Prayers for People and Parish - Summer
2008
AHEAD OF
HER TIME MARY SUMNER 1828 – 1921
All
this day, O Lord, let me touch as many lives as possible for thee; and
every life I touch, do thou by thy Spirit quicken, whether through the
word I speak, the prayer I breathe, or the life I live. Amen
This is
Mary Sumner's personal prayer and members of the Mothers' Union celebrate
her life on August 9th. Mary founded the Mothers' Union in 1876 and it now
has a membership of 3.6 million members worldwide.
Mary
married George Sumner, curate and youngest son of Charles Sumner, Bishop
of Winchester.
Charles
was born in Kenilworth and if you look at the stone memorial behind the
Lectern in our church you will find his name. Mary, a mother of three was
very much aware of the tremendous responsibility, burdens and feelings of
inadequacy that could overwhelm mothers and in 1876, concerned to
strengthen and support Christian family life and to raise children in the
love of God, called a meeting in the rectory of all the mothers who lived
in her village. This might be looked upon as the first ever parenting
group. Today the Mothers’ Union Parenting Project is one of the main
projects.
The
following prayer from the Faith and Policy Unit of the Mothers’ Union and
Mary’s own prayer encompass so much of what we should be about today.
Lord, we
offer ourselves this day,
for the work you want accomplished,
for the people you want us to meet,
for the word you want to be uttered,
for the silence you want to be kept,
for the places you want us to enter,
for the new ways you want pioneered.
Go with us Lord, and enable us to realise your presence
at all times and in all places,
our loving Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
