2nd
Sunday of Lent
One of my favorite
questions to ask young children is- what does God look like? Inevitably the
answer that I pretty much get is that God looks an awful like Deacon Lee Rose- children tell me that God is an old man, who has a long white beard and who dresses in a flowing white robe.
In fact, some of you may have heard the story
of my son Caden who when he was about three years old was looking out the
window of our house - for those who don’t know it --our house is right across
the street from St. Mark’s, as Caden was looking out the window of the house--
Deacon Lee pulled up to church in his car dressed in his black clericals. As Lee is getting out of his car and going
into St. Mark’s - Caden begins to holler “Dad, Dad, come quick, look there is
your God going into the church.”
Our default switch as
Christians in the 21st is to
think of God as old man.
And it is probably with
good reason, you can’t take two steps in
any direction in the Gospels without Jesus referring to God as Father.
In my Father’s house there are many rooms… Or
No one can come to the Father
except by me…
The prayer that we hold
up as the prayer of all prayers, begins with the words, “Our father who art in
heaven…”
When Michelangelo has
painted God on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel- he looks an awful lot like an
old man with white hair , a long beard and flowing robes.
Our Book of Common
Prayer reinforces God as male thing as well. Littered all over the pages of the Book of
Common Prayer are references to God as Father.
For example, right in the middle of the Eucharistic Prayer- words that
are said week in and week out--- the
priest says, “It is right and a good and
joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, FATHER ALMIGHTY...”
Now I am not making a
judgment on this, I am just trying to point it out that for the most part we often think about God in male images and
refer to him with masculine pronouns or as “Father.”
Now I am also not
saying that thinking about God in primarily male images is wrong, but I wonder
how that has limited the ways in which understand who God is and how God interacts with his
people. Has thinking about God as
primarily male, limited or nuanced the way we relate to God?
Are there other ways to
view God and understand God?
Jesus in the gospel
this week says something that may stretch our imagination about the nature of God. About half through this
lament for the people of Jerusalem he says-- “How often have I desired to
gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings...”
After I read that a few
times I started to wonder about God in more female imagery.
Now I am not saying
that God is female, but I am wondering how might our understanding of God be expanded if we were to reflect on
the female references for God in Holy Scripture.
Some of you may be
surprised to know that there are a number of references in Holy
Scripture that use female imagery to describe God’s nature.
Right off the bat in the opening pages of the bible the writer of
Genesis says, “God created humankind in the image of God he created them; male
and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26)
The implication is such that God’s image is not exclusively male nor
exclusively female, but somehow the image, the nature of God is both male and
female, it encompasses traits,
characteristics of men and women.
In the book of Hosea, Chapter
13 vs. 8 God is speaking and says “ I
will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs and will tear open the covering
of their heart…”
In the book of the
Prophet Isaiah, God says to Zion, in chapter 66 verses 12 & 13 “I will
extend prosperity to [Zion] like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an
overflowing stream; and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.
As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you ; you shall be
comforted in Jerusalem.”
These are but a few
references in Holy Scripture.
Have we ever thought of
God as ferocious or as protective as a mother grizzly bear protecting her cubs
from danger?
I can remember a few years back watching a
documentary on grizzly bears. There is
one scene in the documentary where the bears have gathered at the river to
catch the salmon as the salmon are making the annual pilgrimage upstream to
spawn. The bears have perched themselves on rocks trying to grab salmon as they
jump out of the stream. One of the bears is a mother grizzly is out on the
rocks teaching her two young cubs to
fish.
As this is occurring, a
larger adult male grizzly decides that it might be easier to grab one of the
cubs than it is to grab the fish as they are flying by through the air. As the adult male grizzly ambles over toward
one of the cubs, the mother bear in all
her grizzly ferocity, teeth bared, roaring – she backs this adult male grizzly bear
who easily out weighs her by 400 to 500 lbs upstream so that her cubs
can move away safely. to safety.
You can see the male bear thinking yes I could probably take her, but I
may get mortally wounded in the process.
What does it mean for
us to see God as fierce and protective
like a mother might be fierce and
protective of her children? What does it
mean to see God as willing to put himself in harm’s way to protect the people
of God? Is there anything that God might
not be willing to do draw us into relationship?
Have we ever though of
God as Isaiah portrays God in chapter 66
---comforting us as a young mother might comfort her young child who’s awoken in the still of
the night----in the throes of colic. A mother gently soothing her young child,
rocking her hour upon hour whispering tender words in the child’s ear as the
child writhes and screams in pain.
What does it mean to
see God as caring and as comforting and as patient as a mother?
How might God respond to us when we
face suffering and pain and difficultly?
Is God there telling us
to suck it up, to pull up our boot straps or might God be responding
differently?
Ultimately God is spirit and is neither male nor female, but we use
“gender-laden images” to help us better understand who God is and how God
relates to us and to the circumstances we find ourselves in.
May we on this day reflect on the ways in which we see God not just as
father but also as mother-- may we recognize that by bringing female imagery
for God into our mindset we might have a more full, a more complete
understanding of how much God ultimately loves and cares for each one of
us.
AMEN
[1] Dr. Margo G. Hauts, FEMININE IMAGES FOR GOD: WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY? http://clubs.calvin.edu/chimes/970418/o1041897.htm
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