A Prayer For Birth

A Prayer for Birth

O God, we pray for new life bursting forth—

For the first breath of a baby

And the tiny cries echoing through time and space.

O God, we pray for the moment skin meets skin—

For the exhales of a parent

And the loud cries echoing through time and space.

O God, this world groans like a laboring mother.

We need embodied hope, and we see a glimpse of it

In the pursed lips of a newborn,

In the tiny fingers and toes.

O Spirit, hover over this newborn life,

As You did in the womb.

Surround this beloved baby

With care and with comfort.

Surround this beloved family

With community and with courage.

Remind us that parenting is

A sacred offering of body and soul.

May love surround this baby and family

In all the stages of life,

In all the joys and the sorrows.

We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ,

Who entered our world through a mother.

We thank You for Your promise of hope everlasting.

We thank You for Your goodness and truth.

Remind us of Your heavenly nurture

And the human nature that You chose.

O God, may this child be bathed in Your light

And wrapped in the arms of Your love,

Today and forevermore.

Deuteronomy 32:11-12; Psalm 18:1-2; 1 Peter 1:3; James 1:17