Hey, that's okay. Women want a mother's day? Let them have it. what the hell. We all know that God is our heavenly FATHER, and so we know which gender counts.

graeme

Actually, I believe father's day is on the 21st.

though, honestly, it is a hallmark day.....as compared to a day to honour strong male role models.

Yes, Pinga, and I will celebrate it by uncorking a bottle of good red wine.

That's why the United Church does not celebrate fathers day: because of the "no alcohol" policy in United Church halls.

Cheers!

Arminius

hey Serena, don't worry. If I was looking after 5 kids this weekend I would forget my name let alone dates.

Father's Day is huge where I work. It's definitely on the 21st. Either way, what does the celebration (or lack thereof) of a nonreligious and nonstatutory holiday have to do with a church's biases and agendas?

Well, k.r., you have heard of "Father God," haven't you?

I celebrate Father God on Fathers Day, Mother God on Mothers Day, and IT every day.

Sounds like home, beloved.

Father's Day is not played big in our church - often its the Sunday School picnic or we are recognizing the contribution of Native Peoples or promoting camping (a bit late for promoting, but there it is).  When I happen to be the guest worship leader, I follow the lectionary.  Father's day would be mentioned in the announcements - like congratulations to all Fathers and grandfathers.  Depending on the lectionary I might talk about it a bit with the children (touchy subject when the children come from many different types of families).  Or I will pray for fathers. 

My concern on Fathers Day is for the many men who are cut off from their children - perhaps that warrants a separate thread.

Whew! You gave me a scare there! Thought I had missed it! Thanks for the reminder. Got to get a card out to Dad!

I've started a thread about Fathers Day in Parenting.  I invite you to check it out.

I knew a church where they had a "whine" and cheese once a year.  It was called the annual meeting.

My UU church had a good proposal for a Father's Day service (basically a "sharing" service where various members would talk about their experience of being either fathers or children in place of a sermon). Unfortunately, the Worship Committee (which I was chairing) had already noted that it was Solstice on that Sunday and invited a couple of our pagan members to do a service on Solstice. So, the Dad's Day idea will be on the shelf until next year. We did have a pretty good Mother's Day service this year, though.

In my household, Dad's Day usually ends up being just another day although we may go out for dinner to celebrate.

Mendalla

We only have about 3-4 restaurants that we regularly patronize, so there's not much choosing to do. It's a matter of choosing a cuisine from Chinese, Viet-Thai, Japanese, or mixed buffet. So I generally get what I want by default .

Mendalla

PS. Don't want to make it sound like London is totally dead foodwise, but my wife and I aren't big on North American or European cuisine, and this isn't exactly the Asian food capital of Southern Ontario.

Whinei and cheezy? That's the way it has been ever since mother God gave father God that ribbing wah back when!

Omega Odd ... look what we've done ... something different!

IT could close up the church.

But don't forget also to note that the majority of images of women on television looks nothing like real-life women do?  In other words, the regular dudes are being bailed out by aliens...

This happens in sitcoms all the time too. The men in Everybody Loves Raymond, According to Jim, and Married with Children, to name a few, are idiots, while the women are intelligent and hold the family together.

In old myth the soul and the spirit are both fey, flighty, bewitching essences ... ephemeral and able to get around anything that difficult ... like Pet Roues .. favourite decrees?

 If the soul and the spirit are father and mother of creation of the medium (physical manna of speak'n); do we each have a bit (chit, skett) of both in nous ... individuals just find ID hard to uncover without the face in the dirt? Perhaps this weeks litergy about the beauty and the beast is  a bit of the elite story of illum-m'n-ad-I ... the fire above. Ides enough to bring the house down when you read into IT the understanding and Love of I Corinthinans 13 and Acts 2:4 in Dan's time ... ain't that devilish timeless Ness, the dark shadow of the unacknowledged ... mind ... Zhi-Xi (sigh-key)?

How does one follow the aboriginal code for joining (let no man separate what God/Love has joined) when a Roman institution outlawed both Love and Intelligence in the Pagan world (common wee folk). Does the silent paradigm question such stuff or just sit arrested in fear when we are told so many times to fear not ... "id'll pas!" Gette IT/ID together ... here? There must be another space ... it stands to reason ... a Mir th' ought from nowhere ... nothing but me in (oui) carnal mode ... the general ad hock ... ignores! Is that root of d' Lucean meme? Yah have to read into the thing and not take isolated aspect!

Would a physical real m'n consider such myth? Unlike Liem a rare b'Ire'd ta tip! As Kant, a List, Mir tilde to the breeze! Ides ETs ... food for utilitarian ... the'o crossed ... Theo 'T ... aura's that the OX bleu'n? Bonne Yahn!

Not just the church, but society seems bent on discriminating against men.  One young man applied for a police position only to be told, unofficially, they were targetting women and minorities.  (I TOLD him he should've wore a skirt.)  In the media, that annoying Cherrios commercial with the fake British accents where the husband is quieted because his wife thinks he's referring to her weight.  (shut up, Steve- she owned his wontons).  In many churches, men are staying away in droves because they think they're only there to do the 'donkey' work.  Anyone for starting up a No-M'am United Church for men only?  Free beer at every council meeting!  Paid for by the mission fund.

Is it any wonder that m'n in Heb is translated in one ambiguity as an isolated gift of grace ... perhaps because he couln't get it all together? Island mentality! Is there autonomous reflex to such actions ... echos? That's canon in some definitions ... Big Bang across the vale ... veil of d' void? Ides just wool over Amen's eyes as he withdraws without a care into the darkness ... militant creature without thought of co operation!

What works in the animal world isn't necessarily satifactory in dimension of the mind ... "Feed my Lam!" Is a deep expression of which undersstanding is lost to the ignorance of mankind! Internalized Love is a shadowy margin ... media of the Wahl? Bones of the veil will rise again --- was that Eli Jah? (Light hand of God) is like a whisper well distributed over the fabric (covenant)!

This post was awesome.

Hey, Actually...

(sounds like I'm about to argue, but no...)

Yeah, women do get more tips mostly in circumstances where some dudes can let their imaginations run free a little...  As you say, not that likely in computer tech support... unless you were called to show up at their door... preferably in a short skirt and low cut shirt.   That's sexism in action for you.
 

(Thinking about some of these things just makes me mad as hell.  Some will say, another freakin' femini-nazi.   But it's not just my jaded "opinion" of men - unfortunately, like many many women around me, there is some rather harsh life experience behind my feeling.  Here's one example:  I applied for a job once, was hired and invited for drinks afterward, agreed because why not, but when my new "boss" accidently-on-purpose stuck his hand between my legs at the bar, let's just say, I changed my mind about my new "position" with his company. Yes, these things do happen, still, today, now.)

Me, too, Nishy. I can tell you how it's taken me nearly a decade to recover financially from my separation and divorce from my first husband. I have provided ALL of the care of our children while he went off to make great coin in his career (which I helped him establish). And he is out of compliance with a negotiated judge's order which I will have to pursue in court. Fortunately, I have the ability to pursue this without hiring a lawyer but good god, it's brutal.

And no doubt he is whining about how family court favours women...wah, wah, wah..

musicsooths, I agree and was trying to figure why it is said women make less. I think it is the over and above the pastoral charge pays. Male  would get more than female. Although if they are in team they should be both compensated the same according to their category. I don't think that happens.

I know a church where the congregation always gave the ordained an increase above minimum and the Staff Ass  got nothing.

crazyheart - the church I was in before paid the minimum - male or female got the minimum for that category.  The church I am in now uses team ministry in the true sense of the word.  The two individuals are considered a team - they work out their responsibilities (One does visitation this month / the other the next;  one serves on one committee for a term, the other the next; one is really interested in adult education, the other in youth; both preach {and it isn't advertized in advance who will be in the pulpit}.  If the other is in church (s)he takes part in the prayers, etc.)  They get paid a percentage above their minimum - ie  if one is category C she gets a certain percentage of that salary; if the other is category B he gets the same percentage of that salary.   Usually we try for male / female balance - but sometimes may have two male.  I don't remember having two female.  But if the next minister is female, and the longer term male retires in a few years, then it is possible that we might have two female.

However, I think this arrangement is unusual in the Maritimes.   Most churches that I am aware of that are large enough and afluent enough to have two ordained ministers have a senior and a junior position - with the senior commanding the bigger salary and having the higher profile in churh affairs.  Usually, but not always, the senior would be more experienced and in a higher category.  If not - say if the church hires an older person as the second minister as assistant - the church would top up the 'senior' minister to match or exceed the second minister's salary and maintain the hierarchy.