Mary Sumner - Founder of the Mother's Union

The Mother's Union, which celebrates its 140^th anniversary this year (2016), is well known in the UK and Africa. Its founder, Mary Sumner, is remembered in the Anglican Church's Festival Calendar on August 9^th. Being an American, and unfamiliar with Mary Sumner, I decided to do a little research and found the following quotations that reminded me of Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 20, 21:

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. . . . 20 “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. [ESV]

Mary Sumner's advice in the following excerpts is directed at mothers and assumes the father of the home is too busy working outside of the home to be involved overly much in the nurture and education of children. However, God's commandments to Moses in Deuteronomy are directed at fathers, as well, if not primarily.

Even so, Mary's advice is wise, biblical and worth recovering, especially at a time when God's role for fathers, mothers and the family are being redefined by a culture who does not know God and often rejects righteousness.

Message at Portsmouth 1885 (excerpts)

" Rich homes and poor homes — all alike — must be won for our God ! It is a call to every one of us to live in prayer, that His help, His blessing and His inspiration may rest upon our earnest efforts."

And again:

" Let us settle it in our hearts that the greatest work we can do for the nation is to strive to bring the Church into the Home; which means Christ Himself into hearts and homes; Christ must be in every home, if it is to be in any way a home of peace and love ....

" . . . . God's plans are better than our own, and He has ordained that the training-place for His human creatures should be the home: the training-place for parents as well as children ....

" . . . . Our task is to restore true family life — for it is God's own institution, and therefore a divine thing — and to convince all our members that there are these two Divine Institutions in the world — the Church and the Home. The Home is God's institution as truly as is the Church: let that be the truth that we proclaim ! "

Conference of November 1887 (excerpts on principles)

" The Principles upon which we would build our work are these: —

" That the prosperity of a nation springs from the family life of the homes.

" That family life is the greatest institution in the world for the formation of the character of children.

“ That the tone of family life depends in great measure upon the married life of the parents — their mutual love, loyalty and faithfulness the one to the other.

" That religion is the indispensable foundation of family life, and that the truths of the Christian faith should be taught definitely at home as well as at school.

" That parents are themselves responsible for the religious teaching of their children.

" That character is formed during the first ten years of life by the example and habits of Home.

" That example is stronger than precept, and parents there fore must be themselves what they wish their children to be.

" That the history of the world proves the divine power given by God to parents, and to Mothers especially, because children are placed in their arms from infancy, in a more intimate and closer relationship with the Mother than with the Father, and this moreover, during the time when character is formed.

" That the training of children is a profession.

" That it needs faith, love, patience, method, self-control, and some knowledge of the principles of character-training.

" That it is the duty of every Mother with her own lips to teach her child that he is God's child, consecrated body and soul in Holy Baptism to be our Lord Jesus Christ's soldier and servant unto his life's end.

" That every baptised child should be taught the Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments .... and all other things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul's health."

Excerpts from archive.org here.

Mary Sumner's Prayer

O Lord, fill us with thy Holy Spirit, that we may firmly believe in Jesus Christ, and love him with all our hearts. Wash our souls with his precious blood. Make us hate sin and to be holy in thought, word and deed. Help us to be faithful wives and loving mothers. Bless us and all who belong to the Mothers' Union; unite us in love and prayer and teach us to train our children for heaven. Pour out the Holy Spirit on our husbands and children. Make our homes, homes of peace and love and, may we so live on earth, that we may live with thee for ever in heaven; for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen

From: A biographical companion to Common Worship, by John H. Darch and Stuart K. Burns

Unexpected Blessing

The Lord provides blessings in the most unexpected ways.

Last night around 9:30 I was returning home after a 12 hour day, which ended with our weekly ministry to the children in our neighborhood.  Briefly, this is something like trying to establish an orderly ministry on Peter Pan's Island, or under the direction of The Lord of the Flies. So, I was exhausted.

I stopped at the local grocery store for a couple things, and as I was checking out noticed that the checker had a hand-written note pinned to her apron.  It read simply "Philippians 1:20-25".  There was no one else in line so I said, "I'm straining to recall what that section of Philippians is about." Her eyes twinkled and she related a gist version of the following:

20 For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. 21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don't know which is better. 23 I'm torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. 24 But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.  25 Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. [NLT]

I then asked her, why this passage was meaningful to her.  She said that people [assuming Christians] need to be more focused on living for Christ than themselves.  And, that they need to be out ministering to other people.

I had to hold back the tears, because I knew that was an encouraging word from the Lord.  And, to encourage her, I told her how blessed I was by what she said, because I was just returning from a difficult evening of ministry.  The checker smiled brightly and said "Yes!  That's what I'm talking about. That's great that you want to do that."  But I corrected her and said, "No. I don't WANT to do it, unfortunately.  I'm just being obedient."  "Good, that's even better - keep it up!"  She replied enthusiastically, and then welcomed the next customer who walked up to the register.

I rarely find bumper stickers and buttons that people wear to be of much influence, but that little note the checker had pinned on was a great blessing.  I had entered the grocery store worn, haggard, and depressed.  I left the store in joy feeling like Jesus walked up smiling and patted me on the back saying, "Stop feeling sorry for yourself!  Everything is fine. You're doing a good job - just keep going."