I went to church Sunday, for the first time in about a month. I’ve been out of town, for various reasons, several weekends in a row.
Frankly, I’d have been inclined to skip it, if I didn’t have absences to make up. I prefer to skip Mother’s Day and Father’s Day in church, for personal reasons. Please understand that I don’t object to the honoring of parents, just because I myself chose my mother poorly, and have not achieved fatherhood. Heaven preserve me from the kind of people who run around being all outraged all the time, because everything doesn’t include them.
But I prefer to let other people alone in their observances. I’d rather stay home in the bosom of my own bosom.
(Also, I think it would have been nice if Trinity Sunday had gotten at least equal billing. Just sayin’.)
But I went, and it was as uncomfortable as I feared. All the men were given numbered tickets as they came in, and then at a point in the service we were all asked to come forward. It wasn’t just fathers, but all men, so it was inclusive and all that. I stayed in my seat anyway, because I didn’t want to presume to patriarch status, whatever they said.
After congratulations and a prayer, they drew two ticket numbers and announced the winners of the Father’s Day drawing. I think the prizes were restaurant gift certificates.
In the cases of both winners, though, the claims came, not from the men up front, but from their wives back in the pews. Both winners had given the tickets to their wives to hold.
I think there’s some kind of profound lesson, or caution, there.
Don’t know what it is, though.
.
I generally do not like sermons given on Mother’s day or Father’s day. It has often been the case that sermons on Mother’s day focus on all the good things about mothers and women and those on Father’s day focus on men’s shortcomings as husbands and leaders.
Ah! Hollins… I don’t know who you are, but in this case, your post is so much in line with my own observations…. I am proud to make your acquaintance!
As is what most sit-coms on TV project; Bright, clever, mom/woman… dunce, stupid thinking with his crotch dad/man. What a sad testament of our society for all those aliens who beam down here to take samples.
A second thought after re-reading Lars’ post.
I was at my dad’s home for two weeks….(For his 100th. birthday.) On one Sunday I went to his Missouri synod Lutheran church. Beautiful stone and stained glass structure; room for hundreds of folks in the pews. But each year we come back to visit the place has fewer and fewer people in place. More of the congregation has died in my absence…
Now there might be 30 or 40 during a service. (Big by Japanese standards…)
I went back to my old Lutheran church in Iowa and found that it had left the ALC or LCA or one of those…. It had fallen into the ELCA fold!!!
But, most recently, it had dropped out of that one and joined another similar…but without women or homosexual issues. They just don’t have them! I don’t recall the synod they now belong to… but it is new and shiny. They love it! Their pastor is a full-time mechanic in town who knows the Bible inside and out!! Attendance has picked up and is growing.
But, then, I stray from my thoughts… My brother’s Lutheran church…no, I don’t mean; MBLC!! I mean the church he attends…which is another ELCA. BUT…it is not separated from itself or other ELCAs… No, his church has decided by vote to just ignore all the women and homosexual issues the parent synod has adopted.
They also have done away with the “Keys to the Kingdom”. (Which I’ve never understood since God forgives us individually… we don’t need a priest to forgive us in whole church masses of people. Besides, only YOU can forgive someone who has sinned against you… so ONLY you and God are involved. No need for that pries guy to get involved. It really does say that in the Bible…)
Oops, there I go again… straying from my line of thought………
I guess, if you will forgive my wanderings, I am just saying that so many things have happened in my life-time… and I never knew it. All these prayers of generations answered! And I never was told….! All we need now is for my brother to accept the Lord into his heart! (But, if he did that, what would the rest of us have to pray about??? Well, at least our mom and sister and grandmother would be happy in Heaven then.)
Lars, thanks for your posting. It has brought amazement and wonder to my old brain!!! (Or perhaps some would say drivel…)
I rarely reference the church year, as it’s not mentioned very often in our pericope texts, but for some reason I observed that this week’s epistle lesson from 1 John 3 was very appropriate for the start of the Trinity season. I must have been thinking of you, Lars.