Dear Faith Des Peres Friends,
I’m going to be honest with you and admit that I have a love/hate relationship with Mother’ Day. This might come as a surprise to you since I have four children who I think are great kids. But as a pastor I know it’s a holiday filled with landmines. It used to be, 20 years or so ago, that a preacher had to preach on Mother’s Day, but for the past 20 years or so, most have started to steer clear of it because we know that while some people may have had June Cleaver as a mother, there are others who didn’t. We also know that some people have lost their moms in the past year, while there are some moms who have lost children. And then there are the countless women who don’t have children, or want to have children but can’t. So rather than trying to navigate all of this, we ignore the holiday or maybe mention it in a prayer, and leave the celebrating up to Hallmark or the restaurants packed with brunch patrons.
But this year, we’ve decided to embrace it – in all its glory and honesty. After all, if everyone else is talking about Mother’ Day, then maybe the church should, too. So we’re going to celebrate it by honoring all the women in our lives, because whether you’re a mom or not you’ve mothered someone. A photographer will be in the Gathering Space starting at 9:45 and after church to take pictures of families. After church, the Membership Growth Center is putting on a nice light lunch with sandwiches and pastries from Daily Bread. We’ll have flowers for all women. Come celebrate and invite someone!
But we’ll also be honest and look at some of the more notorious mothers of the Bible, because they’re not all June Cleaver. (Biblical “family values” aren’t what they’re cracked up to be!) Yet, we can still learning something from them about what it means to ask for and extend forgiveness, and recognize that while none of us are perfect, we can be grateful for how our lives have been shaped by extraordinary women.
I hope we’ll see you Sunday for a special day.
Blessings,
Annie