Mothers Union transforming lives

We make up new recipes to use them and give lots away or swap with others. This was evident during the lockdowns and people were lovingly leaving items on their garden walls for others to pick up or giving items to the food banks to be shared with those less fortunate.

Maybe you see fruit and vegetables on the market and know that it is a good price for this time of year and you buy more than you need in order to transform them into something different.

In France, this year, I picked unripe walnuts from the trees to pickle them. Do you recall those large black vinegary walnuts in jars? So instead of having lovely fresh walnuts this year, we will be trying to acquire the forgotten taste and love of pickled walnuts.

How can we also transform our lives? Is there a new way we can use our gifts and skills to help others?

We remember how in 1876 Mary Sumner had courage to stand up at her church to encourage women from all walks of life to get together and support each other.

In 1885 she gave a passionate address at the Portsmouth Church Congress, some 20 miles from her home. How daunting that must have been for her.

The Mothers’ Union concept spread rapidly across neighbouring Dioceses and then throughout the UK. Ultimately the MU was formed, being given a royal stamp of approval in 1987 by Queen Victoria. Mary Sumner led the MU after the First World War to help rebuild the heart of Britain.

Now there are MU Branches in over 84 different countries. The membership has changed and there are men and women, married, unmarried and those without a family of their own.

Like our harvesting of fruit in our own gardens the MU has harvested millions of members and each person has been transformed and is busy transforming others.

There are so many stories in the Bible of times when people are transformed, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the fishermen, the lady at the well, the lady who touched the cloak of Jesus and was healed from her constant bleeding, the blind to see. The list is endless.

In the MU we can transform the life of others and in so doing become transformed ourselves. We support families and communities across the world, aim to influence and to speak out on social injustices.

Locally we can volunteer in prisons over a number of activities, knit for premature babies, and fundraise for families to stay in one of two caravans on the east coast of Yorkshire for a break.

We provide books on sensitive topics for in Schools. There is so much more that we can do to transform the future of the MU, continuing Mary Sumner’s vision and transforming in line with our changing society and changing Church.

If you want to know more about the work of the MU or to join us in fun and fellowship do contact me [email protected]