Liturgy for Mother's Day

Hello friends,

If you’re looking for liturgy for Mother’s Day (May 12), I have a few offerings that suit a Divine Feminine theme well.*

The first is one of my favorite litanies I’ve ever written, “Litany for the Midwives.”
Another is “Litany for God Our Mother”
And we can’t forget “Litany for the Divine Feminine”

And finally, for my lovely Patreon subscribers, I’ve written something new: “Litany for Mother.”

Whatever liturgy you decide to use, I would encourage and hope that it is sensitive. Mother’s Day is tough for many people - some who wish to be mothers but aren’t, some who’ve lost mothers, some who’ve lost children, some who never had good mothering, some whose mothers were harmful. Mother’s Day can be triggering and painful for a wide variety of people. Passing out flowers to moms in your congregation is not sensitive to that wide variety of experiences.

Good liturgy can be sensitive and empathetic. One way we have found to avoid some of the pitfalls of Mother’s Day, is to use it as an excuse to lean in to God’s Divine Feminine aspect. We like to incorporate feminine imagery and energy, in homage to God’s gender-full nature.

I love to hear stories from your churches. What are my readers doing? How do you incorporate the Divine Feminine into your liturgical year?

love,
f

*Although, Mother's Day isn’t the only day it’s appropriate to explore and expose your congregations to the Divine Feminine aspect of GOD. You can do this any old day. Or half the Sundays. Or just AT. SOME. POINT. Because most churchy people get no exposure whatsoever and that is a shame and a travesty and we need to teach our people to have a more robust understanding of the Divine.

Litany for Sophia (Proper 19, Year B)

The Lectionary passages for this week contain images of the Divine Feminine in the form of Sophia, the Wisdom of God. She is mostly a forgotten idea among present-day Evangelicals, but other traditions have kept her alive. I myself have found solace and healing in studying her and bringing her into my thinking about God, and in reclaiming the Divine Feminine. I recommend reading this article by Jann Aldredge-Clanton for an introduction. Also check out our latest sermon series “God as She,” from Peace of Christ Church.

Oh God, the heavens are declaring your beauty;
The earth is proclaiming your character (1).
We mostly don’t hear this
Because we don’t stop long enough to listen.

Your own Wisdom is calling out to us
Day and night (2) -
She who is an emanation of your light,
A mirror of your being,
An image of your goodness (3).
She does all things;
She renews all things;
She orders all things;
She is better than any other light,
More worthy than any star (4).

If we don’t hear her,
It’s not because she isn’t speaking.
If we don’t see her,
It’s not because she isn’t there.

Oh God, open our eyes and ears to Wisdom,
To the beauty of your Person.
And make us ever more able to take you in,
To understand more fully,
To know more deeply,
To have patience to listen well. Amen

1) Psalm 19:1

2) Proverbs 1:20

3) Wisdom 7:26

4) Wisdom 7:27, 29

Litany for Hagar

This week's Old Testament Lectionary passage is the story of Hagar, whom Abraham cast out into the desert along with her son. But God sneakily rescued her; even though she was a slave and a woman, the lowliest of the low, God valued her and protected her.

Creator, Protector of the Lowly
Defender of the Weak:
You do not despise the needy;
You do not cast out those without status.
Your eye is always on the underdog,
And you care for those on the margins.

You rescued the lowly servant girl Hagar
Who had no power, no authority to choose a life for herself.
She served Abraham to the utmost, even bearing him a child.
Abraham cast her out; but you, God, rescued her.
You gave her water in the desert and preserved her life.
Her child grew into a father of nations. (1)

Your ways are not our ways:
     Social Status
     Breeding or family line
     Material wealth
     Race
     Gender
The world categorizes and assigns value to people according to these things,
But you, God, see beyond, to the inner person.

(All:) Hallelujah!

Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me,
For I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life,
For I am devoted to you;
Save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God. (2)

Amen

(1) Genesis 21:8-21
(2) Psalm 86:1,2

Litany for the Divine Feminine

I considered writing a litany for Mother's Day. But then I realized that I am frustrated because Mother's Day tends to be the only day of the year that your average Jesus-y church talks AT ALL about the feminine. So I've written this prayer to hopefully inspire us to a larger perception of the Divine, and to lift up my sisters who have been told by their religion or faith-culture that they are Less-Than or Other because of their gender.

God, we know that you made us, male and female
All in your image.
You are above all, throughout all
And in all.

Your image can be found in fathers,
And your image can be found in mothers.
In brothers and sisters, in servants and rulers,
In shepherds and sheep, in adults and children;
In men and in women
The truth of the divine is reflected.

Human society has relegated that image of you that is feminine
To the Less-Than and the Other.
We have worshipped the male
And maligned the female.
We have worshipped the warrior,
And overlooked the nurturer.
We have worshipped the fact,
And ignored the question.

Forgive us for only assigning value to a part of you
And making an idol of it;
All the while closing our perception off
From a broader picture of your goodness.
Restore to us an understanding of you
That encompasses the sacred feminine,
And that helps in turn lift up all of us
Whose identities reflect your feminine image.

Our desire is to know you
Fully and well,
And to see you in the vastness
Of your beauty and majesty.

Amen