SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER-CHILDREN ON MOTHER'S DAY

We are children today of many mothers,
      some of us grateful and glad,
      some of us cynical and defeated,
      all of us living lives that are pure gift
           from you and for you.

As we give thanks for our mothers,
    so we think of children whom you treasure
                          and invite close in.
    For newborn babies arriving in these restless days,
    for children loved and lost awhile---
       Joshua, Charles, Michael, Sophie, and a world of others,
    for children born feeble and troubled
                  and loved in their need,
    for children infused with napalm and
                  and shrapnel and hate and fire,
    for children who know the sharp edge of Pharaoh and Herod,
                  and a thousand other uneasy men of force.

In the midst of this parade of innocence,
    we submit all the treasured children of the world to you,
    that they may prosper, and that we may become more fully
       your daughters and sons,
       children of your commandments,
       recipients of your gifts,
       bearers of your hope.

You have said, "Let the little children come."
Here we are---yours...
                                  that we may receive your nurture
                                                             and your discipline.

Walter Brueggemann, Prayers for a Privileged People