Mothering Sunday - Our Mother God

1 SAMUEL 1: 20 - 28 JOHN 19: 25 - 27

I remember back in 1999 when the Methodist worship Book came out. The circuit in which I was working on the Isle of Man decided to purchase a number of copies for use throughout the churches. Generally it was well received. There was just one matter that caused concern - the Communion service in which God is addressed as both “mother” and father.” And I know that for some, that one reference to God as “mother” invalidated the whole book.

And yet I think that that one reference was entirely justifiable. Now don’t get me wrong. Next week we will not be praying to;

“Our mother who art in heaven.”

That is not how Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer and it is not how it has been prayed for two millennia. And I’m far too much a respecter of tradition to disregard either scripture or the historic teachings of the church.

And yet I equally do not want to ignore the motherhood of God. And in that I have some worthy colleagues. Listen for a moment to Anselm who became Archbishop of Canterbury just six years after the death of William the Conqueror. Nor regarded as a liberal trendy, he had this to say;

“Jesus, you are gentle with us as a mother with her children.”

And then listen to the greatest religious thinker that this country has ever produced, Mother Julian of Norwich, who over six hundred years ago wrote;

“As truly as God is our Father, as truly God is our Mother.”

Now of course most Biblical references to God portray God as male. That is hardly surprising given that the social context in which the scriptures emerged was one in which men were dominant. But there are exceptions. In the Old Testament there are to be found verses which provide us with images such as God being as a woman in childbirth, a mother unable to forget the child she has fed and a midwife attending a birth at a time when only a woman could serve in that role. And the list could go on much longer. And within the Gospels, Jesus likens God to a woman searching for a coin whilst Jesus takes on himself female imagery in his lament over Jerusalem when he cries out;

“How often have I longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”

Now of course, God is beyond gender. Being spirit, God does not have the attributes that make us male or female. Indeed, it is irrelevant for in the very first chapter of Genesis we are told that God has created male and female in God’s image. Of course Jesus lived as a man although it is his humanity rather than his gender that is significant in him being the means of our salvation.

Speaking of God as “father” or “mother” doubtless provides us with a quite a range of pictures. Observing the media and hearing people’s stories suggest that whilst for most people there are positive responses to the term “father,” there are those for whom the term is a block on any relationship with God. And yet our stereotypes of fathers and mothers can fall short of reality. I know in many a home the ultimate threat may have been;

“Wait till your father gets home.”

But we know that fathers are not necessarily the fearsome disciplinarians that those words imply. After all in some homes it is the mother who is the strict parent whilst the father may have great qualities of caring, patience and compassion which are often associated with mothers. Time and again the stereotypes are seen to be removed from the realities.

Surely God combines both fatherhood and motherhood in God’s dealings with us. Indeed God represents the very best that can be hoped for of both fathers and mothers. Truly, God is the altogether lovely perfection of parenthood. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the Father figure who is intended as a representation of God, in some ways behaves as a mother would do. He shows restraint in the face of the Prodigal’s insensitive request for his inheritance. When the Prodigal returns he is most unmanly in running to meet the Prodigal and in kissing him. And then when the other son refuses to join the celebration, he takes on the mother’s role as a peacemaker rather than thrashing the lad as would have been expected of a father. No wonder that Rembrandt in his painting, “The Return of the Prodigal son” has two very different hands of the father touching the returned son - one being very muscular whilst the other has the elegance and gentleness of a woman.

So whilst I am not going to start praying the Lord’s Prayer by beginning with “Our Mother” rather than “Our Father”, I do think it is important to recognise that in God’s we find the wholeness and the perfection of both fatherhood and motherhood. Our God is the divine parent to whom we owe our lives and in whom we find all that we could want in a parent. Yet ultimately, this is about our search for ways to relate to God and to describe God. And then the list of ways in which we can see and experience God would seem to be endless. Our language can never fully describe the wonder of God,

But finally what thought can we take away? I think it is this. God loves us passionately. God is concerned for our well being. And God cannot stop being concerned for us even when love becomes painful. He is what we would wish a parent to be and more besides. So today let us just wallow in God’s love - the love without limits!


BIDEFORD METHODIST CHURCH - Sunday March 2nd 2008