Wacky Wednesday: Churches Shouldn’t Celebrate Mother’s Day

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

--Where do you see this in the Bible?
--The purpose of Sunday service is to worship God, not mothers.
--This is another very commercial holiday.
--There’s something particularly weird about how Protestants so meticulously avoid worshipping Mary, but then give Fathers barely any mention on Father’s Day and go bonkers over moms in May.
--It’s historically recent.
--Is this cultural or is this Christian?
--The almost rabid emphasis on Mother’s Day by the culture should be a warning sign to us.
--What effect does this celebration have on the groups of people it so specifically discourages: Widows, Single people who want to be married, Married women who cannot have children, Married women whose husbands refuse to have children (or more children), Married men whose wives refuse to have children (or more children), Mothers who have lost children, Children who have lost their mothers, and Children who have fractured relationships with their mothers?
--The last thing in the world a Christian worship service should do is alienate and upset the people who come to be comforted in their faith.
--Doesn’t Jesus specifically warn us against this sort of thing? Matthew 10:37 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
--Jesus deliberately sought to include those women who literally had no identity in the culture of His day: singles. Why are we doing the opposite?
--Jesus rather outrageously even one time rejected His own mother in Mark 3:31-35.

Resources
Mother’s Day worship? (Christianity Today)
2nd biggest retail holiday (National Retail Foundation)
Should we celebrate Mother’s Day? (Sermon)
Con: Should Christians celebrate Mother’s Day (Blog)
Pro: Should Christians celebrate? (RCOG)
Pro: Sermon for Mother’s Day (Robert Bowman)