I was a Religion and philosophy major in college at a Quaker college, which meant that we were able to really discuss, argue, and consider different aspects of what we believed. Unlike so many Mainline Protestant denominations that force you into a particular box, telling you what to believe and which creed or doctrinal statement to support, the Society of Friends was gentler in the way belief was nurtured. They were not even considered Christian by many other flavors of Protestantism, so they knew exactly what it meant to be ridiculed – even oppressed – for what they believed.
By the time I got to seminary, one of the big controversies was how we named God. Was God male, or Spirit? Just because the prophets called God “Father” and Jesus called God “Daddy”, did that mean that God was inherently male? And while Jesus was male – although the idea of Him being born by parthenogenesis has raised some questions about that – did that necessarily mean that God was male too? It seemed obvious that if Jesus was the Son, God was the Dad; unless you believe Jesus was God implanted in Mary’s womb (Incarnation – see my last Today’s Thought), then we should call God Father. Or should we? We have all been enculturated with the image of this male God; through art and language and temperament, God has always seemed to fit into our traditional understanding of a strong and protective male deity. In many cases, violent and angry as well.
The 1980s brought about a different way of approaching how we speak of God; inclusive language became a practice in many churches, including the ones I served. I did it without telling anyone, and nobody noticed. These experiences taught me that sometimes people just want to argue about things that don’t really matter all that much, so why give them those nitpicky opportunities? Focus on what really matters, not what doesn’t. For me, moving God away from the violent, abusive Father image towards the Luke 13 imagery of God as a mother hen changed the conversation. And while I never got truly comfortable with God as “Mother”, I don’t oppose others using that word. For those who grew up with violent fathers, this gentle image could be soothing. For those who had absent fathers, this image was present and nurturing. The experiences of arguing about the nature of God also taught me something else; a lot of followers of Jesus really like the violent ways in which God is so often portrayed. That is disturbing.
If you had a loving, caring dad, and you want to picture God that way, you be you. If you didn’t have that, find some other way to see God. God is not defined by our imagery; God is God, and therefore not definable. After all, as Jesus was getting ready to be murdered in the Gospel of John, He told His disciples to call Him friend. He gave the Holy Spirit a number of names that defined Her nature and role in their future life together. We are not the bosses of how other people imagine God. We are called to seek a closer walk with the God of peace and healing. I think God is big enough to take any name we through out there. God is God – the Great I Am. That should tell us what God thinks about that.
Prayer – Holy God, by whatever name we call You, hear us as we begin this day together as Your people. Amen.
Today’s art is a painting of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.