Images of God
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My mother, Susan, was one of the people who greatly impacted and influenced my faith. She was the one who brought us to church and ‘made’ us go and eventually help out with Vacation Bible School. She was the one who made sure I went to Confirmation and that I was in church the weeks that I was supposed to be an acolyte. She was the one who had conversations with me about faith and it was she who saw the call of a pastor even before I had any idea that was what God was calling me to do in my life.
It was also my pastor and my youth director who greatly impacted my faith. My youth director liked to challenge us to think critically about our beliefs and about the Bible, and it was my pastor growing up who embodied the kindness and gentleness Paul talks about are qualities of a Christian.
Who in your life has influenced your faith? I’m sure there are a whole host of people who have been both male and female that have shaped your own faith like the people who have shaped my faith life as well. Each person influenced me in a different way and I am truly grateful for them and for the ways they were a part of my life and helped me to see God in different ways.
That’s what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about the different ways and images in which we see and experience God. One of the most common ways that we ‘see’ God is through the Lord’s Prayer where Jesus taught us a way to pray, and the types of things that we should pray for. At the very beginning of our prayer we see Jesus refer to God as our Father, or as a more literal translation, ‘daddy’. An intimate way to refer to a person’s father. Jesus invites us to have an intimate relationship with God by calling God, father, or daddy. There are also other images of God throughout the Bible including some that are feminine and I think it’s important to discuss those images in light of how Jesus describes himself in the story from Luke we read.
Jesus describes himself as a hen who gathers her brood or her chicks under her wings. What an incredible image this offers us especially considering that this is the last time Jesus will see Jerusalem before his final entry into it. Jesus may be in a way lamenting over how much he cares for God’s people, especially those who have been with God since Abraham, and how he wishes they would listen and accept his word as the word of God. Just the image of a mother hen caring for her young and that is how Jesus and God view them in relationship with us is incredible and incredibly help for us to see that feminine imagery and understanding of God. Which is why I thought it would be good to take a look at some other feminine images throughout the Bible and see how they too help us to better understand God and God’s relationship with us.
The first image we have comes from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy and talks in a similar fashion to the hen imagery of a female eagle hovering over and guarding her young. God is the eagle in this comparison and the young is Jacob and the people of Israel. Once again God is being shown as the caretaker and the nurturer of those under God’s care. God is who who protects God’s young from any kind of danger that may arise.
How many of you mothers have ever described yourself or have been described as a mama bear? This might be the origins of the metaphor for mama bear. A mama bear is one who protects and makes sure that nothing separates her from her cubs. That is the case in real life too which is why it is such an apt way of talking about moms and their children. There aren’t many things scarier than getting between a mother bear and her cubs. Or for that matter getting between any animal and their young. There are few things a mother would not do to make sure their children were cared for and that doesn’t matter if you are a person, a bear, or a cat or dog. Ensuring that your species survives seems to be built into every single species and especially in mothers.
Now I have to be honest this particular passage is talking about how Israel has turned their back from God and that God is going to devour them for straying from God, but doesn’t that fit also? Wouldn’t a mother and parents do anything to get their children back from whatever may cause them to stray? So now we see God not just as a caring and protective mother but also as a mother who will go to extremes to ensure that protection.
The last image comes from Isaiah and actually there are a couple places where God talks about birthing pains and caring for her child. Here we see God talk about being a nursing mom and about carrying a child. God then says that there is no way to ever forget a child that God nursed or a child in God’s womb, essentially saying that since we all come from God then there is no way that God doesn’t know us and care for us and have compassion for us. God goes on to say in this passage that God will never forget us and that we are inscribed on the palms of God’s hands.
I say all of this and bring up all these feminine images of God because I believe that the greater amount of ways in which we see and know God the better a relationship we have with God. Not all images of God are helpful for people and not all images are adequate to completely describe who God is and what God means to us and what we mean to God. However, the more ways we see God and understand God’s relationship to us, the closer we can feel to God. Which is why it is helpful to have different people in our lives who have helped form our faith. Both men and women who are related and not related to me have impacted my faith and have helped me form a better understanding of who God is and how much God loves and cares for me.
So when there are times in our lives when we do stray, like those Jesus was talking about in Luke, the easier of a time time we have to come back and understand that God is there with open wings waiting to come and protect us from all evil and all harm, and the easier it will be to say ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’
May your images and understanding of who God is and what God’s relationship with you be enriched by all the ways that the Bible describes God and may you always know that God is waiting with open wings to welcome you home.
Amen.