Mother and Father of Us All
(Rutgers, May 9, 1999; Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A; Mother's Day; Holy Communion)
Selected Verses from Dt., Jer., Isa. (non-lectionary, see script); John 14:15–21 (NT, p.
113)
Make
no mistake about it, God is not flesh and blood.
God is "Spirit," and God exists beyond
space and time.
In dramatic contrast to that, we humans are flesh and blood,
and we and everything about us exist within
space and time.
Thus,
our language—which, like us, is human + frail + earthbound—
our language is inadequate for describing God as God truly is.
You see, our language is anchored in this world of time and space,
and, as it points beyond this world to the realm of Spirit, it can
at best only approximate the transcendent reality that is God.
Human
language about God points to a realm beyond ourselves
and is, therefore, of necessity metaphorical—never literal.
It
is this understanding about God and about human language
that got me into a pair of fascinating conversations three weeks ago
on my Sunday morning radio program, Religion on the Line—
a pair of conversations with
Al of Brooklyn and Israel of New Jersey.
Al
of Brooklyn called WABC at 6:20 am, early in our 3-hour show.
Al's a regular caller, and, in general, he's a thoughtful, genial
proponent of left-leaning social and political causes.
But
this Sunday he wanted to talk about Scripture, not social ethics.
Specifically, he wanted to talk about the Gospel of John, chapter 14,
and about the images that Jesus uses there of God as "Father,"
the images we've heard in our lectionary readings from
this same chapter of John both last week–remember verse 2?
"In my Father's house there are
many dwelling places"—
and this week—a number, for example verse 21?
"…those who love me will be loved by my Father…"
As
Al was speaking about God as Father,
I quickly interjected that I myself,
when reading through John 14, prefer to think of God
as "Parent" rather than "Father," in order to avoid any
possible
implication that God is literally a male up there in the sky.
Al
replied that he finds these masculine images of God as "Father"
to be personally quite meaningful precisely
because
his own human father was not a good or strong person.
Because his human father had such "clay feet," as he put it,
Al craves a strong father-image capable of providing him with
the sense of belonging and identity lacking in his life.
So Al reads + rereads John 14 with a hunger to find there
a strong masculine image of God as Father,
of God as the Father who offers him
the acceptance and love his human father did not.
Well, Al's point was, I thought, very well made.
He had presented a strong argument
for our continuing use of
masculine metaphors for God.
Ten
minutes later, I talked with a caller named Israel of New Jersey,
who can usually be counted on for conservative points of view.
Israel
asked me why I'd told Al that I prefer—throughout John 14—
to think of God as "Parent" rather than "Father."
After all, Jesus had specifically said,
"Father,"
so Jesus must have literally meant
"Father."
I
responded to him in this way:
Mentally substituting the word "Parent" for "Father" serves
to
remind me about something of which Jesus needed no reminding—
namely that God is truly without gender, that God is Spirit.
Also, I find that I can understand as much about the nature of God
by imaging God as the parent who is my mother
as I can by imaging God as the parent who is my father.
And substituting the word "Parent" enables me to think of God
as my "Mother" as well as my "Father."
Israel
of New Jersey replied: I prefer not
to adapt what Jesus says.
And
I responded: Don't you think that when Jesus speaks of God
as "Father" he's using a metaphor?
And
Israel of New Jersey said: No, I don't believe it's a metaphor.
Well,
at this point, I braced myself for the worst, for there suddenly
flashed thru my mind a fax that I'd received some 3 years before
when I'd ventured into a similar discussion on the air.
That fax had come from the caller "John of Staten Island,"
and it remains one of the most unforgettable responses
I've received in my 13 1/2
years of radio broadcasting.
That
sizzling salvo from John of Staten Island read as follows:
"To
Dr. Shafer:
"Leave
it to a politically correct left wing coward like you
to talk about God being gender neutral!
"You
fall right into line with those who seek to feminize America,
and that's why we've become so meek
when we should have been tougher.
"I
might remind you that when Jesus was on the cross he said:
'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'
And when he taught us to pray, he started the prayer
with the words, 'Our Father …'
"You
just haven't got the guts to challenge these politically correct
left wing scum that are trying to destroy this country
little by little. [Indeed, y]ou
agree with these
liberal muttonheads." End of
fax.
Well,
John of Staten Island's fax would be funny
if what it represents wasn't so dangerously sinful.
His fax testifies to a mindset among some Christians—
a mindset in which "Father"
has ceased to be a magnificent metaphor
and has become instead a patriarchal idol.
You
see, for persons like John of Staten Island
the name "God our Father" enshrines the idolized
warrior‑strength
of a dominating, patriarchal masculinity.
For persons like him, to deny that God is male
is to emasculate men and to feminize culture and religion.
For persons like him, preserving the Maleness of God
is essential for preserving men's dominance over women.
Well,
something like that fax from John of Staten Island
was what I feared would be coming next from the mouth of
Israel of New Jersey in our radio conversation three weeks ago.
But,
in fact, Israel of NJ's response was nothing like John of SI's.
Israel of NJ went on to say something wonderfully intriguing,
something that showed me he actually did experience
the word "Father" as a metaphor, despite his having denied it.
For
he said: When I read the word "Father," I also see in it
"Mother."
Then he continued by recounting to me that in Hebrew Scriptures
God says, "I will be a mother to you." And, continued Israel/NJ,
Jesus speaks of himself as a mother hen
gathering her chicks under her wings (Matthew
23:37; Luke 13:34).
Good!—I
responded. For Israel of New Jersey
had shown
that he really does know his Bible, that he really does know
that there are wonderful mother-images of God in Scripture—
magnificent, powerful mother-images of God.
Now
when Israel/NJ cited God as saying, "I will be a mother to you."
he wasn't quoting any specific verse in the Old Testament,
but he was offering an accurate summary of the meaning of
such verses as the three that Lynne read for you this morning
from the books of Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, and Isaiah.
—from
Deuteronomy [32:18],
where Moses says:
"You were unmindful of the Rock who gave birth to you;
you forgot God, who writhed in
labor to bear you."
—and
from Jeremiah [31:20],
where God says:
"…my womb groans for [my
beloved son, the people Israel];
I will have motherly compassion
upon him."
—and
from Isaiah [46:3],
where God says:
"Hearken to me, O house of
Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of
Israel,
who have been carried by me from
the womb,
borne by me from the womb."
Ah
yes, I saw in what the caller Israel of New Jersey had said to me
great potential for expanding his vocabulary of images for God
to include feminine as well as masculine images, so I asked him:
If it's the case that when you read the word "Father,"
you also see in it "Mother,"
do you ever pray using the words, "O God, my Mother"?
Umm,
… no—he replied.
Why
not?—I said. If you're aware of
all these wonderful biblical
images in which God is represented metaphorically as Mother,
then why can't you pray, "O God, my Mother"?
And then I said, I challenge you, Israel of NJ, to use that in
your prayer; that's the challenge I want to pose to you today:
pray, "O God, my mother."
Indeed
that's the challenge I want to pose to all of us
this Mother's Day.
Remembering, of course, that God is Spirit, and not flesh + blood,
let's continue to use the Bible's masculine images for God,
for there are good reasons, like Al of Brooklyn's, to do so.
But let's balance our use of masculine images by
our use of feminine images, like those in the Bible itself
&
the many others that the poets among us can create.
By
balancing our use of masculine and feminine metaphors for God
we can save ourselves from literalizing God as a male.
And by imaging God as feminine as well as masculine
we can help to dismantle patriarchy in our society
and fulfill John of Staten Island's worst nightmares!
So
let's use the magnificent biblical metaphor "God our Father,"
+ let's also use the magnificent biblical metaphor "God our Mother"!
And what better day to pledge to do so than today, Mothers Day,
a day when we give thanks for all the acceptance and love
that we've experienced from our mothers!
Let us lift our voices in praise and adoration to God,
who is the Mother and Father of Us All.
Let
us pray:
"God
our Mother, You give birth to all life,
and love us to the uttermost.
Your love surrounds us and feeds us.
Within
Your love we find our home, our joy, our freedom.
You open the world to us, and give us room to change + grow.
As You love us, so You love all Your children.
Help
us, dear Mother God, to catch something of Your love:
Your delight in others' uniqueness, Your care for well-being,
Your grief at [people's] suffering, Your patience + forgiveness,
Your energy and hope.
We
praise You, we thank You, we love You,
through Jesus, our Savior. Amen."
(Brian Wren, What Language Shall I Borrow?,
pp. 167–168.)
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