Dubbed a “Mother’s Day sermon you will actually like” by Editor Kristine Haglund, this piece titled “A Community of Abundance” by Lant Pritchett was spoken over the pulpit last Mother’s Day and flippantly begins “I have never spoken on Mother’s Day in church before, nor have I wanted to. One cannot talk in church on Mother’s Day without venturing into territory like women’s role in the Church and its relation to motherhood. Antique maps mark such territories with warnings like ‘There Be Dragons’; in that territory, there is no safe ground for man.”
But wit aside, what follows is a beautifully inclusive essay that touches on international cultures in India and Indonesia, looks at how Jesus Christ overturned social structures and asks “What does the community in Christ that we create in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints require from us to get the love, respect, status, and appreciation that all humans yearn for?” Oh and he manages to relate it all back to the mother’s in the conclusion. Whether you are a mother or not, plan to attend church on Mother’s Day or not, this sermon will both inspire and comfort you, a funny combination, but nonetheless true.
