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By Young E. Freeborn, Warri
Wife of the Archbishop of Bendel Province and Bishop of Ughelli Diocese, Anglican Communion, Mrs. U. O. Odutemu, has described women as “nation builders.”
Mrs. Odutemu, who is the provincial/diocesan president of the Mothers’ Union, Women’s Guild and Girls Guild of the province and the diocese, made this known during this year’s Mother’s week celebration at the Bishop’s Court, Ughelli, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.
Speaking on the theme, ‘Mothers, Nation Builders,’ the ‘Provincial Mama’ as she’s fondly called by Anglican parishioners told mothers that, motherhood is a divine mission ordained by God for mankind on earth.
She therefore admonished mothers to put on virtues and godly characters that could change the present world to a better place for their husbands and children.
Speaking further from the text taken from the Bible book of Proverbs 14:1, Mrs. Odutemu said, “In our current state of nationhood, we need mothers with a spiritual understanding of the times we are in. We cannot afford to take modernity with all its permissiveness for granted as we build men and women to become leaders in our nation.
“As character builders, we must strive more than ever before to inculcate in our children Christian virtues of spirituality, uprightness of heart, boldness and commitment to God, which are at present lacking in our nation. The coming generation should be able to boast of leaders who acknowledge God as the master builder and co-operate with Him to build a godly and viable nation. It’s expected that mothers should be able to support one another in politics to raise credible leaders. Similarly, it behooves on us to speak out with boldness and attract the attention of those in authority before things get out of hand,” she said.
To round up the Mothers’ Week celebration in every Anglican church, according to their doctrines, the mothers usually run all the activities in the church during the Mothering Sunday service.
At St. Mark’s Anglican Church, Unenurhie town, the story was not different as the women of the church entertained members of the church with rib-cracking drama and melodious songs to the praise and honour of God Almighty.
The wife of the vicar of the church, Mrs. Deborah Atumremu, in her sermon, which also dwelt on the general theme of the week-long celebration, told the church women to always emulate those virtuous and God-fearing women like Deborah, Esther, Hannah, Elizabeth and others as mentioned in the Bible.
The sermon which she took from the Bible book of Proverbs 14:1 and also from the drama the women acted, urged women in the church to make themselves shining examples and role models for the younger women in the church and the community and also to their own daughters at home so as to make the society a peaceful place for everyone to live.
The Mothering Sunday service ended with a special thanksgiving by the Mothers’ Union and all the women in the church to mark this year’s Mother’s Week celebration. The service was attended by different personalities in the community, among who was Mr. Peter Maison, the president-general of Unenurhie community, and Evang. Isaac Oriodofe, the vice president-general of the community.
