# Question for pastors: Holiday observance?



## Chris (May 28, 2007)

Pastors: 

What is your view of using the pulpit to speak on issues such as Mother's day, Father's day, Memorial day, High school graduations, and so on? 

Do you use the pulpit to preach topically on these occassions, or do you tend to ignore these holidays from the pulpit? 

How do you handle 'cultural observances', and why?


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## Poimen (May 28, 2007)

Chris said:


> Pastors:
> 
> What is your view of using the pulpit to speak on issues such as Mother's day, Father's day, Memorial day, High school graduations, and so on?
> 
> ...



It is the Lord's Day and so I avoid preaching on these issues.


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## Augusta (May 28, 2007)

My pastor does the same. It is the Lord's day not mothers day etc.


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## etexas (May 28, 2007)

Augusta said:


> My pastor does the same. It is the Lord's day not mothers day etc.


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## Davidius (May 28, 2007)

I brought my unsaved mother and grandmother to church with me on "Mother's Day." They never go to church and got all dressed-up; I think they were expecting a nice little sermon about how sweet mothers are. What they got was a hard-hitting sermon on the 1st commandment!


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## Chris (May 28, 2007)

Thanks for the answers, guys.


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## fredtgreco (May 28, 2007)

I don't believe it is appropriate to supplant the Lord's Day with Hallmark days (Mother's Day, Father's day, etc), but I think it is not inappropriate to seize upon the occasion to press home the Word of God. For example, I think a preacher is wise to use the time to press home application and illustrations, just as he would after some other event occurred that had the attention of his hearers (e.g. 9/11, an election, etc.). It would not be inappropriate to appeal to mothers on that day, for example.


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## Guido's Brother (May 28, 2007)

Like the others, I also don't commemorate those days in the worship service. The only concession I'll make is to remember mothers/fathers in prayer. But I concur with the notion that it is the Lord's Day.


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## etexas (May 28, 2007)

Guido's Brother said:


> Like the others, I also don't commemorate those days in the worship service. The only concession I'll make is to remember mothers/fathers in prayer. But I concur with the notion that it is the Lord's Day.


Amen.


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## Contra_Mundum (May 28, 2007)

As I recall, my first Sunday service after I was ordained fell on "father's day". I preached a sermon on the Fatherhood of God. I would call that "using" the day, but not making "dads" the center of attention. I would also say that such "use" is by no means an "annual" occasion. I've never preached similarly on any other father's day, or mother's, or secretary's, or ...

I have preached sermons that are related to some time of year (i.e. New Year, or Christmas, etc.) but not out of duty, rather as "suitable" to people's frame of mind. I have also "not-preached" the season, in part to make the opposite point, namely that these recurring "events" of the secular culture are not to drive the engine, so to speak, of our kingdom culture.


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## SRoper (May 28, 2007)

Our pastor preached on money on Mother's Day. I went to a friend's house afterwards, and her father said, "I bet I know what your sermon was about." He was mistaken.


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## etexas (May 28, 2007)

SRoper said:


> Our pastor preached on money on Mother's Day. I went to a friend's house afterwards, and her father said, "I bet I know what your sermon was about." He was mistaken.


Was it a Seed Faith sermon.


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## LadyFlynt (May 29, 2007)

Engaging the culture is what they are doing in a sense though...when you consider:

1) the Culture WANTS churches to deny God make them the center

2) there are those in the culture that don't celebrate holy days or holidays...and thus they won't show if you are being "relevant" in this manner

3) the culture uses the churches "use" of holidays as a condemnation against the church.


(yes, I'm in the no holiday crowd)


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## JOwen (May 29, 2007)

Poimen said:


> It is the Lord's Day and so I avoid preaching on these issues.


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## Poimen (May 29, 2007)

Trevor:

You wrote-



> I think some of you guys are missing one of the main goals of preaching.





> If you don't engage those local circumstances you may have dissected the text very well or given a commentary, but you have not preached.



Please tell me I am taking these statements out of context if I understand you to say that us gospel preachers on this board are not feeding our flocks. 

I don't think anyone here is saying that we should not engage the culture. I think we are saying (specifically) that those cultural practices that undermine the Lordship of Christ should be avoided because the world and the church are at odds with each other. I would think that we would all agree that our relationship to Christ should be honored above all other human/earthly relationships and that anything that detracts from that should be denied. 

Just as much evidence could be accrued from the scriptures that we should avoid speaking, acting and thinking like the world. Romans 12:2 comes to mind.


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## etexas (May 29, 2007)

trevorjohnson said:


> Hmmmm... I wonder how many of you fellas said at last something about God's judgment following 9/11 but won't say anything good about your mother on "Mother's Day" because you're trying to make a point.


Travis. In my case as an Anglican it has more to do with the fact the we follow a liturgical calendar. Each Sunday is designated for a focus on the life of Our Lord (birth, life and teaching, His prophetic utterances , self-revelation of "very God of very God", death and resurrection. This is our focus on Sunday. We love our Mommas! Our intent is not to make a point. We Teach the scritures about honoring mother and fathers. It is just for us the secular mothers day father's day are not true Holy Days. Grace and Peace.


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## Chris (May 29, 2007)

trevorjohnson said:


> Hmmmm... I wonder how many of you fellas said at last something about God's judgment following 9/11 but won't say anything good about your mother on "Mother's Day" because you're trying to make a point.



Trevor,

I don't think anyone is saying that it's forbidden to speak of the world around us from the pulpit.

For clarity, I was asking the question within the context of the issue of letting cultural observances dominate the service. 

For instance, if someone used Mother's day as a platform to expound upon Hannah's model of wanting children, entreating God to give her children, dedicating her children to the Lord, and launching into praise when God answered her prayers, I don't think (from what I have seen thus far) that anyone in the thread would have a problem with that. It's a great example of how a Bible character modeled dependence upon and praise for her Lord. 

In contrast.....say a preacher read from Proverbs 31, then launched down a rabbit-trail of how sweet his mom was and how wonderful and hard-working and underappreciated moms were, and how kids ought to love their moms more and moms ought to make a gazillion dollars a year and.....


The former is preaching about Godly mothers; the latter is an example of using the Bible as a platform to speak on secular observances.


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## etexas (May 29, 2007)

trevorjohnson said:


> Most liturgical calendars take into account the church year don't they...ascension, etc..thus there is some preaching on events other than the Sabbath.
> 
> Too, if something big happens in the news like a national tragedy I bet you might have mentioned this once or twice from the pulpit.
> 
> ...


I get where you are coming from on this Brother, we do have a place for things like 9-11, we have Office of Morning Prayer where we bring current cultural events to bear in the light of the Gospel. We also would do the same in an Evening Prayer service. Grace and Peace.


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## Chris (May 29, 2007)

trevorjohnson said:


> Chris: I agree wholeheartedly.
> 
> I have seen some pastors, however, that only dissect the text and no appllication is made. But what you said is true.
> 
> ...



Your posts created a much-needed tension. I didn't mean the thread to be a stomping grounds for anyone who acknowledges something other than Scripture in their sermon; I just wanted to hear what other pastors thought about the abuse of secular observances. Much as anything, I wanted to be reassured that I wasn't the only person who had a decidely non-modern perspective on this issue....


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## etexas (May 29, 2007)

trevorjohnson said:


> I follow Jesus:
> 
> Yes, brother, I think Chris cleared up a lot of this for me...
> 
> Wow, your an Anglican? Have you ever read Roland Allen?


Trevor! Brother, you just now realised I was an Anglican. I am not familiar with Allen.......though that name sounds familiar.....does he have some "must reads"?


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## Chris (May 29, 2007)

I follow Jesus said:


> does he have some "must reads"?



Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or ours?


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## KMK (May 29, 2007)

I want to send the message that the most important day of any week is the Lord's Day. I do that by preaching the Bible on every Lord's Day. If an application can be logically drawn that is relevant to a recent cultural event, then so be it. But my job is to change the culture through preaching, not change the preaching through culture.

For example, if I am doing my job in preaching the whole counsel of God throughout the year, I would *hope* (key word) that my sheep would think twice about observing Halloween without my going into some rant on the Lord's Day prior.


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## Rev. Todd Ruddell (May 29, 2007)

It is my practice to preach exhaustively (hopefully not exhaustingly) through a particular discourse of Scripture without regard for man-made holidays (I love the term "Hallmark Days"  ) 

As others wiser than myself have said, "There are 52 holidays a year". That doesn't preclude a comment about what's going on "out there" but that is generally an aside to the business at hand.


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## C. Matthew McMahon (May 29, 2007)

JOwen said:


>


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