We remember the mothers of our faith, the bearers of God’s story.
We remember Rachel, Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth,
and every woman who found herself unable to bear children —
every woman who has faced miscarriage, infertility, and loneliness.
We mourn with you.
May the God who mothers each of us be a source of life for you.
We remember every woman who held her newborn child
and found it to be the greatest gift and the hardest task of all.
We celebrate with you.
May the God who births new life in us awaken joy in you.
We remember Eve, Naomi, Mary the mother of Jesus,
and all women who buried their children, lives lost unbearably early.
We mourn with you.
May the God who mothers each of us be a source of life for you.
We remember Dinah, Benjamin, and Joseph,
who saw their beloved mother buried.
We stand beside all those who face this day without their mother.
We mourn with you.
May the God who mothers each of us be a source of life for you.
We remember Moses’ mother and Pharaoh’s daughter,
one who gave up her child to save her child,
one who took in a child despite the risks.
We stand beside all women who have given up their children
in the hope of a better life for them. We mourn with you.
May the God who mothers each of us be a source of life for you.
We remember Mary the mother, given by her own son Jesus
to be mother to the disciple he loved.
We honor all those who have labored to make new family
through adoption, remarriage, and stepmotherhood.
We celebrate with you.
May the God who births new life in us awaken joy in you.
We remember Dinah.
We remember all women who are victims of sexual assault.
We stand with everyone whose body, sexuality, marriage, or children should be a source of joy
and instead has been destroyed by someone else’s sin.
We mourn with you.
May the God who mothers each of us be a source of life for you.
We remember Hagar, and Tamar; women whose only hope for
protection and care lay in having a child with a man
who was not married to them.
We stand with all women who face
pregnancy and raising their children alone.
We mourn with you.
May the God who mothers each of us
be a source of life for you.
We remember Rebekah, who felt her twins
Esau and Jacob already at war within her,
and chose a favorite son.
We remember all children and parents
wounded by those who did what they thought was right
but instead sowed seeds of distrust, jealousy, and hatred.
We mourn with you.
May the God who mothers each of us
be a source of life for you.
We remember the foreign women, the wives of God’s people,
who came home with their husbands to rebuild the temple
only to be cast aside by men claiming to be righteous and pure.
We stand with all women who have been made homeless,
often for reasons beyond their control. We mourn with you.
May the God who mothers each of us be a source of life for you.
We remember all the mothers who have lost their children
not to death but to brokenness and trauma,
and all the mothers of children slaughtered
by the greed of others in war, famine, genocide, and child slavery.
We mourn with you.
May the God who mothers each of us be a source of life for you.
We remember the woman at the well,
and all the unnamed women silenced and subjected by divorce.
We stand with those who found that
their splintering family broke their heart. We mourn with you.
May the God who mothers each of us be a source of life for you.
We remember all those who have in the processes of divorce
found freedom and new life. We celebrate with you.
May the God who births new life in us awaken joy in you.
We remember Mary and Martha and Lazarus,
a family of origin who became a safe home
for the Son of Man with nowhere to lay his head.
We honor those on the journey to their own family of choice.
We celebrate those who, like our savior, have knit together
a community in which they are seen, heard, known, and loved.
We celebrate with you.
May the God who births new life in us awaken joy in you.
We remember the Canaanite woman, alone, unsupported,
who refused to be turned away from help for her child.
We stand with every woman who advocates for others,
recognizing that there is no such thing as other peoples’ children.
We mourn with you.
May the God who mothers each of us be a source of life for you.
We remember Mary Magdalene, the first preacher of the resurrection,
soiled by centuries of slander and misalignment,
turned from wide-eyed witness to reformed harlot.
In her testimony, what the men called a foolish tale,
she gave birth to the church.
We stand with all women whose gender, sexuality, history, or bravery
has been used against them and the gospel they proclaim.
We mourn with you.
May the God who mothers each of us be a source of life for you.
We remember Mary the virgin, cradling her stomach with wonder,
facing the sheer shock of a miracle and the sureness of societal judgment
with a simple and determined “Yes.”
We stand with every woman who has found an inner courage
to face impossibilities. We celebrate with you.
May the God who births new life in us awaken joy in you.
An adaptation of the original commentary “The Forgotten Mothers of the Bible,” published at Sojourners in May 2017. May be used with attribution.
Congregations that are actively affirming of LGBTQ+ people are given permission to reprint and use this content in worship when credit is given to Rev. Emmy Kegler and a link provided back to this page. Congregations without an actively affirming policy are invited to ask for permission.