god our mother

The following is a sermon that I gave at a cute little country church this past Sunday. The picture here comes from this site.

I know God has no need to do this. But humour me for a moment please. God shows up at the BC Access Centre to apply for His driver’s licence. Instinctively the attendant hands him an application form. God goes and finds a seat, takes out his pen and begins writing. As usual, the form begins by asking for personal information.

What would He put down for his name?

What about His address?

Height?

Weight?

Color of eyes?

Gender? Pregnant pause.

You might think this last one the easiest for us to answer about God. But be careful about how quickly you answer this one.

Think back with me to that story where a tired and thirsty Jesus finds himself beside a well talking to a woman. In the course of the conversation the woman begins talking about the right PLACE to worship God. Jesus then says that true worship is not about a place because God is a Spirit.

As human beings created by God we are created in his image. Genesis says that which gender is created in God’s image? Both. So which is God?

This week I had a couple of conversations that seem to weigh in on this subject. The first was my friend from college who is also a pastor. He said to me that me that we really don’t have God figured out. Now, while this may seem like a no-brainer, it does make me think about the countless volumes that try to help us understand what God is like. It also makes me think of scripture and all the descriptions of God in Scripture. God is a rock, a lion, a lamb, light, bread, and so on. How many of us take these metaphors to be literal? No one human metaphor can capture all of what God is like.

Now, the 2^nd friend I was talking to just the other night on Facebook. (a popular social networking site on the Internet) He reminded me about the Lord ’s Prayer and how if Jesus used Father as the description for God then that’s good enough for him. I certainly agree with him that God is all the best attributes of a good father. But, could it be that Father, again, is simply a metaphor? A metaphor largely used because of human cultures that have tended to favour males in many ways.

And could it be that Mother is an equally helpful metaphor for God?

Have any of you read the popular book out in the last couple of years entitled The Shack? In trying to help us understand how the trinity cares for us, it portrays Jesus as a man like you would expect, but God the father is portrayed as a black woman and the Holy Spirit as an Asian lady. As you can imagine, this has raised eyebrows amongst some as some sort of new age doctrine infiltrating Christian circles. But for me, I find this to be a healthy mental stretch.

It reminds me of Paul’s statement in Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” God is both the source of all our human uniqueness and the unifier of it all.

The fact is, God is a Spirit.

I saw a funny little music video clip this week on the internet. Some of the lyrics go like this:

God is not a man.

God is not a white man.

God is not an old man

God is not a man sitting on a cloud.

God cannot be bought.

God will not be boxed in.

God will not be owned by religion.

But God is love

God is love and He loves everyone

God is not a man. Neither is He a woman. He is as scripture says, a Spirit. But, seeing as we’ve attributed male imagery to him predominantly, I’d like for you to think of God in motherly terms today on this Mother’s day.

We all have a mother. Mother’s are in many ways the strength that make our world go round. Mothers tend to be more patient than men. More compassionate (at least in my household). I’m more likely to feel irritation than compassion over the endless mishaps of family life. I have a lot to learn. Mothers posses a strength often foreign to men-that of stamina and endurance for the endless mundane of domestic life. Mothers are nurturing. As you think about your experience with your mother today, although no mother is perfect, many of you can probably identify some special characteristic of a mother that I haven’t touched on here.

Unfortunately, we don’t always appreciate this. Some of you may have seen this little story about the importance of a mother’s work entitled:

JUST A MOM?

A woman, renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk 's office,
was asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation.

She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.

"What I mean is," explained the recorder,
"do you have a job or are you just a .?"

"Of course I have a job," snapped the woman.

"I'm a Mom."

"We don't list 'Mom' as an occupation,

'housewife' covers it,"
Said the recorder emphatically.

I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation, this time at our own Town Hall.
The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised,
efficient, and possessed of a high sounding title like,
"Official Interrogator" or "Town Registrar."

"What is your occupation?" she probed.

What made me say it? I do not know.
The words simply popped out.
"I'm a Research Associate in the field of
Child Development and Human Relations."

The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair and
looked up as though she had not heard right.

I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most significant words.
Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written,
in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.

"Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest,
"just what you do in your field?"

Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice,
I heard myself reply,
"I have a continuing program of research,
(what mother doesn't)
In the laboratory and in the field,
(normally I would have said indoors and out).
I'm working for my Masters, (first the Lord and then the whole family)
and already have four credits (all daughters).
Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities,
(any mother care to disagree?)
and I often work 14 hours a day, (24 is more like it).
But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money."

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she
completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door.

As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career,
I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 13, 7, and 3.
Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model,
(a 6 month old baby) in the child development program,
testing out a new vocal pattern.
I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy!
And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than "just another Mom." Motherhood!

What a glorious career!
Especially when there's a title on the door.

Does this make grandmothers
"Senior Research associates in the field of
Child Development and Human Relations"
And great grandmothers
"Executive Senior Research Associates?"
I think so!!!
I also think it makes Aunts
"Associate Research Assistants."

Where do mothers receive the qualities that make them who they are? Let me share with you a select few scriptures. See if you can detect some imagery for God that is not male.

Isaiah 66:13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you . . .

Isaiah 66:12 For thus says the Lord, ‘ . . . you shall be nursed, you shall be carried on her hip, and be trotted on her [God’s maternal] knees . . .’

Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.

Isaiah 42:14 “For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant. (15) I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools.

Deuteronomy 32:18 You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.

Psalms 90:2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Numbers 11:12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers?

James 1:18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

2 Corinthians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort

This is not always a quality that we men demonstrate very well. Even in my own home I watch my wife naturally exude this quality while I have to work to remember it and unfortunately forget it too many times.

Proverbs 8 portrayal of God’s wisdom as a feminine person that was present in the creation of our world.

Proverbs 8

Lady Wisdom Calls Out

^1-11 Do you hear Lady Wisdom calling? Can you hear Madame Insight raising her voice?.....

^22-31 "God sovereignly made me—the first, the basic—
before he did anything else.
I was brought into being a long time ago,
well before Earth got its start.
I arrived on the scene before Ocean,
yes, even before Springs and Rivers and Lakes.
Before Mountains were sculpted and Hills took shape,
I was already there, newborn;
Long before God stretched out Earth's Horizons,
and tended to the minute details of Soil and Weather,
And set Sky firmly in place,
I was there.
When he mapped and gave borders to wild Ocean,
built the vast vault of Heaven,
and installed the fountains that fed Ocean,
When he drew a boundary for Sea,
posted a sign that said no trespassing,
And then staked out Earth's Foundations,
I was right there with him, making sure everything fit.
Day after day I was there, with my joyful applause,
always enjoying his company,
Delighted with the world of things and creatures,
happily celebrating the human family.

Job 38:29

²⁹ From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens

Diane Ackerman: “But for a baby in the womb the mother’s heartbeat performs the ultimate cradle song of peace and plenty; the surf like waves of her respiration lull and soothe. The womb is a snug, familiar landscape, an envelope of rhythmic warmth, and the mother’s heartbeat a steady clarion of safety.”

Have you ever considered that you come from the womb of God? In fact, are there ways in which we can learn to sense and feels God’s heart beat in our world now as a baby would in the womb?

Today, as we celebrate our earthly mothers (and all those who portray motherly care and love for us) let us remember the source of the Mother. God is our ultimate mother just as he is our father.

May you embrace the God who’s bigger than any of our language. May you celebrate ALL of the images and pictures and metaphors that help us better understand who God is and what God is like.