Here is a prayer of thanksgiving for Mother’s Day or Mothering Sunday (Lent 4), based on a variety of scripture texts that explore mothering images for God. It comes from the Barnabas in Churches website.
Mothering Sunday Prayer
Today, we are giving thanks to God for the gift of mothers and the mother-like nurture that many people show to others in their lives.
Isaiah wrote that God is a mother to us,
comforting and carrying us in her arms:
As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you... (Isa. 66:13)
Loving Lord, thank you for your tender care.
Isaiah also wrote that God would never forget us.
He knows each of us, like a mother knows her own children:
Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget, I will not forget you! (Isa.49:15)
Loving Lord, thank you for your tender care.
David wrote that in God's presence, he was quiet and at peace,
trusting his mother God like a child safe in loving arms:
But I have stilled and quietened my soul;
like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me (Psalm 131:2)
Loving Lord, thank you for your tender care.
Jesus spoke of himself as a mother,
longing to wrap his arms around us,
like a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...
how often I have longed to gather your children together,
as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,
but you were not willing (Matthew 23:37)
Loving Lord, thank you for your tender care.
Paul writes about his missionary ministry
and likens his work to that of a nurse who looks after those in her care:
…but we were gentle among you,
like a mother caring for her little children (1 Thessalonians 2:7).
Loving Lord, thank you for your tender care.
— from the Barnabas in Churches website.
For more worship resources for Mother’s Day, click on Mother’s Day in the list of “Labels” at the lower right side of the page.
