Fathers' Day?

No, it's Father, Son and Holy Spirit Day!

I was stunned to hear one of the clergy I know explain how grateful they were for Fathers' Day falling on Trinity Sunday. This meant that they could put the 'knotty' issue of Father, Son and Holy Spirit aside and focus on just the Father.

Of course we don't do 'Mothers' Day' where I am, but we do 'Mothering Sunday'. The difference? One is about Mother church and the opportunity to renew vows and return to the place where you were baptised and the other raises the prices of flowers, makes booking a sensibly priced meal almost impossible and fill our shops with naff 'For Mum' presents that cost the earth and mean nothing and Father's Day is, sadly, no different!

The teaching on the Trinity is immensely important and one of the tests of error is to see how the church (or denomination) handles it. To put it aside for a piddling little commercial enterprise such as Father's Day (for we do Father's Day - One Father and should go no father than that!*) is to deny all that needs to be proclaimed and proclaims all that denies the Godhead in one single act. No wonder the person and their congregation are so poor, they have no teaching and little leadership (of the Christian type) it seems.

I was going to post this on Sunday but it was legalised madness (all day) and so by the time the last service was done (Taizé Communion - always a great way to wind down) and I got down to writing this I found that Bishop Inge (Worcester) had, apparently, made a move to adopt Fathers' Day. When I started reading for myself (always a good start) I initially found that the bloke had merely suggested that kid's write a prayer in their Dad's card. Good one, I thought, bringing God into the public domain in a Fathers' Day setting.

I was a little less impressed (but only a little) when I found the CofE had even given tips on how to customise a service for use on Father's Day. Mind you, how often does Father's Day fall on a Trinity Sunday, so I guess that usually it would be possible to use it and make a Sunday in Ordinary Time a little less ordinary. and so this sort of quelled my discomfort. But then the angel on the other shoulder (am I the only one to have an little angel and a little devil on opposite shoulders?) started talking to me about buying into the corporate world of junk, meaningless presents and rubbish such as bedevils Mothers' Day.

Of course, the CofE webiste given for the modifications to an 'ordinary service' (http://www.cofe.anglican.org/fathersday) didn't work so I'll never know whether the service was sacred, profane or merely more sentimental, yet worthless and meaningless, mush.

I've been and waded through (http://www.whatdadsadd.co.uk/) to see what the Mothers' Union and the CofE have got up to in this area.

For more about the CofE side, take a look at: http://www.churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2010/06/pr5510.aspx

Funny thing was, I've realised that we never mentioned Fathers' Day during any of the service on Sunday, guess that was because as a Christian, EVERY DAY is Father's Day (and the Son's and the Holy Spirit's.

Yee Ha!

*I know someone will tell me it should have be 'further' but that wouldn't have worked anywhere near as well, wouyld it?