God Our Father…and Mother

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It hasn’t been a good year for the patriarchy (male headship). Beth Moore finally denounced complementarianism. Beth Allison Barr’s book, The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became the Gospel Truth, takes direct aim at the idea God designed women to be submissive wives, virtuous mothers, and silent in the sanctuary. And finally, Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church ordained its first women pastors this past Sunday. It’s about time. 

And the backlash has been swift. J.D. Greear, President of the Southern Baptist Convention, called Saddleback’s ordination of women “disappointing.” The SBC’s Albert Mohler stooped so low as to quote a Confederate Chaplain as proof that the apostle Paul “definitely and strongly [forbade] that women shall speak in public assemblies.” Not his finest hour. Even in a world where women are Prime Ministers and Vice Presidents, complementarians force female submission in all spiritual matters. But why?

The answers are legion, but primarily, the idea that men are in charge and women submit stems from the not-so-subtle belief God is a male. The perception of God as a warring king and angry father have dominated Western spiritual consciousness. And since both the Old Testament and New Testament were written in patriarchal societies, it’s no wonder God is preserved primarily in Scripture, creeds, and prayers as a male. 

But hiding in plain sight throughout the depth and breadth of the Bible is a maternal, motherly personification of God. Theologian Marcus Borg even asks in his book, The God We Never Knew, “How can women be made in the image of God if God cannot be imagined in female form?” In fact, God can. In Hosea, God is described as a gentle mother: “I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them up in my arms.” Later in Hosea God is a mama bear: “I will attack them like a bear bereaved of her cubs.” In Deuteronomy, God is a birthing mother: “You are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who gave you birth.” In Isaiah, God is again portrayed as a nurturing mother: “As one whom his mother comforts, I will comfort you.” And Jesus portrays Himself as a mother hen: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you, how often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not.” As Medieval mystic Julian of Norwich wrote 600 years ago, “Just as God is our Father, so God is also our Mother.”

But this image of God has been all but lost in a Church ruled and run almost exclusively by men. And since we inevitably become just like the God we worship, it’s no wonder our Church is led by all-powerful, alpha males who refuse to cede their power to anyone, especially a woman. 

As we expand our understanding of God, we expand our understanding of one another. If you are able to finally see God as a loving mother, how might that change your view of women in your church? If God is beyond gender, yet both male and female attributes coexist eternally as divine equals in God’s very nature, how might that impact your view of women as pastors, priests, and presidents? As Sister Joan Chittister writes: 

It is precisely women’s experience of God that this world lacks. A world that does not nurture its weakest, does not know God the birthing mother. A world that does not preserve the planet, does not know God the creator. A world that does not honor the spirit of compassion, does not know God the spirit. God the lawgiver, God the judge, God the omnipotent being have consumed Western spirituality and, in the end, shriveled its heart.

If you’ve never experienced God as Mother, spend a few days this week offering the following prayer up to God and see how it transforms not only your understanding of divinity, but also of others. 

A Prayer to our Blessed Mother

Mother of Divine Grace, strength of the weak and comfort of all who suffer, sustenance of every incarnate soul: Remember me as your child and servant, and surround me with your maternal protection. Teach me your ways of gentleness, humility, and faith, of courage in the face of uncertainty, honor in a world of dishonor, equanimity and surrender to the ever changing currents of life. Hear my humble prayer, for you are my light and my hope, my soul’s homing star on the endless pilgrim journey. Amen.

—Brendan Ellis Williams, “Novena to the Blessed Mother,” in The Breviary of The Communion of the Mystic Rose (Colorado Springs, CO: Ancient Oak Ritual Arts, forthcoming)

What We’re Reading, Listening to, Watching

Melanie

• Reading: Open and Relational Theology: An Introduction to Life-Changing Ideas by Thomas Jay Oord (coming soon!)

• Watching: Exterminate all the Brutes docuseries (HBO)

Gary Alan

• Reading: Two on a Tower by Thomas Hardy

• Watching: Chef’s Table France (Netflix)