waiting for birth

Liturgy for waiting for birth,

O holy and awesome creator Abba Father, papa
Thank you for this time for these precious hours and minutes
Given to us, to give to those, who you have made.
To mother and to child
In the dimmed lights of a birthing room
Or the cluttered homeliness of a front room
In the bright spotlights of theatres
Or the smoky space of a mud-walled hut
In the anxiety, in the calm
In the noise and in the silence
In the power of contractions
Or the skill of the surgeon.
Lord, may we mop brows as you washed feet
Rub backs, hold hands, whisper words
Encourage, pray, uphold, and keep.
Keep safe, these your children
Knitted together in the womb, each one by you
Ordained by you. Yours.

For every midwife, mid wif, with woman
Waiting and watching
Listening and waiting
At this holy moment, pre-birth
Precious and precarious Holy Spirit in us
Our advocate, help us to advocate
To be their voice when utterance fails
To be the hands they can trust
And the eyes they can hang on to
When powerful waves overtake
And the enormity of this thing so normal
Threatens to overwhelm.
Give us attentive eyes, attentive ears, attentive hands
With your knowledge in our fingertips
And knowledge of you on our lips.
Be in the room with us
Your presence, your peace, perfect
Palpable in that sacred space
Just as you always have been
Across all generations.
A genealogy that leads us back to Jesus
And has brought us forward to this time, to
These precious hours and minutes, waiting.
Lord, this moment is yours
We commit this mother to you
We commit this infant to you
We commit ourselves to you
We commit this time of waiting into your hands.