A Birthing Prayer
Below is a short prayer written for use in worship on Mother’s Day/Festival of the Christian Home 2017. It was *inspired by 2 Timothy 1:5: “I’m reminded of your authentic faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. I’m sure that this faith is also inside you.” (Common English Bible Translation). It could be used as a pastoral prayer, adapted for us as a litany, etc.
*Note: I am indebted to the Annual Meeting Planning Team of the 222nd Annual Meeting of the Vermont Conference, UCC which was held in Fairlee, VT 4/28-29, 2017 who chose 2 Timothy 1:3-14 as the guiding passage for our theme and worship.
A Birthing Prayer (Inspired by 2 Timothy 1:5)
God, the faith which lives in each of us first lived in others:
it lived first in our mothers or those who mothered us;
it lived first in the inspired writers of our sacred texts.
it lived first in theologians who wrote with impassioned pens;
it lived first in prophets who spoke the truth in love and with courage;
it lived first in friends who knew us well enough to speak honestly and to challenge us;
it lived first in in the Holy Spirit who is never far, and always as close to us as our breath;
and we are blessed to say that the faith which now lives in us, first lived in others.
With thanksgiving and celebration, we pray:
God, nurture the faith that now lives in us;
continue to send us mothers and theologians, prophets, friends, and the Spirit to rekindle us;
and as our faith lives ever more within us, help us to be theotokos, Godbearers, nurturers and mothers, who give birth to a faith that lives in others too.
For this is our calling. For this is our task. For this is what it means to follow our God in Christ. AMEN.
© Rev. Kevin Goldenbogen, 2017
Thanks Kevin,
I have been walking the tightrope of Mother’s Day sermons for years.
This is lovely. It gives me a handle upon which to build a sermon that has to be sensitive of the number of folks within this small community who did not have the mothering they deserved. If nothing else they received life from those mothers.
Adrianne, thank you for your comment. You are not alone in that tightrope walk. Here is a post from last year that addresses that more specifically: https://worshipwell.church/2016/04/14/mothers-day-thoughts-a-prayer/. May you walk the tightrope well, and in a way that acknowledges the richness of human experience.
Thanks to Kevin for a wonderful prayer! I would like to post it on Worship Words http://www.worshipwords.co.uk which I edit, a website for sharing inclusive language and progressive worship material. There are other items on Worship Well I’d like to share (always with a link to your site). I look forward to hearing from you.
To introduce myself, I’m a minister with standing in the UCC, but serving the United Reformed Church in Great Britain, still linked through Global Ministries. Ana
Ana, thanks for reaching out. Yes, you have my permission to post on worshipwords.