Heresy? Or Buried Treasure?—God Is Better Than We Think She Is, Part 3
Won’t the Jesus Police be mad about all this “Mama God” talk?
By Anni Ponder
“You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.”
Recently my family went camping with our church for the weekend. It was a terrific experience for me, being the extrovert that I am. A whole weekend surrounded by lots of people I love and tons of things to do? Sign me up!
But it wasn’t the social aspect or the activities (or even the fantastic vegan options the cafeteria offered) that made my heart soar. It was something totally unexpected.
All of a sudden, he dropped a glitter-bomb.
We were sitting in the auditorium on Sunday morning, listening to a pre-recorded lecture (sermon if you like, but I find that word can be triggering for some folks) by Brad Jersak, one of my favorite authors. Things were pretty chill—he was talking about prayer and reading from the Gospel of John—when all of a sudden, he dropped a glitter-bomb: “I’m going to pause here to say I’ll be using some pronouns I prefer when reading about the Holy Spirit. It’s nothing controversial; actually, it’s historical. In the Hebrew, the Holy Spirit is identified with feminine pronouns. So that’s what I like to use.”
My jaw hit the floor. Did he just say what I THINK he just said? I tried to contain my elation.
Then he resumed his talk, swapping “Her” for “His,” “She” for “He,” and so on. He went on, reading Jesus’ words about the Holy Spirit with feminine pronouns, like it was no big thing.
But it wasn’t no big thing.
For me, it was HUGE. It was everything I’ve been longing to hear from the pulpit. And here, right here, it was happening in MY CHURCH!
During passing-the-peace, my husband gave me a kiss and then I jumped up and down. “Did you hear it? Did you hear him talk about HER?”
“Ah, I thought you’d be excited about that,” he said with a grin.
Our pastor came up to me and we exchanged greetings of shalom. I was so excited, I couldn’t hold it in. “I am so delighted to hear the speaker use feminine pronouns for the Holy Spirit,” I gushed, beaming.
“Oh, that made you happy? I’m glad. I think it might have sent some folks into shock,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.
“I wanted to shout ‘hooray!’ right during the service, but I contained myself.”
“Is that because you love your brothers and sisters?” he asked.
“Yes.” I wanted to talk longer, but it was time to get ready for communion.
Later, I reflected on why my pastor had asked me if I had kept my glee to myself because of my love for the other folks in the room. I guess I already know the answer—because he knows everyone is on their own journey of discovery, and not everyone is prepared to hear about Mama God in our community.
So I got to thinking about what I could do to come alongside someone who might be curious, intrigued, or even aghast at the idea of God having a feminine side. What follows is what I came up with.
First, if you’re worried the idea of Mama God will offend Jesus or the Father or even the Holy Spirit, I invite you to ask yourself why there couldn’t be a feminine part to God. Sometimes it’s helpful to ask more questions before we go digging for answers.
Next, if you’re wondering whether it is truly a heresy to assert that the Holy Spirit is a feminine being (and I realize there are plenty of resources out there today that would agree), it might be helpful to get comfortable with the idea that Christianity is not monolithic. There are plenty of ways to be and believe while following Christ—and if you’re painfully uneasy about this topic, maybe it would be best to let the question go for now. All I ask is that you circle back to it again after some time has passed, and see if anything in you might have shifted.
Third, if you would like to hear from other folks who have done some serious research, I recommend you start with author Daneen Akers’ excellent essay “Why We Need Mama God.” You’ll find plenty to mull over, and at the end there’s a good list of further reading if you want to dig deeper. If that’s not enough, you can check out blogger Collette Eaton’s post “Finding Mother God” or visit The Mother God Experiment for plenty more places to look.
“If it is of God, there is nothing you can do about it.”
Worried the Jesus Police might come and call you a heretic if you ask too many questions about God Our Mother? (I’m only half-joking when I say that—far too many of us have experienced all manner of shaming, shunning, and outright spiritual abuse for asking big questions.) Take heart, dear one. As the early Christians discovered, nothing will stop a movement of God—see the fifth chapter of Acts for this bold reminder: “If this program or this work is merely human, it will fall apart, but if it is of God, there is nothing you can do about it—and you better not be found fighting against God!”
So.
Heresy? Nah. There are way too many references and metaphors about Divine Femininity in Scripture for this to be off-limits to Christians.
Buried treasure? Totally. She’s there, my friends. We just have to keep digging.
