Celebrating Mother's Day at Park Church
Tamara, Amina, and Taiba come from different countries and different faiths, but they shared one stage and one message at Park Church on Mother's Day. Seeing your neighbor, truly seeing them, is one of the most important things you can do. That is the heartbeat of Treetops Collective- providing radical welcome to refugee and immigrant women, teen girls, and their families.
Tamara's Message
Do You See This Woman? There's a moment in Luke 7 where Jesus is at dinner with a Pharisee, respected, privileged, surrounded by the right people, when a woman walks in. She's known in the city, but not by name. She's known by her shame. She gets low at his feet, weeping, pouring out her most costly possession. And the room's instinct is judgment. But Jesus doesn't look away. He turns toward her and asks the question that stops everything: "Do you see this woman?"
Tamara Gurley, Engagement Director at Treetops Collective, brought this passage to life at Park Church. Because before Jesus does anything else, before he heals or forgives or speaks peace over her, he sees her. As a person with dignity and with worth. "To see someone," Tamara said, is to acknowledge the image of God in them and to refuse to let fear and rumor and stereotype have the first or last word."
It's a challenge that cuts straight to the heart of how we engage our newest neighbors, the refugee families, the immigrant women, the teen girls rebuilding their lives in a new place. Do we see labels first, or do we see people?
Jesus modeled three moves that Tamara called a blueprint:
See the person. Bear witness to the pain. Make a way for peace.
Amina's Message
Senior Program Manager at Treetops Collective and alumni of their Concentric program, Amina has called West Michigan home for 24 years and on Mother's Day, in front of a full church, she chose honesty over highlight reel.
She described the racing mind, the lost keys, the missed calls, the friendships that quietly fray. Not from lack of love, she was clear about that, but from the very real challenges that don't disappear just because you love your people fiercely. "I am a scattered brain mother. Yet within me lays a world of order.
Because that's what Amina wanted the room to understand about Somali mothers, about immigrant mothers, about all the mothers carrying things no one sees. They are, she said, "the heartbeat of the community." They love deeply, protect furiously, and carry entire families with grace. They lead without being celebrated, teach without classrooms, and on the days everything falls apart, they still show up.
"Motherhood is not perfection. It is about showing up again and again in our imperfect ways."
Taiba's Message
In 2021, Taiba made one of the hardest decisions of her life. She left Afghanistan along with her family, her work, her language, everything she had known, to started over in the United States with two children and a reason that never wavered. Her daughter Nissa.
"In Afghanistan today, many girls are not allowed to continue their education beyond sixth grade. Women are denied access to colleges, universities, and even their basic rights. As a mother, this is deeply painful." Taiba made the impossible decision to leave. Not for herself, but for the future she refused to stop believing her daughter deserved.
Now a staff member at Treetops Collective, Taiba stood before a full church on Mother's Day as a Muslim woman from Afghanistan and spoke about hope, and what it means to mother across impossible odds.
"I wanted a different future for my daughter. I want her to have education, confidence, and opportunity. Most importantly, I want her to grow with respect for all people, no matter their language, religion, race, or background."
Taiba found something like home at Treetops Collective, co-workers who feel like sisters, sometimes friends, sometimes mothers themselves. A community that believed in her while she was still finding her footing. That is what Treetops does. It holds people while they rebuild.
We are the Women
Tamara, Amina, and Taiba invited every person at Park Church on Mother's Day into something bigger than themselves. Treetops Collective is where that invitation becomes action, where women are met with dignity, community, and a path forward. If their stories move you, there is a place for you in this work.
From volunteering and donating to sipping chai in our café or sharing a meal at Supper Club, there's a place for you at Treetops. Find your way in: treetopscollective.org/pages/get-involved
View the entire Mother's Day Park Church service here:
