Vol. 31, No.
6 -- June 2011
CHRIST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE DEAF
9545 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910
CHRIST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE DEAF
9545 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910
The Mother of Father's Day
After Anna Jarvis began her nationwide campaign in 1905 to designate the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day, it was inevitable that fathers would also get an annual day of recognition. Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, was not the first person who tried to establish a national day of recognition for fathers, but she was successful in recruiting civic and religious leaders to make Father's Day a reality.
Sonora first thought of establishing a Father's Day in honor of her own father while she was listening to a Mother's Day sermon on May 9, 1909. When Sonora was 16 years old, her mother died while giving birth to the family's sixth child. Sonora's father, William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran, was left to raise Sonora's siblings alone.
When Sonora took her idea to the Spokane Ministers Association and the local YMCA, they supported it enthusiastically. Sonora asked Spokane's ministers to celebrate Father's Day on the first Sunday in June, 1910, to coincide with her own father's June 5th birthday. However, the ministers felt that they needed more time to prepare, so they celebrated Father's Day on June 19, the third Sunday. Following in the tradition of Mother's Day, people wore either red carnations in honor of living fathers or white carnations in honor of fathers who had previously died.
Even though Presidents Wilson and Coolidge tried to promote it, the movement to recognize Father's Day floundered for many years. Little by little it caught on until finally in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson issued the first Presidential Father's Day proclamation. Six years later, in 1972, President Richard Nixon signed the law which permanently designated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day.
The Bible teaches -- and social scientists agree -- that a father's role in the life of a family is extremely important. A good and godly father can have an impact on the lives of his children long after he is gone. Conversely, a harsh, abusive, or neglectful father does more lasting damage than he can possibly imagine. If you have been blessed with a good father, you have a precious treasure that no one can take away. On the other hand, if memories of your father trigger emotional pain, you have a Father in heaven who can become for you the father that you never had. He can heal your hurts and fill the empty places in your heart.
The Old Testament prophet Isaiah prayed,
"You
are our Father. Abraham might not accept us as his children. Jacob
[Israel's ancestor] might not recognize us as his family. But you are
our Father, Lord. Your name is The One Who Always Sets Us Free."
(Isaiah 63.16)
Psalm 103.13 promises,
"As
a father is tender and kind to his children, in the same way, the Lord
is tender and kind to those who have respect for him."
Through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, God adopted us into His family, making us His children. Jesus made it possible for us to call Him "Father." The Bible says,
"You
didn't receive a spirit that makes you a slave to fear once again.
Instead you received the Holy Spirit, who makes you God's child. By the
Spirit's power we call God 'Abba.' Abba means Father [Daddy!]. The
Spirit himself joins with our spirits. Together they give witness that
we are God's children. As his children, we will receive all that
he has for us. We will share what Christ receives." (Romans 87.15-17
NIrV)
It is an nice coincidence that this year Father's Day again falls on June 19. And on our church calendar, June 19 is also Trinity Sunday, on which we honor God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
~~Pastor Ron