In our modern desire to commercialize everything, and invent ways to take your hard earned money and put it in the hands of those who would sell you things you don’t really need, there have been a number of special days that have been invented to facilitate this process. I tend to resist such efforts with great vigor. Father’s day could easily fall into this category. In fact, according to Wikipedia (which has to be right its on the internet) the commercial concern of Father’s day was indeed one of the things that helped it finally reach holiday status. But does that disqualify it from being significant? Or maybe more importantly does that mean that we should de-emphasize it?

In addition, there are a lot of families in pain. These families either have issues of divorce, abuse, , substance abuse, or even just abandonment.   Should it be that in order to not awaken these wounds in people, because they are so prevalent, the church would be better off just barely mentioning Father’s day, and then quickly moving on to things that don’t so personally impact us.  

I continue to reject these suggestions.

The culture around us is moving more and more toward family dysfunction and labeling that dysfunction as normative. Maleness is under assault as if it is something to be fixed or medicated. There is a sneaking suspicion by the radical feminists that everything that is wrong in the world is probably as a result of males. After all, most violent crimes are committed by males, males are in charge of most countries in the world, etc etc etc.. Additionally, everyone anticipates marriage will become defined as two humans (person A and B on the marriage license) by the US Supreme Court, further eliminating the need for these gender normative descriptions emphasizing fatherhood.   All of this is occurring in the face of overwhelming statistics that demonstrate the vital role of a father.

In light of these lies of the evil one, we should be proclaiming truth and life as loud as we can! If the church is to be an essential and life giving institution in our communities we must promote, honor, and encourage Biblical fatherhood. It is both our opportunity and our responsibility. If we don’t do it who will?

In this weeks sermon I will honor the fathers in our congregation and promote the vital roles fatherhood plays in our lives. Come help me honor our dads.

See you at church,

 Pastor Chris