Sunday May 10, 2020 – Mother’s Day Sermon on Genesis 21
Genesis 21:1-7 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
The Birth of Isaac
21 The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. 2 Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7 And she said, “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
*New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Sarah waited 25 years to receive God’s blessing. Unfortunately she didn’t have the patience to wait, so instead of a solution, Sarah created sorrow. What does it mean to ‘wait on the Lord’?
A Mother’s Day Prayer
God of all time and space, we lift up our prayer this morning to you, even as we recognize our insignificance in the vast universe of your creation. Last week O Lord, we prayed to you asking ‘How Long’….How long O Lord must we wait through these days of uncertainty due to the virus outbreak.
This week we continue that prayer, but we also recognize the need to be in a posture of waiting. For in your time, you will bring mercy and peace to all who suffer.
O God, we come also this day with hearts hungry for your word and yearning for your promises of grace. Fill us with your strength and your wisdom that we may be bold in our faith and mission.
On this day of celebration, we give you thanks for all mothers, no matter their lack of perfection. We praise you for the hands that have raised us, cared enough to correct us, and blessed us in ways we cannot fully know even as adults.
We praise you O God, for all women, who have nurtured others in your love, for they have the spirit of a mother.
O God, on this day, we are reminded that it was through a young mother named Mary, that the world would receive its Savior.
We lift to you O God, each and every woman who has been a mother to us….may they receive your blessing of love and peace in a special way.
For it is in your Son’s name we pray…..Amen.
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Next Steps:
- Express your gratitude to those who have shown you motherly love sometime in your life.
- Look for a way that you might also share that type of concern, care, compassion and love for someone else this week.
See you next week, stay safe and may God’s blessings be upon each of you!
Pastor Mark