Many of the world's most important holidays are tethered to Christian themes and events. This is obviously true of such days as Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It is also true of Halloween (Hallowed Evening) which once was closely linked to All Soul's Day.
Father's Day, too, is linked to Christianity in that it was founded to celebrate the ideals of fatherhood set forth in Scripture.
The Origin of Father's Day
The first widely-promoted Father's Day celebration of modern America was held in Spokane, Washington on this day, June 19, 1910 (a father's day had been observed in Fairmont, West Virginia two years earlier with little publicity). The Spokane event was the brain-child of Sonora Louise Smart (Mrs. John Bruce) Dodd envisioned an event as focused in special religious services and involving small gifts as well as loving greetings from children to their fathers. She brought up the matter with her pastor and he communicated the idea to the local pastor's association. The mayor of the city and the governor of the state endorsed her concept and issued proclamations in support. The famed politician William Jennings Bryan weighed in with words of encouragement.
Mrs. Dodd dearly loved her father. When his wife died in childbirth, he was left with six children. Somehow he overcame the difficulties of rearing them while operating his farm. His devotion to his children sparked Louise's gratitude.
Father's Day was slow to catch on. What Louise had done was not even well known in her own state despite the governor's proclamation. The idea of honoring fathers with a special day was actually reinvented independently in several other places, each locality thinking it was starting something new. Curiously, circumstances led other founders to select the month of June. In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson had endorsed the idea and in 1924 Calvin Coolidge recommended national observance of the day "to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligation" and strengthen intimate ties between fathers and children.
The History of Father's Day
Despite these presidential pronouncements, it was 1966 before President Johnson established the third Sunday in June as the date of the celebration. Even so, this not made official until 1972 under President Nixon.
The ideals of fatherhood are strong in the Bible. Unlike the gods of other religions, the Christian God is portrayed as a loving Father. Christ described God as his own intimate Father and claimed to show in himself what the Father was like. God gave his beloved son for the salvation of the world. Consequently, wherever the Christian ideal has prospered, fatherhood has taken on deeper and more lyrical meaning. The tender appeals of the apostles John and Paul to their "children" helped foster this attitude.
William Jackson Smart's self-sacrificing love for his children led to a national day of recognition for all fathers. We have a grateful daughter to thank for that.
Bibliography:
1. Hatch, Jane M. "Father's Day." The American Book of Days, 3d Edition. New York: Wilson, 1975.
2. Myers, Robert J. with the Editors of Hallmark Cards. Celebrations: the Complete Book of American Holidays. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Co., 1972.
3. Various encyclopedia and internet articles, such as Wikipedia and www.fathersdaycelebration.com
("The Christian Origin and History of Faher's Day" by Dan Graves, MSL, first published on Christianity.com on April 28, 2010)
Bible Verses For Father's Day
Ephesians 6:4 - Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Proverbs 3:11-12 - My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.
Proverbs 20:7 - The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them.
Psalm 127:3-5 - Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
Psalm 103:13 - As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
Read More: Father's Day Bible Verses
A Father's Day Prayer
Dear God, We thank you for the gift of Dads in this life. We thank you that you are the greatest Dad ever, Abba Father, and we know that you cover us in your great love.
We pray for your blessing, favor, and strength over every Dad in this world, for those who are seeking to walk closely with you in a dark world, and for those who just need to be reminded that you are real. We ask for your renewed courage, for your boldness, for your Spirit to fill them. Make them always aware and alert of the schemes of the enemy. We ask that you would keep their footsteps firm, and guard their way. We ask that you would help them to always stand strong, to be men of faith, to say “no” to what is wrong, and to say “yes” to what is right. We ask that you would fill their hearts with love, compassion, joy, faithfulness, and cover their lives with great peace.
Lord, we pray that you would raise up mighty men, godly men, in this generation, those who would know and honor you with their entire lives. We pray that they would stand firm in the faith, walk wisely, and follow hard after you. May they grow in their love and passion for you, for their families, and in the calling to follow you above all else. Thank you for dads who fight for their families, who do battle in prayer over those they love.
Thank you, God, that your Word is true. We hold fast to you today, we choose to immerse our lives in your Truth. We know that you are with us always and cover us in your power and strength.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen. (by Debbie McDaniel)
A Prayer for Wisdom for Dads
Lord, I pray for wisdom. You know the challenges and the decisions that are required daily. You know the pressures I experience as I navigate through life. Give me wisdom in every area of my life. Let me be wise with relationships, wise with career, wise with money, wise with calling, and wise in every other area of life. Let the wisdom you give me be evident to all, and mostly recognized by my children. Let your wisdom be present in every choice I make so my life would be pleasing to you. Amen. (by Clarence L. Haynes Jr.)
A Prayer for Those Who Lost Contact with Their Father
Our Father who art in heaven, there is great pain when a child—whether by choice or circumstances—loses communication with their earthly father or experiences an estrangement from him. Every Father’s Day reminds them that the man who you used to give them life is not in their life. Lord, you tell fathers not to anger their children, and yet we know in our humanness it happens. Or children can anger their father or choose to separate from their father like the prodigal son. But like the prodigal son, we pray the two will be united again while they still have time to reconcile with each other.
Pride often keeps the two apart, so we pray for that child who has abandoned fellowship with their father or the father who has disowned his own child will take the first step in restoring the relationship. So often, just hearing “I’m sorry” or “I forgive you” is the beginning of healing. Please give one of them the strength, courage, and desire to try to mend the grievances of the past.
Father, when that’s not possible, put on the heart of the child who has lost contact to pray for their father and that you Lord would heal the emotional wounds and be the Father to the fatherless as you promise in your Word. Thank you, Lord, for loving us with a never-ending Father’s love for his children. Amen (by Janet Thompson)
Read More: Heartwarming Father's Day Prayers
Further Reading:
Father's Day Wisdom I Learned in Dad's Truck
How Can We Relate to God as Our Father?
