Click here for audio of "Missing, God Our Mother" - Poem by Jessica Williams
MISSING: GOD OUR MOTHER
Jessica Williams
Mother God,
How did you become another missing Woman?
Lost amongst the multitude of men making meaning for us all.
You are the Substance holding all things together,
and in Your likeness I have been made.
In feminine form,
I embody,
an image of the living God.
(I need to say it again.)
In feminine form,
I embody,
an image of the living God.
(We need to say it again.)
Is it any wonder that Your daughters have lived in exile?
That we are lost and missing too?
But–
some of us,
some of us,
some of us
have noticed.
We ache at Your absence,
our tongues dry
and thirsty
for Your name on our lips.
We are waiting.
We were waiting.
We are waiting no more.
Now, we are searching.
We’ve gathered a team. (We’ll take anyone!)
The more the better for work like this.
With arms linked together
and lanterns lifted high,
we’re walking through the tall dark grass of ancient texts
to find You.
God our Maker,
God our Mother,
God our Father,
God our Friend,
Teach us.
Like children coming of age,
we are starting to see
how much we didn’t see.
Show us.
How You’ve longed to gather us,
our Holy Mother Hen,
and there beneath Your Wings of Love,
to comfort us again.
Feed us.
Like an Eagle or a Mother Bear,
nourish those in need.
And then,
like all Good Mothers. . .
Set us free.
Reflection
First, you should know it has taken me a long time to arrive here. Every day I’ve lived until now, actually. I think I only started to really pay attention to gender bias in our language for God about two years ago. (Late, I know.) I was led into this awareness by friends. Friends are good teachers. These friends – they have become my sisters, my strength and my hope.
I do know that deep within me there was always this ache – like a knowing that comes before you know. I remember hearing “She” used for God as a teenager. That word, “She” felt brave, strong and dangerous. I liked it. But I let it go. As a young mom, I read The Secret Life of Bees and was completely captivated by The Black Madonna those women prayed to. I never forgot about her. And then came The Shack and suddenly this woman appears. Mack’s God, Papa, is a Woman. Wow.
So why is God so seldom portrayed as a woman in the church? I have a lot of thoughts about this. First, patriarchy. Second, patriarchy. Third…
But here’s the thing: it’s time to do better. It’s past time, actually. Time’s up. So here is a quick look at a theological case for such a shift:
Although tradition/orthodoxy supports masculine expressions of God, a good theological hermeneutic certainly reveals that God is outside of gender and sexuality. (i.e. God as “Father” is a metaphor, as is God as “Mother.”) The use of the “Father” God metaphor does have more biblical references than the “Mother” God metaphor but this does not change the fact that both images are metaphorical. The beautiful thing about metaphors is that they help us to understand something that is otherwise outside of our comprehension. Metaphors make God personal. They are access points meant to help us. Like all metaphors/analogies they do not name reality in its entirety, they rather point to truth.
However, some of these metaphors have been favoured over others throughout church history. This is undeniable and is likely (certainly?) the result of a patriarchal society which promotes/values men over women, thus valuing a man-like God. This patriarchal component cannot/should not be overlooked, as it not only shaped the images of God in Scripture, but how those images of God (and views of women) were (and continue to be) interpreted throughout history.
Even so, again and again within Scripture, we encounter God being described as a Mother. Scripture (most often the prophets) contradicts, confronts and challenges the cultural and religious norms. Here is a list of Scriptures you can reference for this, all of which give credibility to female images of God:
- God compares Herself to a mother and a mother bear (Hosea 11:3-4, 13:8), and a mother eagle (Deut 32:11), and a mother hen (Matt 23:37, Luke 13:34), and a mother bird (Psalm 17:8, 36:7, 57:1, 61:4, Is. 31:5)
- God comforts Her people as a mother comforts her children (Isaiah 66:13), compares Herself to a nursing mother (Isaiah 49:15)
- God as a woman in labour (Isaiah 42:14)
- God as the woman looking for her lost coin (Luke 15:8-10)
- God as a master or mistress (Psalm 123:2)
- The world as being born (Job 38:8, Job 38:28-29), us as being born of God (John 3, Isaiah 46:3-4, Deut. 32:18), God like a nursing mother (Num. 11:12)
- God’s Spirit as neuter (pneuma) in Greek and feminine in Hebrew – some people do refer to the Holy Spirit as She, to try to find that balance of acknowledging the feminine part of God.[1]
These feminine expressions of God are beautiful, biblical and provide a more holistic view of the Divine. There are so many people who grieve the lack of such expressions and long to find a way to locate, engage with, and explore the femininity of God.
And there is much to be said about what is missing in our worship when we only refer to God as male. This gender bias in our language for God has made it so that many Christians today cannot imagine God as other than male. It seems that our language has deified the masculinity of God and ignored the femininity of God. This is tragic, damaging to all of us and important to pay attention to. The trickle-down effect from the deification of masculinity is vast. (i.e. Violence against women is an epidemic.)
To be clear, this is not about rejecting God the Father. This is about the full inclusion of feminine symbols and metaphors given for God in scripture. This is faithful, responsible and ethical hermeneutics. I’d like to propose that our image of God is not complete without this. Let’s find God the Mother. We need Her.
Note: I did not engage the topic of gender neutral/fluid pronouns/expressions for God here. I am highly supportive of this language as well. In my experience, this practice can widen our imagination, reminding us again and again that God is bigger than gender, neither male nor female, and that God is Mystery.
[1] Glowacki, Tara, Vineyard School of Justice, Gender Lesson, lecture notes.
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