The Episcopal diocese of Washington DC moved this week to refer to God using inclusive language. Good for them. Yes, I know: God is referred to as male thousands of times in the bible. But Jesus himself says God is spirit (John 4:24), and spirit has no gender. Male pronouns have been standard usage for centuries, even when referring to groups with women in them. It’s a default, not a revelation.
Other pet peeves: Why was I never taught that Mary Magdalene is a composite of three different women and was amalgamated by one man — Pope Gregory the Great? And that there’s no biblical evidence that she ever earned a living as a prostitute? Why are Catholic children taught how important — how telling — it is that Jesus picked only male apostles, but the fact that he chose to reveal the Good News —and gave official sanction to spread that news — to women first, not men, is brushed past as though it doesn’t matter?
Why are we not told that all that “he-man, woman-hater” language in Paul’s epistles was likely inserted by monks inscribing them in the Middle Ages?
Why all the lies, both active and of omission? Why has my church kept my God from me?
God is not a rope to be tugged, a prize that falls to those who pull the hardest. God pours down on those in the margins. God comes to the poor, the disenfranchised, the weak. God stands with the powerless.
If you claim to represent God, but stand where God does not stand, what are you, really?
God our mother our father our life-giving hope,
Come to us, blind us with light that does not fail
to catch the corners, the alleys, the hidden places
your most needy children dwell. Burst boundaries.
Be bigger, loom larger, than words will warrant.
As you have before us, as you will long after.
Amen
11 comments
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September 19, 2019 at 7:33 pm
rhcwilliams
Stand back! This writer’s on fire! You’re firing on all cylinders, Lori. I have to say, I didn’t know any of these facts. What a different experience it would have been to read the Bible for the first time knowing all of this.
Oh, and here’s my favorite line from your prayer-poem:
God our mother our father our life-giving hope,
Come to us, blind us with light that does not fail
to catch the corners, the alleys, the hidden places
your most needy children dwell. Burst boundaries.
Be bigger, loom larger, than words will warrant.
As you have before us, as you will long after.
Yes, all of it! Thank you for this blessing, dear heart.
September 19, 2019 at 8:36 pm
loristrawn
Love you, Ruthie!
September 19, 2019 at 9:30 pm
rhcwilliams
Love you, too, Lori!
September 21, 2019 at 5:06 am
calensariel
Well thank you for this post, Lori! Especially about the woman-hater stuff in Paul’s epistles. I’m glad that was not my imagination. I think the church at large is on the verge of evolving again for the third or fourth time since that first century. Do you feel that way?
September 21, 2019 at 12:40 pm
loristrawn
Absolutely! Especially with the right-wing resistance to Pope Francis looming here in America…if a schism comes, I know which side I’m standing on!
September 21, 2019 at 7:01 pm
suebe
Our traditions are so different. Our pastor speaks all the time about how there is no Biblical evidence that Mary Magdalene was anything other than a follower of Christ. Not a prostitute.
And there are also feminine references to the spirit in the Old Testament. That was stressed just this week in a Bible study. I found a really interesting article on that if you would like me to share it. I haven’t read the whole thing yet but basically they understood that they were using limited human language to discuss something vast and unknowable. But that God encompassed both yet was neither. Does that make sense?
–SueBE
September 21, 2019 at 8:19 pm
loristrawn
That’s brilliant, SueBE, and I’d love to read the article. Or you could post on FB, if you like. I absolutely agree about the both and neither!
September 23, 2019 at 4:14 pm
suebe
Here is a link to the article. Important to keep in mind that she is discussing texts that are not canon (not scripture) but hymns. I’m about 2/3 of the way through it. Deep but readable.
https://www.academia.edu/34170147/Feminine_Imagery_for_the_Divine_The_Holy_Spirit_the_Odes_of_Solomon_and_Early_Syriac_Tradition
September 22, 2019 at 10:30 pm
Reaching for the Stars | praypower4today
[…] We do know that it’s possible to belong to a religion and still voice questions about its practices, as Lori did recently. […]
September 23, 2019 at 5:23 pm
loristrawn
Thanks, Sue!
September 24, 2019 at 2:37 pm
Visionariekind
wow- and yes, yes, yes we need to challenge it… thank you for this piece just talking to my husband of the weekend about this- why haven’t we challenged what we have learned- bc- something’s not right…