The Holy Spirit vs. Mothers

Easter is over and the next big Sunday on the calendar is Mother's Day in May. I have told students here at Fuller that Mother's Day is one of those Sundays that you must deal with in the local church. Recently someone challenged me on that thought. It has to do with the Lectionary and the Church Liturgical Calendar - two things you may not be familiar with in your church. We aren't in the Church of God. Maybe we should be.
The Lectionary is a resource churches use to help plan services - themes for preaching, themes for worship, scriptural texts, even appropriate art images. It is a resource created across denominational lines by numerous scholars to help assist churches and pastors on the local level. If you have never seen the lectionary, here is the link: http://divinity.library.vanderbilt.edu/lectionary/
If you look at the site, the first thing you will notice is that the entire site is based on the church calendar not the community or secular calendar. It may be a shock to some but there is a different calendar used by the church than the one used by Hallmark Cards. The Church calendar is based upon the seasons of the church - Advent (Christmas), Epiphany (the visit of the magi and the beginnings of Jesus' ministry), Lent (preparation for Holy Week), Easter (season of the resurrection concluding with Pentecost), Season after Pentecost (beginning with Trinity Sunday and going through Thanksgiving - it is a general season of various themes and celebrations). Interestingly, there is no July 4th, Labor Day, Father's Day, or (uh oh, here we go) Mother's Day.
This year, churches are caught in a bind. Pentecost Sunday occurs 50 days after Easter. Let's see. Easter was on March 23rd and 49 days after that is Pentecost Sunday and that is May 11th - Mother's Day. So, what do you celebrate? Mother's Day or the coming of the Holy Spirit? Most churches outside the liturgical circle will opt to either postpone their celebration of Pentecost or they will ignore it all together. But few if any churches will ignore Mother's Day. I wonder if that is a good thing?
What it means is that we are much more culturally centered in the church than biblically centered. Our concern is to celebrate whatever the culture is celebrating. That's why we hang flags in the sanctuary on July 4th weekend or make Children's Day a bigger Sunday than Pentecost. The problem is that the church is really designed to be counter culture. We have values that are different than what the culture commends. As Christians, we are not driven by consumerism; we believe in racial and ethnic equality; neither work nor family are our top priorities; we do not glorify the state; we believe in ministry to the poor and to those in need, whatever that need may be. The church has created orphanages, hospitals, AIDS clinics, food distribution centers, homeless shelters, battered wives homes, along with places to learn the faith and houses to gather in to worship the Lord. None of these are market driven nor do they smack of consumerism. We are centered on the biblical story and its implications and meaning.
Why then do we continue to use the secular calendar instead of the church calendar? The only reason I can think of is that we think having a celebration of family values and mothers specifically will add to our attendance. In the competitive world of church growth, Mothers beat out the Holy Spirit every time. The sad part about all of that is the theological statement we make. We think church growth is all about our programs to attract others. The reality is that the Holy Spirit is the only one who brings growth to the church. Quite ironic, don't you think?