First of all, I think God transcends gender. I want to be clear on that.
Second of all, in every major division of the Bible, there is at least one reference to God as Mother, unequivocally female. So while the normal language about God is male, the idea of God as Mother is completely 100% Biblical. I wrote a 12 page paper on it if you're interested.
Finally, the post:
I think we've lost something in our perspective on God's love as we've lost the idea of Mother God. When I think of parents, the father is the one who often leaves. The father is the one who holds grudges, who won't cry at a funeral, who kicks the kid out. These are unfair stereotypes, but they exist and they come into play when we reference God as father. But a mother. We all know that even if our mom kicks us out, she'll cry at our funeral. She'll take us back. We know that if you've lost your mother's love, then you are well and truly lost. Again, stereotypes, but they're out there. If we could find an honest way to reclaim that image: to remember that God is our mother, our nursing mother, our protecting mother, wouldn't we get a fuller picture of the grace-filled and everlasting love of God?
To quote the Indigo Girls: "But they left out the sisters
praying to a father god so long I really missed her
the goddess of benevolence
you should listen to your mama if you have a lick of sense left."
And this is why I like to refer to God as She whenever appropriate. Because a lot of times, I need my divine mommy's lap.
3 comments:
Rock on. Will you let me read the paper you wrote about gender?
sure thing.
All I can say is that I'm mentally committed to God as Father---it's totally bred into me. But when I think of God as Mother, I always cry. That makes me pretty sure that God as Mother fills a deep need in my heart and soul. I'm glad that God is complete; is all-encompassing; is not male or female, but God Almighty: the God who was and is and is to come.
Let's quit putting Him/Her in a box.
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