Encountering God as Mother
For a few countries, yesterday was Mother’s Day1, a day that can surface the complexities of joy and loss in a variety of ways.
As we continue this Easter season, following the resurrected Christ, I want to invite us to grapple with a more expansive view of God that is beyond gender, connecting with God as Mother.
Jesus Christ, who cried out as he looked out at Jerusalem:
“How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” ~Matthew 23:37
For some of you this may be new territory and feel really uncomfortable. My goal is not to trigger you, yet to lead us into deeper connection with the fullness of God, as a God of love.
We know language is inadequate. Father/Mother—these terms bring up so much for us. Words that conjure up images, ideas, experiences, emotions based on our early relationships and social constructs, whether we want them to or not. Exploring how our relationships with our mothers and fathers have impacted our interaction with Creator God can liberate our imagination and increase understanding and connection to God. This inner work can bring light to our lenses we have, healing our wounds and detaching us from our perception of who God is.
There are also societal and religious blocks, intentionally initiated at key decisions in church history to not use feminine imagery of God—to distance Christianity from ‘pagan goddesses’, and from the role of women in the Church. (See Listening to the Heartbeat of God, by John Philip Newell).
Yet if we seek to know God more deeply, in all of God’s mystery and complexity, might we receive the invitation to know God more fully, not just based on our limited concepts of masculine and feminine, but the fullness of both.
May we be willing to even examine how using only male pronouns for Creator, Abba, Mother/Father God impacts us. This God who refused to be named, YHWH, Yahweh.
This God who I do believe came as a man in Jesus, yet a man that liberated the voices of women, and of all people on the margins.
I invite you to pause,
To notice your breath.
What emotions do you feel as you are reading?
What sensations come up in your body?
Where are you noticing resistance? Questions?
I invite you to welcome those emotions. And welcome God to come and be with you in them, be with you in this. God is not afraid of our questions or doubts, our challenges.
What comes up for you as you imagine Creator God as not male? Creator God as wholeness, integration of masculine and feminine, beyond gender?
What images come to mind as you imagine God?
When you are ready, read the passage below slowly, noticing what words or images stand out to you, and engaging in conversation with God.
Lectio Divina: Hosea 11: 3-4
3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them by the arms;
but they did not realize
it was I who healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with ties of love.
To them I was like one who lifts
a little child to the cheek,
and I bent down to feed them.
Song for Meditation: God Our Mother, by the Brilliance
Next week, I’ll invite you to continue this reflection through Visio Divina.
Grace and peace to you,
Bethany Dearborn Hiser
March 19th in the UK, May 20th in Mexico, May 14th in US & Australia.
I so love this more holistic perspective and invitation. It’s a very tender and powerful view of God, and it reminds me of God’s nearness and “mother bear” kind of protectiveness. Thank you!