Gather Us Under Your Wings, Mother Hen God!

March 26, 2025

“How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings” (Luke 13:34).

What does it mean to see God not as a lion, eagle, or other sign of power, but as a mother hen? It’s an image often overlooked in scripture—yet, as Jesus shows us in the Gospel of Luke, it is one of immense power and significance.

For progressive believers and spiritual seekers yearning for a more inclusive perspective on faith, the image of God as a mother hen offers a profound look into the nurturing and protective love that God extends to all, without caveat or condition.

A Surprising Image of God

Artist: Ben Austrian (American, 1870 - 1921) Date: 1897. Medium: oil on canvas.

Take a moment to picture it. A hen tucked away in a coop, her wings outstretched, covering her chicks. The image radiates warmth, safety, and the instinctual devotion of protecting her young from harm.

This is the surprising vision Jesus offers when he says, “How often I have desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” Jesus invites us to see God not as a king wielding domination, but as a mother figure whose strength lies in her fierce, inclusive love.

At this moment in the text, Jesus is on a long and dangerous road toward Jerusalem, a city plagued by political and religious oppression. It is here where Jesus will confront suffering and death brought on by unjust systems. And yet, his heart aches not for himself, but for the people.

Jesus, knowing the dangers ahead, still yearns to shield others, declaring a radical vision of belonging, safety, and togetherness.

The Mother Hen’s Fierce Inclusivity

If you’ve spent time with chickens or stumbled across stories on platforms like "ChickenTok" (that is, Chicken TikTok), you’ll know that hens aren’t picky about who they protect. They’ve been seen brooding over ducklings, guinea fowls, and even kittens, expanding their protective love beyond just their own chicks.

This mirrors the love Jesus is speaking about in Luke’s Gospel. God as a mother hen doesn’t confine love and care to a select few who meet certain criteria of worthiness. Rather, God’s love embraces the lost, the wandering, and the marginalized, offering a safe refuge under her wings.

Jesus’s invitation is for everyone. Not just the citizens of Jerusalem, but immigrants, outsiders, those broken by systems of power and longing for a place where they feel they truly belong.

This is the love we, as a community of faith, are called to embody.

Building a Community of Belonging

If we see ourselves under the wings of the mother hen, gathered together, it’s not simply for protection. It’s also about the kind of community we foster while we’re there.

The church of today has often fallen short of Jesus’s vision of radical hospitality. Those who’ve been pushed out of spaces of worship—including LGBTQ+ individuals, BIPOC, migrants, and others harmed by systemic injustice—know this all too well.

But if God’s wings make room for everyone, then we must as well. This means more than just welcoming others; it means creating space where they feel seen, valued, and loved.

Our community model, inspired by the Mother Hen, stands as a challenge to oppressive powers, represented in this text by King Herod, whom Jesus calls a “fox" (Luke 13:32). Herod wields power through domination, fear, and control, yet Jesus asks us to gather together under the protection of God's love not as isolated individuals, but as a collective committed to care and resistance.

Rethinking Power Through Love

Why doesn’t Jesus compare God to a lion or an eagle? Why choose a chicken, of all animals?

Because the mother hen embodies power through love and connection—not domination. Her strength lies in vulnerability, patience, and care. It’s a powerful reimagining of divine strength that contrasts with the world’s obsession with might.

Jesus continues this theme throughout his life. On Palm Sunday, we commemorate Jesus' riding into Jerusalem not on a warhorse, but on a donkey. His ministry flips societal norms on their head, valuing the meek over the strong and re-framing power as service to others.

To live as “Jesus’s chicks” means aligning ourselves with this vision of power. It means rejecting systems of harm, taking collective responsibility for the wellbeing of others, and prioritizing love over exclusion.

Living Under God’s Wings

When we picture ourselves gathered under the protective wings of God, it’s not just a private refuge. It’s a place where we learn to coexist, support, and organize.

Under her wings, all are welcome—but with this inclusivity comes responsibility. To truly live in community means to confront harm, to break cycles of exclusion, and to nurture one another’s dreams and pain.

It means standing against the “foxes” of our world, the systems and leaders that prey on the vulnerable.

It means embodying God’s nurturing love in our actions, striving for a world where all can find peace, safety, and belonging.

God’s Unconditional Love Inspires Us All

This radical image of God as a mother hen challenges us to rethink our faith as something deeply communal. It inspires us to build churches and communities as safe havens, especially for those wounded or left on the margins.

Like the mother hen, may we stretch our wings wide to include all who seek shelter. May we find courage to confront oppressors and protect the vulnerable, knowing God’s love empowers us to dream and build a better world.

Because under those wings, there is room for everyone.

A Prayer for the Mother Hen God

God, our brooding mother hen,

You remind us that true power lies not in hostility or domination, but in care and connection.

Gather us under your wings of unconditional love,

Teach us to hold space for one another,

And empower us to stand together against the "foxes" of this world.

May we create communities rooted in your radical inclusivity, compassion, and justice.

Amen.