A discussion starter for the serious-minded
How is it that what in modern times has been called “Mother’s Day” occurs on different days in the U.K. and the U.S.A.?
Answer: In a well-used American phrase, “separation of church & state.”
In the U.S.A., “Mother’s Day” on the second Sunday in May is in essence a secular celebration, as is also its counterpart, “Father’s Day” on a different day. Cards, flowers, gifts, meals in restaurants and homes are the expressions of this celebration of mothers in middle-class America. Now since a lot of people go to church in the U.S.A. most congregations take note of this celebration and either absorb it in a big way or make adjustments in the service to recognize it. However, it is certainly not a religious festival except in so far as its theme is borrowed or adopted by opportunistic congregations.
In the U.K., “Mother’s Day” has been placed on top of an already existing Christian celebration, a day that has no fixed date for its time is fixed each year by the date of Easter. The Mid-Sunday in Lent has long been regarded by holy, mother Church and those of her children who take Lent seriously (as a time of ascetic discipline) as a day for semi-relaxation from the regime of controlled & reduced eating. The Gospel for this day in the ancient Lectionaries [and still so in The Book of Common Prayer] was the Feeding of the 5,000 (John 6) and so it was called “Refreshment Sunday;” and the Epistle was Paul’s Letter to the Galatians where he speaks of “Jerusalem above” which is “our Mother” and so it was called “Mothering Sunday.” It will be noted that the food in the Gospel was supplied by Jesus after the crowds had spent a long time listening to him and were hungry; and that the mother in the Epistle is the Church in her perfection after she is cleansed from all sin and sanctified.
How did Refreshment Sunday and Mothering Sunday become Mother’s Day? The obvious and primary reason is the heavy secularization of the Church in recent times. Because Lent is taken seriously only by the few, the mid-Sunday of the 40-day fast could hardly be appreciated by the majority as a relaxation of discipline for there was no discipline! But the name of “Mothering” was there and it was easily switched by (a) clerics looking for an easy & appealing theme and (b) the card and flower industries looking for business, to the seemingly harmless and even good theme of “Mother’s Day.” Thus for the 6 per cent who attend churches there will be in 2004 the celebration of human mothers and many people will think it is all very nice. In the service the children will give flowers or gifts to mothers. At the same time, in the rest of the population (94 per cent) Mother’s Day will be a secular festival much as it is in essence in the U.S.A.
[In Victorian times, there was a custom for servant girls to be allowed to go home to see mother on Lent IV and thus for some “Mothering” meant going to see mother. In the Middle Ages, there were pilgrimages on Mothering Sunday to the mother Church, the cathedral, by the faithful on Lent IV.]
In a time when human rights are much emphasized, it is not surprising that “Father’s Day” is well established in the U.S.A. and that other days – “Grandfather’s Day” & “Grandmother’s Day” – are on their way into public acceptance.
Will the U.K. follow suit and will churches in the U.K. soon have a “Father’s Day” as a Sunday celebration to match “Mother’s Day”? If not officially then certainly unofficially – and even a subdivision for step-parents.
In churches in the U.K., it would appear that Lent, the 40 day fast of the Lord Jesus, and related themes are suitably forgotten on Lent IV and so is the theme of the Church of God as the Mother of the Faithful, the one from whose womb souls are born by the Spirit and Word and the one at whose breasts the children of God are fed. Instead, the eyes of the many are looking not up to the Lord but rather horizontally at human mothers. And, regrettably, they are doing so as godly women without children look on in grief and pain, wondering why they have not been given the gift of children. It is this kind of religion which so easily becomes pantheism or panentheism. Historically, the celebration of motherhood in a religious way and sense leads away from Monotheism and certainly from classical Trinitarian Monotheism.
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.),
Christ Church, Biddulph Moor & St Anne's, Brown Edge
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