Mother’s Day: God, The Mother
Sunday, May 10— Worship@Home resources for FirstPres Hayward
As our congregation has made the decision to move to a digital online format for our Sunday Family Gathering due to COVID-19, FirstPresKids is here to provide resources that can help you create your own at-home family worship experience or supplement the one that will be streamed on Sunday mornings, 10PST from FirstPres Hayward.
NOTE: You can also go to the FPK YouTube Channel to view most (not all) of these materials on this week’s FirstPresKids Worship@Home Playlist.
Scriptural Focus: Biblical depictions of God as female, as in Isaiah 66:13 and Isaiah 49:15
Objective: To gain an awareness of female imagery in the Bible and an underlying understanding that God is more than just male or female, but is too big for us to label, comprehend, or imagine.
Opening or Closing Prayer: Dear God, thank you for mothering us — for creating us, laboring to bring us and all of creation into existence, caring for us, feeding us and nurturing us. Thank you for showing us that mothering is Godly. And thank you for all the mothers in our lives — not only our biological, adopted or borrowed mothers — but all the people who mother us in the way you have shown. Amen.
Scripture:
- Isaiah 66:13 and Isaiah 49:15 (Video)
Discussion Questions:
- What is your image (picture) of God? Draw or tell.
- How does the scripture describe God?
- If you didn’t know that the Bible describes God as a mother (a woman), were you surprised? Why or why not?
- What kind of mother is God? What kind of mother is described in the Bible verses?
- What people do you see being like God in this motherly way? Can you think of both women and men?
- How can you be like God, the Mother?
Parent/Caregiver Resources:
- “Why is inclusive language still important”(article)
- “Who people believe rules in heaven influences their beliefs about who rules on Earth, Stanford scholars find” (article)
- From Untamed by Glennon Doyle, “Girl Gods”:
“[…] you refer to God as a “she” — why do you believe that God’s a female?”
“I don’t. I think it’s ridiculous to think of God as anything that could possibly be gendered. But as long as the expression of God as female is unimaginable to many while the expression of God as male feels perfectly acceptable — and as long as women continue to be undervalued and abused and controlled here on Earth — I’ll keep using it.”
Videos for Kids:
- “God, The Mother” (FPK Video)
Activity:
- Take turns being God and play “Mother, May I?”
Crafts:
- Print this version or make your own “fortune teller” for you to use with a mother in your life.
Books: libraries are closed and you may not have time to order books, but check out the lists below and often a quick internet search will turn up a video version of many picture books. Or scroll down for my quick picks that you can “read” online!
- When God Made Light and When God Made You both by Matthew Paul Turner — think about how uniquely creation and humans are all made, and all reflections of God!
