Throughout the year, our secular calendar provides our congregations with choices to make: do we observe the secular holiday, do we ignore it, or do we land somewhere in between.
This choice comes up this week with Mother’s Day. Some congregations, such as my current one, will acknowledge mothers and those who provide motherly care with a particular blessing at the end of the service. My home congregation went one step further when I was growing up and provided all females with a carnation as they left worship. The options are many, and your context might have a tradition of doing more or less than what I’ve listed here.
These holidays pose particular challenges for worship planners. How much should we risk overshadowing the Gospel with our acknowledgement of secular holidays? Is it appropriate to avoid them entirely? On the other hand, when would we, the Church, take time to acknowledge mother-figures and father-figures if we didn’t have secular holidays to remind us? And how do we handle the varied and complex family situations that exist today? How do we acknowledge mothers while remaining sensitive to those children who are growing up without them, or those females who can’t or don’t or choose not to have children?
Every congregation will have to wrestle with these and other questions differently. Some questions may be more pressing than others. Regardless, these times are illustrations of the importance of asking the questions of pastoral care when planning worship.
What works in your own context? How have you wrestled with these same questions? Are there other issues you’ve faced that I haven’t named here? What other questions would you raise to worship planners as they prepare for this week?
1 comments:
Great points! We didn't do anything specifically about Mother's Day today, probably because it was Sunday School Last Day/Teacher Recognition Sunday. They did, however, present a mother & 3 kids who will be receiving a Habitat House, which kind of coincided nicely.
I really appreciated how our pastor who did announcements today took a very inclusive approach. She acknowledged that it brings up a whole mix of emotions for many people, like for those grieving, and also the reasons you mentioned. She suggested celebrating all the females in our lives who are nurturers & role models. (Which I would say can apply for all males on Father's Day, too.)
It's true, this can be a tricky holiday for church since it's inherently exclusive. I like the all-encompassing spin yours did with giving all females a flower, like celebrating each half of the population on their respective day since God has characteristics of both.
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