Family Time vs. Church Time - From Mother's Day Thread

Post by **_Polygamy Porter** » Tue May 15, 2007 12:50 am

Merc,

Do you live in a mo'jority population?

Post by **_Mercury** » Tue May 15, 2007 1:20 am

Polygamy Porter wrote:Merc,

Do you live in a mo'jority population?

Nope

Olive Branch, Mississippi

Post by **_harmony** » Tue May 15, 2007 3:20 pm

Lucretia MacEvil wrote:I don't know about Mercury's wife, but many, many, many TBM Mollies hate to go to church on Mother's Day because of tendency of talks to dwell on the ideal and unreachable perfection of motherhood, but they suffer through it out of religious obligation.

Okay, Gaz, et al., I'll be expecting you to post how wonderful your meetings were yesterday and how much your wives enjoyed it.

Yesterday, I went to church (yes, the earthquakes have receded somewhat and damage appears to be limited). The talks were hilarious. The youth who talked hadn't realized it was Mother's Day until he got to church and saw the program. He ended his talk on missionary work (it was also a missionary farewell yesterday, such as they are nowadays) with an off-hand remark about mothers. His mother buried her head in embarrassment. We could all tell how important she was to her family, since the kid had no idea what day it was. At least we all knew she didn't write his talk for him. Then the Primary children sang, always a fun activity to see whose little one is going to fall over the rail head first. Then the newly called missionary talked, and gave a very nice talk about mothers. I'm sure his mom was in tears. Then a family sang a special musical number, during which our mentally handicapped neighbor had a screaming fit and had to be forcibly removed by her long-suffering mother (that woman is a true Saint!). Then the priest's quorum advisor gave his talk, which I never did figure out the point of, although I think he was trying to connect missionary work to mothers via the POTF. He gave the standard "put them on a pedestal" stuff, which is hilarious since his wife is working full time as a nurse because he couldn't support her in the style to which she was accustomed (orcharding is no longer a fast track to the yearly Bahamas cruise). Then we sang "Love At Home", which I despise so I didn't sing. Then the priest quorum young men handed out yummy toffee in pretty packages to all the mothers (or any woman over 18).

All in all, as church meetings go, ours wasn't too bad.

The other ward, though... not so good. My uncle was in such a state after the meeting, he had to go home. He does get very tired of the blatant bias in his ward against women who actually have careers, since his wife is a fulltime teacher. I guess their sacrament meeting was one long tirade against working women. And they didn't get toffee, so it would have been a complete bust.

_Yoda · Post by **_Yoda** » Tue May 15, 2007 3:53 pm

Wow, Harmony! I need to go to your ward just for the entertainment value! LOL (And the toffee....we got carnations. They were pretty, though.)

Post by **_harmony** » Tue May 15, 2007 3:57 pm

liz3564 wrote:Wow, Harmony! I need to go to your ward just for the entertainment value! LOL (And the toffee....we got carnations. They were pretty, though.)

Indeed, the Spirit was strong. And amusing. And the toffee was yummy.

Post by **_Bond...James Bond** » Tue May 15, 2007 4:47 pm

At the non-denominational Christian Church I formerly attended on Mothers Day the whole day was about mothers (the message was usually very short to get to the fun part, to be explained). After the message and singing all the mothers got flower bouquets and special awards were given for oldest mother, mother with the most decendents in church (and the pews are always packed as the grandmothers bring in all their relatives for this award, someone always has 3 pews worth of descendents), and mother with a child living furthest away (which in these times usually means someone in Iraq or something [formerly it was between someones descendents in two California towns, and finally someone measured beforehand so they could yell it out and pick a winner!]). At the end all the moms get a standing ovation from the people they have to put up with all year (namely we menfolk)!

Anyways moms are always first at my Church (and I will usually suspend my organized religion ban to go on special days such as Moms day).

Post by **_Mercury** » Tue May 15, 2007 5:16 pm

Bond...James Bond wrote:At the non-denominational Christian Church I formerly attended on Mothers Day the whole day was about mothers (the message was usually very short to get to the fun part, to be explained). After the message and singing all the mothers got flower bouquets and special awards were given for oldest mother, mother with the most decendents in church (and the pews are always packed as the grandmothers bring in all their relatives for this award, someone always has 3 pews worth of descendents), and mother with a child living furthest away (which in these times usually means someone in Iraq or something [formerly it was between someones descendents in two California towns, and finally someone measured beforehand so they could yell it out and pick a winner!]). At the end all the moms get a standing ovation from the people they have to put up with all year (namely we menfolk)!

Anyways moms are always first at my Church (and I will usually suspend my organized religion ban to go on special days such as Moms day).

Now THAT is recognizing a mothers work.

Sure beats the brow beating over the pulpit in LDS wards.

Post by **_Bond...James Bond** » Tue May 15, 2007 5:18 pm

Mercury wrote:Now THAT is recognizing a mothers work.

Sure beats the brow beating over the pulpit in LDS wards.

I forgot to mention that we skipped Sunday School and the men made breakfast for the women in the first hour before the main thing.

Post by **_Gazelam** » Tue May 15, 2007 10:36 pm

My wife got breakfast in bed, and our ward handed out loaves of home made bread.

Post by **_Alter Idem** » Tue May 15, 2007 11:02 pm

Mercury wrote:
Alter Idem wrote:
Mercury wrote:I wish My wife, child and I could enjoy the whole day together but theres this three hour commitment that saps the life energy from my wife and child. By the time my wife gets up to about 1 she has to dedicate to this time sink.

Family: Isn't it about time?

Since it was "Mother's Day", I hope you didn't rag on her about how she chose to spend HER day--I hope you just brought your complaints here and tried to make it a special day for her. After all, you've got 364 other days to complain about not having her full attention and the amount of time she spends worshipping.

Sorry, but your complaint sounds rather selfish.

Why? My intent in my comments were centered around HER enjoying mothers day. SHE spends most of the day preparing, attending and recovering from the mindjob one gets @ LDS church services.

Glad to know you were just thinking of her.:) I don't know about your wife, but I'm happy to go--even on Mother's day, since that is where we take the sacrament and remember the sacrifice of our Savior. It's really not much to ask of us, after all he did for us.
If your wife is a believer, then maybe she feels like I do, and you don't need to feel sorry for her.