“Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?” Proverbs 8:1
My dear Friends in Christ,
As some of you may have heard in one of my recent sermons, I am a big fan of the saints—all of the holy people who have gone before us to rest eternally with God. On October 4th, we commemorate another saint by celebrating the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi and beginning our annual blessing of the animals. Central to Franciscan theology is holding up that all creation is blessed, every rock and tree, every bird and beast, every beloved child of God–even women! You may not know this about Francis, but he had the female counterpart, a helper, a partner in ministry, Clare. One of my favorite blessings that I use in worship, a blessing St. Clare spoke on her deathbed, reads as follow:
Live without fear:
Your creator has made you holy,
Has always protected you,
And loves you as a mother.
Go in peace to follow the good road
And may God’s blessing be with you always.
This feminine language for God may feel foreign for some of us. Although we know that our God does not possess a specific gender—but supersedes our limited human language—, historically we, the church, have used mostly masculine vocabulary when we speak of the Divine. We human beings tend to anthropomorphize God, meaning we give God human characteristics. We refer to God as, “our Father.” Yet, both scripture and tradition possess diverse imagery for the Holy One.
In Luke’s Gospel account, Jesus refers to himself in feminine language: “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings” (Luke 13:34-35). In Proverbs, we find Woman Wisdom was at the beginning when God created it all! I encourage you to dive into Proverbs 8 (especially verses 24-31). For many in our tradition, verses such as these have informed use of feminine language for the Divine, especially regarding the Holy Spirit. Such language is also affirmed when one inquires into the Hebrew word, ruach, a feminine word. This vocabulary encapsulates spirit, breath, and wind in our Old Testament. These are words we often use to describe the Holy Spirit.
Some of you may have heard me use such language within worship. Every Sunday we affirm our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed. There are two alterations that I make when I affirm my own faith with you. The first is that I substitute “human” for “man” in the line, “[Jesus Christ] was made man.” The original Greek actually states that he, “was made human.” Those in the first few centuries of the church were eager to make it clear that Christ was fully human, not some shadow of humanity, but taking on all of humanity. This is crucial for our own understanding of the Trinity and the incarnation. The significance is not that Christ took on man flesh, but human flesh. Christ walked beside all of us, all of the holy people of God, all of humanity.
The second change is that I use feminine pronouns for the Holy Spirit. For me, this represents a sense of balance in our understanding of who God is and reflects the tradition of the Old Testament. God possesses both male and female attributes, and everything in between! Our God is that big and that awesome!
I know this language might make some of us uncomfortable, while for others of us, we are ready for it. Either way I encourage you to lean into it with me. You do not have to use it when you’re saying the Nicene Creed (unless you want to). However, what might it look like in your prayer life to try and call God, “woman wisdom,” “mother hen,” or something similar? How might it expand our understanding of who God is and how God is working in our lives? And what might be learned about our own humanity in the process?
God’s peace,
Sarah+
Associate Rector