GPS
Mother’s Day
May 12, 2019
On
this Mother’s Day we speak of God as Mother.
In the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), God is likened to a comforting
mother. Isaiah speaks of God as a
compassionate mother as Israel is exiled in Babylon and away from home.
Isaiah
49:13-15
13 Sing
for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord has comforted his people,
and will have compassion on his suffering ones.
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord has comforted his people,
and will have compassion on his suffering ones.
14 But
Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
Isaiah 66:12-13
12 For
thus says the Lord:
I will extend prosperity to her like a river,
and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream;
I will extend prosperity to her 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.
13 As a mother comforts her child,
so I will comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
and dandled on her knees.
13 As a mother comforts her child,
so I will comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
The
Prophet, Hosea:
1 When Israel was a
child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more I called
them, the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols.
they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols.
3 Yet it was I who
taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with
cords of human kindness, with bands of love.
I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks.
I bent down to them and fed them. [Hosea 11:1-4]
I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks.
I bent down to them and fed them. [Hosea 11:1-4]
Jesus
pictured himself as a mother hen:
The Lament over
Jerusalem
37 “Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to
it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers
her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your
house is left to you, desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me
again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’” [Matt 23:37-39]
Luke
13:34-35: 34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often
have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood
under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 See, your house is left
to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say,
‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
The
Greek (ornis) is expressed as feminine, underlining that this is a mother hen.
Names
for God: According to one source: www.Christian+answers.net there are
953 names for God in Holy Scripture – including such names as ‘He who made the
heavens.’ That is a bit of a stretch,
but the point is that God is referred to in a myriad of ways.
Male
domination in the Bible and Western culture has led to the oppression of women
and smothered the diversity of the ways we picture and think of God. In the ministry of Christ and the early
Church women took a prominent role.
Mary, Salome, Mary Magdalene, Mary and Martha of Bethany, Dorcas, Lydia and
other unnamed women were leaders in the Church. Yet, their prominence was pushed aside as the
church caved into cultural norms of male dominance. The church lost its early radical diversity
of treating slaves, women, and children with equal dignity. That all became lost in a hierarchical
structure of male dominance.
This
loss has begun to be recaptured as female pastors and theologians unmask the
male dominance and enter into the Bible and history of the Church from a
feminine perspective.
In
regards to naming God: God is really unknowable
and unnamable.
However,
for Christians, Jesus is the decisive revelation of what a life full of God
looks like. But the mystery of the
fullness of God remains. But as a result
of male dominated hierarchical systems – naming God became more male than
expansive often censoring feminine perspectives.
So
how do we speak of God – in metaphors and poetry, in art and liturgy we hold up
signs that point to God. Names of God
are always metaphors because God is not just another being – God is beyond
being. God did become personal and
accessible in Jesus Christ. But God is
accessible in everything that surrounds us.
In God we live and move and have our being. God is not up there in the heavens – God is
in, with, under all of creation. God is
in every atom and molecule. We swim in
the ocean of God.
God
revealed to Moses at the burning bush the mysterious untranslatable name Yahweh
– best discerned as “I AM that I AM.”
So
when we use the metaphor of Mother to refer to God we are definitely in line
with the more expansive Biblical witness and the mystics and poets of our
faith.
Who
is Julian of Norwich and why mention a quote from her on Mother’s Day?
Julian
of Norwich. Julian of Norwich, also called Juliana, was born 1342, in
Norwich or Norfolk, Eng.—died around 1416.
She is a celebrated mystic-ascetic or (hermit). She wrote ‘Revelations of Divine Love’ (or
Showings). Her writings are generally
considered one of the most remarkable documents of medieval religious
experience. She, along with Hildegard of
Bingen, among others continued the tradition of referring to God as Mother.
God
is not a being. God has no gender. Referring to God as ‘Mother’ is just as
legitimate as referring to God as Father.
When we think of God as mother – we can have a very personal and
intimate reference in our own lives.
Mothers nurture us. Mothers love
us.
Many
of us have had caring, loving, mothers.
For some who have had negative experiences of mother – other names for
God may be more comforting. You may have
had other people in your lives – aunts or older cousins or siblings that
mothered you. I imagine most of us have
been mothered by someone.
God
as mother – a love story. (Just a
note: Mother has the word ‘other’ in
it. The nature of mothering is to be
there for others).
I
remember how my mother cared for me: I
remember the growing pains, literal growing pains when as a child my legs would
ach at night and she’d come in and rub them.
Food
and meals brought our family together every day and every night we had
fantastic meals and desserts. Dorothy
made the best home-made coffee cake. I’d
bring it for lunch at high school and one of my teachers once asked for a
piece. At Christmas there was special
stolen and to this day it brings so many fond memories back.
Dorothy
was a leader and helped form a Mother’s Club at Messiah Lutheran Church. She took the lead later on in life when in
retirement she led water exercises at the club pool at Terra DuLac – a home
association south of St. Louis.
Her
embrace and acceptance of me even in my worst moments instilled in me the seeds
of compassion. And believe me, I was not
the best child –often strong willed and worrisome. My parents, despite the difficult and hard
times I gave them were proud of me and supported me in my many struggles,
self-doubt and stubbornness.
How
we are mothered shapes our view of the Divine.
In a sense, subtly, or not so subtly, our mothers give us a window into
God.
Christian
Reformed Campus Minister (@York University in Toronto CA), Shiao Chong, writes:
“Mother’s Day is as
appropriate as any occasion to recapture the biblical maternal images for God
to help us see further truths about God. ‘People described God in feminine
terms, not because God is actually a woman, but because feminine or maternal
traits say something true about God and about their experience with God.’ (Japinga, Feminism
and Christianity, p. 66) The
same must be said of masculine and paternal images for God. We must not confuse
these metaphors with God’s reality.”
The
church is a community of faith.
Christian faith is a ‘we’ faith, not a ‘me’ faith. We do not get to know God in some solitary
me/God relationship, but through interaction God’s good creation and with one
another – our mothers – our sisters and brothers in Christ – in those
relationships we can come to know God.
"A
little boy reached that terrifying time of day when his mother would turn out
the lights in his room and leave him for the night. Afraid of the dark and of
being by himself he cried out for his mother to stay. Being a woman of faith,
she reassured her son that God would be with him through the night. 'But,
Mama,' he cried, 'I need God with skin on!' "
As
you celebrate Mother’s Day – I give you two gifts to take home with you. They are on the insert. One is the *New Zealand Lord’s Prayer which
we will use during our prayers and the second is the words of a Hymn by Jean
Janzen.
Mothering God, You
Gave Me Birth
Mothering
God, you gave me birth
In the bright morning of this world.
Creator, source of every breath,
You are my rain, my wind, my sun.
You are my rain, my wind, my sun.
In the bright morning of this world.
Creator, source of every breath,
You are my rain, my wind, my sun.
You are my rain, my wind, my sun.
Mothering
Christ, you took my form,
Offering me your food of light,
Offering me your food of light,
Grain
of life, and grape of love,
Your very body for my peace;
Your very body for my peace.
Your very body for my peace;
Your very body for my peace.
Mothering
Spirit, nurturing one,
In arms of patience hold me close,
So that in faith I root and grow
Until I flower, until I know;
Until I flower, until I know.
In arms of patience hold me close,
So that in faith I root and grow
Until I flower, until I know;
Until I flower, until I know.
(Words:
Jean Janzen; Music: John Bell, Janet Peachey
Hymns of Glory Songs of Praise; Wild Goose Resource Group, The Iona Community)
Hymns of Glory Songs of Praise; Wild Goose Resource Group, The Iona Community)
Amen
May be used with permission.
kennstorck@gmail.com
*A version of The Lord’s Prayer
from The New Zealand Book of Common Prayer
Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and testing, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever. Amen.
Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and testing, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever. Amen.
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