manhood has three parts. First comes self-mastery, self-control. Most difficulty we have is with self. We should be strong in our ideals, in thought, and in our choices. The second measure is one’s adjustment to the social group. Conflict is inevitable if one is strong. The stronger one lives, the stronger will be the opposition. The great problem of human society is the problem of living together. In this test of character, we need tolerance and sympathy. The final Measure of Manhood is affinity with God.

We invite you to worship with us at our regular church services next Sunday.

–C.H. Marple, Minister.