What I heard: mothers day program
What I wish I heard: the remainder of church is cancelled for families to go home and enjoy the holiday OR last week, church is canceled on Mother's Day. OR In honor of mothers day, priesthood are invited to administer the sacrament to their families.
What I heard: CS Lewis quotes: all careers are in support of the greatest career of all- homemaking
What I wish I heard: this jives with the concept of Radical Homemaking, that indeed our families and are lives are the greatest careers and the purpose for us living. Men need to also return to the home, embrace the principles of Equally Shared Parenting (hey, its in the Proclamation...). Society needs to reorder its priorities so that families can be together, that both men and woman can learn to be skilled nurturers and that both women and men can use their intellects, skills and knowledge to contribute to the larger world.
What I heard: a truly awful talk on Sheri Dews Aren't we all mothers talk. Be happy you weren't in my ward today. My head almost exploded.
1. Denigrating men- comment that the talk is only talking to women because of course men can't also be mothers.
2. Comparison priesthood to motherhood "how is that fair that men get to move mountains and women suffer childbirth?"
3. Putting octopus mother on a pedestal for dying in order to care for her young, not sleeping, eating or moving for a month as she uses her last breath to care for her young. Really!? Is that what we want to suggest to our human mothers that all her efforts that go into caring for her children should bring her to the point of her death?
What I heard: a how to talk on teaching children based on Elder Uuchtdoorfs talk on parenting (I think priesthood session?) from last conference , it was nice.
What I wish I heard: mention of Heavenly Mother somewhere, somehow. recognition of the difficulty and challenge of motherhood and the importance of fathers, family and community members to support and assist mothers. encouragement for mothers to care for themselves by letting go and sharing of some of the mothering responsibility so that they can pursue the skills and abilities they have gained through their lives and education. Of course, too much to ask, but we're working on it.
What I heard: a woman saying the closing prayer in sacrament. So there you go, it does happen.
What I witnessed: the honoring mother's ceremony at the end of sacrament. The Young Women passed around little bags of chocolates with a decorated card quoting President Hinckley. It was a good quote about recognizing the challenge of mothering and promising the blessings of the Spirit to guide mothers in their efforts. However, I did not receive one for whatever reason. I was busy with a toddler on my lap and she ran out of her supply when she got to me and then didn't get back to me to give me one and I wasn't about to ask to make sure that I had one. Its a good thing that my mother was there, she got hers and we shared it.
After sacrament, I left church early to attend Ina May Gaskin event in Seattle at Town Hall. Now there is a way to honor mothers! To read more about it, hop over to my birth blog: Descent into Motherhood.
2 comments:
What you wish you heard was my awesome talk. I could email you the whole thing, if you'd like. Though the Heavenly Mother part is up and I'm sure you've already read it. :)
Oh, and I better not be caring for my children with my dying breath. That is a terrible comparison! Why would they do that?!
I do wish I heard your awesome talk. And I would love to read the whole thing, so please, email it.
I think you might be asking why the octopus mothers give their lives like that. The answer to that is that the last thing the octopus does in its lifetime is to mate. They are already old and towards the end of their life cycle. Also the eggs are laid in a dark, protected place where they do not get the water flow needed to oxygenate the eggs so the mother stays to ensure that they get the oxygen they need. Shortly before they hatch out, she dies. Whether its from lack of food or old age, that's up to the embellishment of misguided LDS men who want to romanticize maternal martyrs.
Post a Comment