If you were with us last year on Mother’s Day, you may remember that I spoke about Mary, Jesus’s mother.
And, I said that Jesus loved his mother very much (and since we love Jesus) it’s okay for us to love his mother, too.
I wanted to give you permission to pray to Mary, Jesus’s mother, because sometimes, we think that Mary is just for Catholics. Or, we think that if we pray to Mary, then we’re somehow overshadowing Jesus or practicing a form of idolatry.
But, remember, Mary and all the saints and holy figures were never pointing to themselves: they were always pointing to God.
I love the quote that is on the front cover of our bulletin today. It comes from the 13th Century Christian mystic, Julian of Norwich, whose feast day happens to be this week.
She said, “Just as truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother.”
God is both Father and Mother.
She wrote that in the 13th Century, so you can see why the Church wanted to silence her.
The Church at the time was ruled by men. Women were considered second-class citizens. It would have been inconceivable for them to picture “God, the Almighty” as a woman.
But, think about it: If all of us were created in the very image and likeness of God, as the Bible says, then God must be both masculine and feminine, father and mother.
Julian of Norwich was also famous for coining the theological concept that’s known as “One-ing,” a term to describe our union with God.
As we just heard in today’s gospel reading for the 6th Sunday of Easter, Jesus said, “I am in God. You are in me. I am in you. We are all One.”
And, I know that the concept of “One-ing” may be a difficult for us to wrap our minds around. How can we and God be one?
Well, one my spiritual mentors, Rev. Marchiene Rienstra, (who was one of the first women pastors in the Reformed Church) once shared a beautiful metaphor with me to explain this theological concept.
She said it finally made sense to her when she was pregnant: That she and her baby were two beings, yet of one body.
And that, she said, got her to imagine God as Mother. How we are one with God, yet also two, united by what she called “a Divine umbilical cord” that connects us with God through the practices of prayer and meditation.
I just absolutely loved that. I’m so grateful she shared that with me, and, of course, it’s fitting for me to share that with all of you today, as we are celebrating Mother’s Day.
Now, as we also heard in today’s gospel reading, Jesus (who, remember, was a product of his time and culture) does, indeed, refer to God as “Father,” as he does throughout the gospels.
The gospels were written in Greek, and the Greek word that the gospel writers used for when Jesus was referring to the “Father” was Abba.
And, the Greek word Abba is more along the lines of “papa” or “daddy.”
The gospel writers were trying to get across that Jesus was describing God not as a “vengeful, judgmental, almighty king” (as most people thought back then) but rather as gentle, loving “papa.”
Jesus was trying to get across that we are all God’s beloved children. That God loves us unconditionally, just as a loving parent loves a child.
But, you know, Jesus didn’t speak Greek (or English, for that matter). Jesus spoke Aramaic.
And, Aramaic scholars tell us that the word Jesus would have used for “Father” wouldn’t have been Abba, but Abwoon.
And, the Aramaic word Abwoon means “Birther of the Cosmos.”
That’s how Jesus understood God: as “Birther” of all Creation. And, I don’t know about you, but when I think of “Birther,” I think of “Mother,” right?
Have you ever thought of God as “Mother”? In your prayer-time (when you close your eyes) and talk to God, have you ever imaged God that way?
If you do an image search online, you’ll find some beautiful artistic depictions of God as Mother. I invite you print them out and to use them during your prayer time this week.
Or maybe (when you close your eyes in prayer) imagine that “Divine Umbilical Cord” connecting you with God…who continues to nourish you and feed you and give you life.
I don’t know about you, but I much prefer this image of God to the “finger-shaking, angry old man with the long grey beard up in the clouds,” don’t you?
I’ve shared with you before how I love that in the popular Christian book and movie, The Shack, that God is portrayed by a Black woman whose name is Papa.
It really expands our thinking about who God is.
Now, we (humans) want to make God into our own image, but God, of course, is not a person. God isn’t a man or a woman.
God is a Spirit, which Scripture tells us in John 4:24. It says, “God is a Spirit, and those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Jesus tells us more about this “Spirit of God” in today’s gospel reading.
Jesus is continuing his Farewell Discourse to his apostles. He’s talking with them on the eve of his arrest and trial.
He knows he won’t them much longer, but he tells them, “I will not leave you orphaned.”
He tells them that the “Spirit of God” will be always be with them.
And, he refers to this Spirit as an Advocate.
The word advocate contains the root word voco, which means voice.
And, Jesus says in today’s gospel reading that this Voice – this Spirit of Truth – abides within each and every one of us.
Many of you know that our “tagline” in the United Church of Christ is “God is Still Speaking.” That is the Truth.
God is still speaking IN US and THRU US. We just have to “get still” in order to hear it.
The Christian theologian, Father Thomas Keating, said, “Silence is God’s first language. Everything else is a poor translation.”
In the Silence, we connect with the “Spirit of God” within.
The early Christians referred to this “Spirit of God” within as SOPHIA, a feminine name! The Holy Spirit is feminine!
Sophia means “Holy Wisdom,” which I’ve told you before is not intellectual knowledge, but a KNOWING of the HEART…a deep, inner knowing. An intuition!
The more we can silence those “voices of the world” and those “voices of the ego,” the more we can attune ourselves more fully to the “inner voice of the heart.”
And, so, my friends, in this Season of Easter (this season of new growth and new life), I’d like to encourage you to find time each and every day to enter into the Silence, so that you can connect with SOPHIA, the voice of God within you.
Envision that Divine umbilical cord connecting you with God, Our Mother, the Birther of the Cosmos, who continues to make all things new in us and through us.
May it be so. Amen.
Here are three follow-up questions for reflection and/or journal writing:
- The sermon invites us to imagine God not only as Father, but also as Mother and “Birther of the Cosmos.” How does this expanded image of God challenge, deepen, or comfort your understanding of the Divine?
- Rev. Marchiene Rienstra described prayer and meditation as a “Divine umbilical cord” connecting us to God. What practices help you feel most connected to God’s presence, love, and guidance in your daily life?
- Jesus promised that the Spirit of Truth would abide within us, and the sermon described this Spirit as Sophia, Holy Wisdom. In a world filled with noise and distraction, how can we create more silence and stillness to listen for God’s voice within?