Mother's Day?

This year, as in previous years, I've been caused to reflect on the relevance of the celebration of Mother's Day. Once again I'm reminded that, while I celebrate this annual occasion with a deep sense of personal joy, delight and gratitude in honour of my own mother, there is an ever-increasing number of people who are negativcly affected in signifcant ways by this day for a variety of personal reasons.

My personal reflections are impacted greatly by my role as both a chaplain and minister of religion in a number of cultural and spiritual settings over the past 14 years and have led me to the point of really questioning the relevance of celebrating Mother's Day within our faith communities and places of worship. More and more I am convinced that the Church needs to move away from a corporate and public worship celebration focus of this day, which encompasses a pletora of human emotion stemming from a kaleidoscope of life experiences.

If the Church is to truly be a place where love, acceptance, belonging and unity are fostered, then it would do well to respond compassionately by ceasing to focus on celebrating an occasion that creates much deep isolation and personal pain in the lives of those to whom it seeks to reach out effectively.