Prayers of Confession on Parents

O Good and Loving God, You call us to honor, love, and revere not just our parents, but all whom You have placed in our lives with Your authority. Yet we; rarely give honor to those deserving of honor. Instead, we fight and fail to love as You have loved us. When we have authority, we misuse and abuse it. Worst, we reject Your authority and seek to live our lives our way. We follow ourselves, not Your Son, Jesus. Forgive us and renew us. Send us Your grace and mercy, and enable us to share it with others, even with those in authority over us.Through Christ we pray. Amen.

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Leader: Mother’s Day can be full of joy and celebration, but it can also be challenging for many people. So as we pray for all mothers, let us also pray for those who are struggling today.

All: God, thank you for our mothers, for their love and nurture. And for all the other women who have played a mother role in our lives – the aunties, godmothers, teachers and friends who have welcomed us into their lives and helped shape us.

We pray that you will comfort those who are grieving the loss of their mothers, and mothers grieving for children who have died too soon.

For women struggling with infertility, and all women for whom the dream of being a mother feels out of reach, bring comfort to their hurting hearts and empty arms.

Give strength to the women who struggle in their role as a mother or feel overwhelmed or underappreciated. And to foster mothers and adoptive mothers, and mothers who parent alone.

We pray for healing where mothers have caused hurt to their children, or children have caused hurt to their mothers, and for reconciliation where there are broken relationships.

We pray for your protection in situations where mothers fear for their children’s safety.

For expectant mothers, we pray for joyful anticipation and safe delivery of their children. And for new mothers, we pray for sufficient rest and patience as they settle into their new roles.

God, thank you for being alongside us in our joy and grief, through longing and hope and sorrow. Help us to know your presence with us today, no matter how we feel about Mother’s Day.

In Jesus name,

Amen.

Submitted by Jacob Traeger