🙏 How to pray to a Mothering God, ?!

Published: Mon, 05/05/25

Updated: Mon, 05/05/25

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Leading your fai

Hello, !

Again this week I want to give you an opportunity to skip Mother's Day related email. In case you missed last week’s message, I offered readers a chance to opt out and receive no further email related to Mother’s Day. If that is you, please just click this button below:

I would like to opt out of Mother's Day emails

In this week's email, you will find the following:

Additional resources for hosting and leading a "Hannah Service" for people experiencing child loss and fertility grief.
Additional resources for shaping a service that honors God our Mother on May 11.
Links to graduation prayers and blessings for families, for teacher/mentors, and of course for the graduates themselves!

A "Hannah Service"

For Grief and Hope

To address this season's pastoral need for spiritual care related to in/fertility, child loss, and parenting griefs, I have called on my friends Rev. Mary Elizabeth Hanchey and Rev. Dr. Erin Robinson Hall. They are each experienced in supporting parents through loss and what Mary Elizabeth calls "fertility grief."

Mary Elizabeth has generously shared two outlines for planning and leading a "Hannah Service." You can download them at the bottom of the page of 3MMM Episode 67.

An excellent resource for mothers, fathers, and parents in grief is the book, Though the Darkness Gather Round: Devotions about Infertility, Miscarriage, and Infant Loss edited by Mary Elizabeth Hill Hanchey and Erin McClain.

Much courage is required to weather the long grief of infertility and the sudden grief of miscarriage and infant loss. The storms that rage are frightening and overwhelming. Though the Darkness Gather Round, a collection of devotions by men and women, ministers, chaplains, and lay leaders who can speak of such sorrow, is a much-needed resource and precious gift for families on this journey and the faith communities that walk beside them.

A "Hannah Service" for grief and hope is based on Hannah's story in 1 Samuel 1:1-24. The service can be offered in advance or during the season between Mother's Day and Father's Day. The aim is to support parents experiencing child loss and/or fertility grief.

This recording of a Hannah Service is led by Mary Elizabeth Hanchey and Erin Robinson Hall (12 min).

Ideas for Mother's Day
Worship

As we approach Mother’s Day in two Sundays (May 11), I want to continue sharing ideas and resources for your planning if you desire. All of these resources are ways to understand and relate to God as Divine Mother. I know a lot of people who could use sacred mothering energy right now. I am one of those people. If you think your congregation would benefit from a service to highlight the way God mothers us, keep reading!

Here is another children’s book, a musical pieces (for congregation or choir), and a new prayer. (Remember: anyone choosing to opt out will not get any more email from me about Mother's Day.)

1. A children's book about a Mothering God
The book Mother God by Teresa Kim Pecinovsky (Author)
Khoa Le (Illustrator) is published by Beaming Books. It can be a wonderful children's time book to use in worship on Mother's Day or anytime. It is also a lovely gift for a child or anyone for that matter!

Mother God - order your copy!

2. "The 23rd Psalm" (Dedicated to My Mother) by Bobby McFerrin

I adore this rendition of Psalm 23 (listen here). I first heard it and played it often while working in a local congregation. Bobby McFerrin's "voicestra" on his album Medicine Music was the debut for me. You can find sheet music by clicking on this button.

PDF: "The 23rd Psalm" by Bobby McFerrin

3. A Prayer to Our Mothering God

This prayer has been percolating for a couple of weeks. And revised heavily. I hope it might be the kind of pastoral prayer or bidding prayer that is healing for people in your setting. Or maybe just for you. You'll find the full text in a PDF at the Download Gallery. You will also find another Mother's Day prayer from 2022 there as well.

A Prayer to Our Mothering God

4. Last week's resources

Do you need to see the Mother's Day resources again from last week? But you deleted your email? Well, here's the link to last week's email.

More worship resources for God our Mother

I hope these resources inspire you to keep letting love be born again and again into the world as we collectively imagine the good gifts and graces of God our Mother.

Graduation Blessings

These blessing downloads can be shared with graduates, teachers and professors, or family members. Print them on cardstock and they make a lovely 8.5 x 11 card. Or read them as part of baccalaureate services or church recognitions of grads.

Downloadable Graduation Blessings

Series on Calling

with Bonnie Miller-McLemore

This spring we have been taking a deep dive together into calling (the good, the troubling, and the surprising) with Dr. Bonnie Miller-McLemore. She's helped us think about conflicted, blocked, and changed callings. She is reading to us from her new book Follow Your Bliss and Other Lies about Calling. And if you've missed any episode, all the links are here. You will be provoked, and I think you will also feel seen, by Bonnie's way of writing about vocation.

See all the Interviews with Bonnie Miller-McLemore

Join me for #FreeWrite Friday!

Part of my vocation these days is to write and accompany writers through individual coaching and by offering space for their work. Every Friday we offer a free hour of writing alongside pastors, chaplains, professors, poets, and writers. You are welcome to join us anytime. Just sign up and you'll get a Thursday night email with your link and some weekly writing inspiration!