Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“I will not execute my fierce anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and no mortal,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, November 10, 2019
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: God treated Israel like a mother nurturing her child; God loved her and grieved for her.
Hosea prophesied at a time the northern kingdom was divided from its kin in the south. He expressed both the deep grief of a God losing God’s beloved, but also the intense love God has for God’s children.
Hosea’s imagery in this chapter vividly describes God as a mother nurturing her young. She called to her child, but he wandered farther. She taught him to walk and cradled him in her arms. She nuzzled him to her cheek and nursed him.
The consequence of Israel’s sin was on the horizon. They would be conquered by Assyria and exiled from their lands. Still, God could not let them go. Despite all that they had done and failed to do, God still loved them. God couldn’t let them be wiped from the earth. One day God would forgive them and bring them home. Again, God would be their God, and they would be God’s children.
This is a great opportunity to explore what it looks like for God to be a mother. While it would be fruitless to begin a debate about stereotypes of parenting roles, an exploration of some fairly widely accepted roles might open up this text. We could argue that nurturing, feeding, snuggling, and teaching—while not exclusive the role of mother—are certainly traits many mothers share.
There are also other benefits infants receive primarily from their mothers. Mothers are more likely to talk with their kids during activities, sometimes with a sing-song voice that little ones respond well to, encouraging socialization and language development. Mothers are more likely to explain the social consequences of misbehaving, while fathers will point out the concrete consequences. Some infants have shown a preference for their mother’s face over that of father’s or strangers’. They also become more distressed at an emotion-neutral expression than the absence of the mother, showing they are more distraught at emotional detachment than physical separation.
What might it look like for your community to explore the gifts of a mothering God?
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