My UU congregation usually incorporates family or motherhood into the theme for the service in some way. It is a big thing in UU'ism because Julia Ward Howe (of Battle Hymn of the Republic fame) wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation, one of the early efforts to create the holiday and she was a Unitarian.

Mendalla

To begin with we call it what it is - Mother's Day.

Now, in terms of how we celebrate it, here's an example from yesterday...

Our worship songs focused on the theme of love.

We watched a video that had to do with the love of mothers.

Our Senior Pastor's wife, herself a mother, spoke on the importance of women - mothers, aunts, sisters, female mentors, in the family of God.

The other Deacon's wife, another mother, read from Proverbs 31.

The pastor preached from 1 Kings on what it means to be a man, or woman, of God.

During the offering time, several young girls in our church handed out carnations to all the women in the church.

Jae - that sounds like the services we used to have in my church maybe 30 years ago.

The United Church I attended as a kid also had similar services, minus the video and flower-distribution. What are your services like now seeler?

We once had a service on this day in which we honoured women by putting on a dramatic presentation and actually named every 'named' woman in the Bible.  Short scenes introduced the major characters:   Eve, Sarah, Hagar,  Leah & Rachel, Deborah, Ruth & Naomi, Ester, Mary(s), Priscella, Jezabel while from the balcony I slowly unfurled a list, and read the name of all the others - Milcah, Zilpah, Dinah, Bilhah, Keturah, Judith, Penninah, and all the others - until the list reached the main floor of the sanctuary and puddled there.    ... Anna, Herodias, Salome, Sapphira, Dorcas, Rhoda, Lydia, Damaris, Phoebe ...   

It was very much appreciated by the congregation.

Hi seeler (and all the above posters ),

This is how our Mother's Day Sunday morning and worship service went:

It started out with a pancake and sausage breakfast put on by the men in the congregation for the women of the church.  This started years ago when several of the men in the congregation recognized how much work the women did in the church (ministering, serving, working, raising money, etc. etc. etc.) and they decided to honor the women in this way - to give them a gift for all the gifts they give all year long.  It was always stated "women" not just mothers, as we had many women who were not mothers.  It was called Mother's Day breakfast but it was for all.

As I went on Sunday morning there was joy and sadness in the morning and the breakfast for me.  First of all, selfishly, I was sad for myself . . . I love the pancakes and little sausages.  But I couldn't eat them (restricted from wheat and beef at this time in my life).  But I appreciated the enjoyment that it brought to the others that could.  I enjoyed my tea and visited with a few others.  Secondly, my sadness was for my church . . . there were 5 men in the kitchen cooking and serving and cleaning up (and I was thankful for each one of them).  But a few years ago there would have been about 15-20 . . . I felt sad, as I realized that this is just one more photo snap of our diminishing and declining church.

The minister had 3 young girls from our church help with preparing for the communion service portion of the service.  They baked the bread (pita like bread) and got the grapes ready (and rice crackers for gluten free).  The the three girls (they were very young - from about 5 to maybe 10) served the communion in the service and did an exceptional job.  It was beautiful.

The service did not revolve around Mothers, Mother's Day, nor mothering, not even family . . . but the service revolved around the lectionary reading which was the shepherd parable - and we talked about sheep and shepherds.

At the end of the service the children picked up a bottle of bubbles and blew bubbles outside as people were leaving.

That's how it went for us!
 

I was sick in bed this Mother's Day,so I can't tell how it was this year. I remember being in a church service a few years back where the kids were to give flowers to "the mothers". They were taking their job very serious and literal, asking every women if she was a mother before giving out flowers.

I know my sister, who can't have kids, avoids going to church on Mother's Day.

Yes mrs.anteater, I've known others in that situation.  Also a family in my neighbourhood - they had felt an abusive situation by moving across the country.  They attended a little church near their new home.  The Mother's day message was all about the blessing of a traditional family where the man wears the pants and the woman looks after the home, smiles a lot, and counts her blessings.  The young teen son refused to go back.  They switched to my church - a bit further away but more suitable for non-traditional families.

If your church gives recognition to this as a special day, it seems to me that this would be an opportunity to recognize and affirm the many different types of families: the grandmothers raising grandchildren

the neighbours who invite a single person to be part of their family

the single mothers

the mothers who have lost children through adoption

the foster mothers

the single dads who take on the nuturing role

the mothers estranged from their children

the elderly mothers

the two mother families

and the two dads families.   

Families come in many forms and configurations.  Including the church family.

Since my church is in the early stages of becoming Affirming, I am particularly sensitive to any mention of GLBT families.  

Seeler, you might be right - if your church is celebrating a Family Day. That's not what my church does. We celebrate mothers on Mothers Day, and, as an extension, all women performing mothering-type roles. We give families a special focus in February - around the provincial Family Day.

I'm not familar with Christian Family Sunday, although there is something in the back of my mind, I'm guessing from it being mentioned before?

Is it a newer idea or an older one?

I don't see the need to change from Mother's Day.  There is a need to be a bit sensitive to various situations though.  I think anyone in the role of a mother should be included, while also recoginizing the difficulty for some people.  I don't think of it as a day to recognize single fathers or dads, they have their day but if that's a role they or their kids view them as having, then I don't have a problem with recognizing that.

I get annoyed at times about being excluded from terms like family, but this isn't one of them.  I'm not a mother, it's not a role that I have, and I don't have a strong desire to be a mother.  I do have my own Mom and Mother in law to celebrate.  As long as a church service doesn't make it sound like it's a wifely duty or something, I don't personally have an issue with how a church celebrates it.  If I am to be included because they are celebrating all women, fine.  If I am to be included because there's an expectation that all women take on the mother role, I don't want to be there.

As for the Christian Family Sunday, do the churches also celebrate Family Day?  What's done differently?

The problem with Family Day vs. Mother's Day really comes down to history. I hate to put it this way, but in a lot of provinces (Ontario included) Family Day is an excuse to have a stat in February. Whereas Mother's Day has a history going back to the nineteenth century (as I alluded to in my post). As a consequence, many people take Mother's Day (and Father's Day, though it gets less attention I find) more seriously than Family Day which is often treated as just a free day off.

And I'm not sure it will be easy to shift that and it would take more than just the churches to do it.

Mendalla

Just curious about your Mother's Day service, seeler - did you find it was inclusive of all the types of families you mentioned above?  Was there special mention of GLBT families?

Families are made up of a variety of persons.  I know in our church family we have several grandmothers who bring their grandchildren to church and Sunday School.

At our church's Mother Day, Father's Day, and Family Day services, we do not make special note of LGBT families. Indeed, as a church we don't recognize such families as families at all.

Now, is a comment such as that going to be allowed on WC2?

I answered this question already in the appropriate thread, Jae.

Mendalla

I was vaguely aware that some provinces have a 'family day'.  We don't in NB.  

I think that many UCC started referring to the second Sunday in May as Christian Family Day several decades ago.   

In my home church this year, the readings and accompaning message were from the lectionary.  Mothers and families were mentioned in the prayers, with recognition that there are many different families but no special mention of GLBT families.  Perhaps next year when we are further along in the Affirming process ....

Unless you're listing off a diversity of families, I think it's more inclusive to not do a special mention.

 chemgal!

I believe this is something to discuss in the Affirming Diversity Committee I am a part of.  At one time I would have agreed with you.  Actually I saw no reason for a church to become Affirming because "all are welcome".   However the literature I have on becoming affirming seems to indicate the opposite.  Because GLBT people have been discriminated against for so long and 'all are welcome' sometimes means 'all are welcome unless you are out as a homosexual person', there is a need for affirmative action.  Let everyone know that in our congregation we believe that God's grace, God's blessing, and God's love is for all people, including those that for many years, and still in many places, it is denied.  

Well said seeler Like yours, our congregation also teaches God's unconditional love for one and all.

Jae, you posted "As a church we do not recognize such (LGBT)  families as families at all."

I am trying to understand.

Would you recognize a widow and her children as a family?

If yes, if  a person has been deserted and  divorced by her spouse would recognize her and her children as a family?

If yes, if this person were to remarry would you still recognize them to be a family?  

Do you recognize a person, or couple, who adopt a child to be a family?  

Do you tell a child who is being raised by a parent and that parent's spouse, that he or she doesn't have a family?

Nice.

Since I spoke of my church, I take it you are asking about the collective "you" - that is to say how we approach things as a faith community.

Yes, we would.

Yes, we would.

Yes, we would.

That would depend on what you mean by "couple." We would recognize a single person, or married couple, who adopted a child to be a family.

No.

It does depend on how it's done.  I think it's easy to fall into the trap of having a token minority that you start to use to make a point.  It can be as overt as I'm not racist, because I have a black friend, or more subtle than that.