This will be a rambling post about church this morning.
I find
it interesting that my church focused a lot on mothers on Mothers' Day,
but hardly any on fathers on Father's Day. Fathers were acknowledged
this morning: they got a candy bar, and they were mentioned during the
announcements. But the children's service and the sermon were not about
fathers, as far as I could remember. By contrast, mothers were the
focus of the children's service and the sermon on Mothers' Day.
Incidentally,
I read a post not long ago by someone who was complaining about how her
church really focuses on mothers on Mothers' Day, which she believes
excludes singles and exalts motherhood as the right vocation for all
women. Maybe her church celebrated Mothers' Day in a less-than-tactful
manner, but I think that it's perfectly all right for churches to honor
mothers on Mothers' Day and fathers on Fathers' Day. I'm single, and I
sometimes get tired of hearing about people's married lives and their
kids. But I still think that parenting is a noble job and that parents
should be honored. I'm reminded on these sorts of days that I owe my
parents thanks for supporting me when I was growing up, and for helping
me even in my adult years. But there are people who have had different
experiences.
Why didn't my church focus on fathers that much today? I don't
know. Maybe it has to do with how many people see their parents:
fathers are the firm distant ones, whereas mothers are the supporting
nurturers. I can't make this an absolute, though, for there are plenty
of people who have different experiences.
(UPDATE: The service on Fathers' Day last year talked more about fathers. See here.)
The theme of the service
this morning related to love being the Kingdom of God, and how we
become more loving by planting the seeds of God's word inside of us and
by depending on God. This overlapped some with my conversation with my
Dad yesterday when I talked with him on the phone: How do we handle our
sinful (or selfish) human nature? Some believe we have to struggle
against it. Others believe that victory comes when we depend on Jesus
Christ. As I listened to the sermon this morning, I felt like the
pastor was speaking about a foreign country, since I was so enmeshed in
bitterness and cynicism (over various people and situations) that
hearing about love and spiritual growth seemed alien to me----even
inaccessible. Love, for me, is not natural. Or at least it's not an
emotion all of the time, but rather a conscious decision to cause no
damage.