Mother's Day and Father's Day

Last week, I alluded to holidays in which I must “tread lightly” and I address two additional holidays today: Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. I have preached at least one “Father’s Day” type sermon while I was interning at First Reformed in Sully IA centering on the Father in the Prodigal son, who of course represents our heavenly father and it was “God, thank you for fathers who…” I do not think that I have even preached a “Mother’s Day” sermon.  These two holidays are another occasion where we need to season things with a little pastoral salt. I must pay careful attention to additional circumstances.

Why do I feel this way? What could I be thinking? You may think, Pastor Mike, I do not see anything wrong with these types of sermons and I wish you would preach them. Well, I have a few reasons that I would like to share with you from some from personal thoughts, others from friends, family members and other pastors.

1.      Once again, our focus should always be on God. We certainly should be thankful for our mothers, fathers and those who have formed us, but to honor them over Christ is not something that we should do. I do not want to be redundant, but in lieu of last week’s blog, it seems like it is.

2.      We should be sensitive to those who are silently suffering. Miscarriage. Infertility. These words are taboo in the church despite the fact that is present in the Bible. These issues are incredibly real and cut close to the heart causing pain and anguish for many. Chances are members of our congregation are afflicted by or know someone who is afflicted by infertility. We do not always talk about it. Couples may not want everyone to hear that story and thus they keep it concealed from everyone. We may have someone mourning the loss of a parent recently or may be mourning/lamenting that “I will not be a father/mother”. This may make Mother’s/Father’s Day a really hard day for them as they may be “wishing” for something different or “lamenting” their current situation.

3.      How might someone who had broken/poor/non-existent relationships with their parents receive these sermons? I am blessed in my life to be born into a situation where my parents were married, supportive, and caring (and they still are). However, as sin and brokenness continues to alter the lives of our families, we begin to see a plethora of family situations. We have single-parent families, divorced families, re-marriages, children living in foster situations. Some of those children do not have a positive relationship with a father or a mother. There may be pain, there may be bitterness, there may be hurt. For them to hear a sermon honoring fathers may not be incredibly helpful.

For these reasons, I think we need to be careful in potentially “topic-focused” subjects on these days. The Bible certainly should be our guide in following God as parents, children, spouses, etc. and change our lives. Nevertheless, we do not need to use a specific day for it.

What are your thoughts about “Mother’s Day” and “Father’s Day” Sermons?  Please leave a comment and chime in!

(Are we) Singing Patriotic Hymns this week?

As a pastor, one of the times where I have to tread lightly are on the times of “holidays” that do not have a strong (or really any) significance for the church.  The holidays I am thinking of but are not limited to are Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Presidents Day, Martin Luther King Jr Day, etc. Each one of these days certainly has significance and I do not want to discredit that. However, instituting patriotic hymns, can detract from the real reason that we are worshiping this Sunday (and every week) and that is because of our Triune God. When we take a look at a number of those patriotic hymns, the emphasis many times is on the beauty of America, the wonderful America and not on the wonderful God who gave us our lives and our nation. Singing these hymns for us detracts from the redemptive work of Jesus Christ whose blood purchased pardon for us. We certainly can and should pledge our allegiance to our nation, we have to remember that our allegiance should first belong to the one who deserves all of the praise and glory. Our worship is reserved for God and God alone, not our nation. As the scriptures say, “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) Let our focus be on worshiping God not ourselves.

Secondly, we should be sensitive towards those around us. While this is probably more applicable for those in larger cities, we must remember that Christianity encompasses more than just the United States of America. If we were worshiping at a church in Canada, Germany or Japan and they began to sing songs about their nation being wonderful, would we perhaps cringe a little bit? A worship service should be a safe place for all. Our worship then, should reflect what God wants from us.  Revelation 7:9 says, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages…” If we are singing songs about our nation, we may be unintentionally sending a message that God only is for the United States, which clearly is not the case.

I am thankful to God for those who have valiantly served. It is not my intent to “slight” or diminish the sacrifices that they have made. As an American and as a Christian it is my privilege and really my duty to honor those brave men, women and military families who have sacrificed so much for our freedom and safety as a nation. You may hear me say a prayer of thanksgiving on Sunday, but the day that we focus on that should be Monday not the Lord’s Day.

“Scripture quotations are from the ESV^® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

PS There are a number of blogs and discussions about this topic on the web, I did peruse them in preparation for the blogs. I don’t remember all of them but I thank them for their contributions to the discussion.

Some samples are here.

http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/preaching-teaching/148369-nationalism-or-christianity.html

http://www.ccwatershed.org/blog/2014/jul/4/should-we-sing-patriotic-hymns-mass/

http://redcardigan.blogspot.com/2011/09/patriotic-hymns-at-mass-yes-or-no.html

Sabbath

Image Courtesy mjimages

For many Sabbath may look like the picture above. Doing nothing.What is the Sabbath and what does it mean for us? Ideas of Sabbath could be arranged on a very diverse spectrum. Today, you might say that some of us do not really celebrate a Sabbath at all and thus there are no restrictions, while others may have been restricted to the point that they could not play outside and were only allowed to read books and attend church. Sabbath was equivalent to  Sunday and it meant there was no shopping or going out for dinner, but it was a “quiet” day with special clothes that you could not get dirty. What was your thought of Sabbath?

Two weeks ago, Krystal and I went to the RHMA Small Town Pastors Conference in Morton, Illinois. One of the seminars that we went to was led by Dr. Don and Nell Sunukjian, who serve as professors at the Talbot School of Theology. The title of the seminar was “Stamina and Joy for the Long Haul.” One of the major perspectives of their view for joy and stamina was a recovery of the Sabbath. And while it is fresh in my mind I share these ideas with you…

As Dr. Sunukijan reminds us, The Sabbath was instituted before the law in creation. Genesis 2:3-5 says, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. ² And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. ³ So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” The “Law” does not appear until Exodus. God rests. God, who is omnipotent (meaning all powerful) rested. God does not require rest however he demonstrates for us a practical and important lesson. We need to rest…maybe physically but also mentally. We cannot go 7 days a week.

If God takes a rest, then we certainly should as well. It is essential for us to do that, but practically speaking, how can we do that? Well, the Biblical pattern is one day of rest with six work days. For Pastors and their families, Sunday is not a practical day to take a “Sabbath”….because they are preaching, teaching and separate for a portion of the day. A Sabbath is something for the entire family, for us to reconnect with one another.   Set a day in the week and make it the Sabbath. Don’t do your normal work meaning the work that you would do for income or your “regular work.” So stay at home moms, you should celebrate this as well…no Laundry that day! By all means as the Sunukijans suggest, feed your family, that does not keep you from familial responsibility…but rather job responsibilities. And maybe fulfill your responsibilities in a way that grows you.

On the Sabbath, it is ok “to work” doing things that will reinvigorate you…for my Father, that means he can garden….for you that might mean baking cookies for a friend or with your kids. Use the Sabbath to connect to grow and to refresh. Don’t keep on going through all 7 days. It is not God’s intention for you or for me. The Sabbath is a gift to us….unwrap it and enjoy it. Pick a day a week as a family, mark it as a Sabbath and see how it changes your outlook.

“Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”