Five Minute Friday: "Pressure"

Proverbs 11:16 (ESV) - A gracious woman gets honor...

At least she SHOULD. 

I know that Mother's Day is a month away, but it's been on my mind for the past few days.  This will be our first one without mama.  One joy to which I look forward is that commencement is the same weekend.  My other joy is that on Sunday my Pastor will not be preaching a Mother's Day sermon.

The near decade that mama and I served together at Faith Temple were the best years of our mother-daughter relationship.  They were also the years that I felt less pressure on Mother's Day (I didn't say none, just less).  I could simply say "This is your day, mom.  Have at it." 

What was the first seminary that taught the pastoral formula for preaching Mother's Day sermons?  The formula goes like this:  Expound on a famous mama from the Bible--the top three are the Virgin Mary, Hannah the mother of Samuel, and Jochebed the mother of Moses. Now, pull out Proverbs 31 (always!) and use those wonderful feminine attributes to 1) commend the godly mother you chose from Scripture, 2) commend all the mothers in the church as being the finest things since sliced bread, and 3) hold this standard up to single women and married women with no children, and ask them what's wrong with them that they can't live up to this high standard of womanhood.  Be sure to ignore other passages that empower and commend all godly women regardless of marital and procreation status.  In the closing prayer, be sure to use beautiful flowery spiritual language to pray God's blessing over the moms, but ask the Almighty to fix these "wrong" women who are "desperate to become wives and/or mothers" (even if they are not--we're not BTW).  

Talk about pressure, embarrassment, and pain.

I've endured nearly 30 years of these sermons and thankfully, my Pastor at Colorado Community Church has bucked the trend.  Yes, the church acknowledges and honors the moms on Mother's day; and rightfully so. However, they don't do it in a way that degrades and alienates women who are trying to follow God, rather than peer pressure, in their choices about marriage and family.  Remember, NO IS A CHOICE.

I honestly wish I could send Pastor Gelinas a Mother's Day card thanking him and the leadership of the church for seeing the importance of all the members of the church, being sensitive to the pain of others, and following God, rather than ministerial peer pressure in the sermons he presents.

I know, it's too weird, but I wish I could.

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In case you missed it:  

* My last Five Minute Friday post "Savor" is here.
* Last week's Hodgepodge post, "Hoping for a Patio" is here.
* My latest Simple Woman's Daybook post "What Season is it?" is here.
* My latest Auntie's Workshop post "Finishing and Fixing I" is here.