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Monday, May 14

Yesterday was Mother's Day. Although it is a Hallmark holiday not a holy-day, I often take advantage of the moment to call my congregation to reclaim God our heavenly Mother. People don't look at me like I'm crazy as often as when I first started this practice 30 years ago, but I'm not sure I'm making much impact either.

Oh, people nod their heads and say kind things about the sermon, but they go right on calling God “Father” or “He” almost exclusively. It is hard to break a lifetime of habits, but I think it is very important. It isn't just about language; it is about relationships.
It is about how we relate to God and how we understand God's relating to us. We have a friend in Dallas whose six-year-old child has cancer. In situations like this, people sometimes offer platitudes like, “God will never put more on you than you can bear,” as though God gave her child cancer. Her response, however, has been very clear that she knows the cancer is not God's doing but just bad luck … or, as Jesus said, “The rain falls on the just and the unjust.”

As a mother, she can't imagine any God doing this to her child. I wonder if we would begin to understand God as our Heavenly Mother if we would be less likely to believe God to be capable of such horrible things as giving children cancer. If we related to God as our Heavenly Mother, would we be able to experience the love of God enfolding us during those times when we get such incredibly painful news?

In a world with so very much pain in it, there is a great need for us to be able to act proactively to help people know and experience God's tender love. The church seems to have been much better at teaching about a Divine who had expectations and demands than we have been at revealing the God who longs to hold us close like a mother holds a child to her breast. Images such as that are present throughout the Bible, but the sexism of our society seems to have blinded us.

It is time for us to open our eyes and maybe our mouths.

Blessings,

Michael Piazza
President, Hope for Peace & Justice

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