I’ve honestly never thought about how significant this day can be for those who aren’t mothers until I had friends who started to share their journeys to try to be parents and how difficult they are and until I started reading and hearing stories like this one:
Fast forward several years to Mother’s Day. A pastor asked all mothers to stand. On my immediate right, my mother stood and on my immediate left, a dear friend stood. I, a woman in her late 30s, sat. I don’t know how others saw me, but I felt dehumanized, gutted as a woman. Real women stood, empty shells sat. I do not normally feel this way. I do not like feeling this way. I want no woman to ever feel this way in church again.
Sometimes in our attempt to be relevant, we can alienate. It’s never bad to think and rethink what our message from the pulpit says and how people hear it.