2 Responses to Should Churches Celebrate Mother’s Day?
Steve, I love, love, love your blog. I always read your posts. You are the only Evangelical blogger that gets that from me (not that my tired old church queen endorsement amounts to much).
Episcopal Churches do not celebrate Mothers Day. Our churches are bound by the rubrics of our prayer book and Mothers Day is not a date on our our liturgical calendar. The Marian feasts which commemorate her life (5 or 6 times per year depending on your churchmanship) provide an ample opportunity for clergy to pray for mothers etc. At tiny sentimental St. Bart’s in WV we will continue to celebrate Easter tomorrow (as we are in the great 50 days). Jesus’ resurrection is more important than momma’s Bible (sorry moms). As the one who designs and often leads worship in the absence of a priest I offer a compromise to the ladies in lieu of non mother themed worship. At the close of the liturgy for the day, the moms are greeted with a happy mothers day. A carnation is offered to everyone for their personal “altar” at home and they are encouraged to pray for any woman in their lives. We pray for dead people so this isn’t a stretch for people.
John- thanks for your thoughts (and endorsement!). I agree that our primary reason for coming to worship is to worship God for what God has done in our lives through Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. One thing we have done is have the children come forward to take a carnation to all the adult women in the congregation- not just celebrating moms- as many other women play important roles in our lives and in our church.