Sermon thoughts and other musings

Mother's Day: Being One Family

I've always been opposed to patriarchal language for God, not just because of the sexist implications, but because of my own sexism: I see God as a nurturer, and I associate nurturing with mothers, not fathers. So it's my own gender-stereotyping that sees predominantly feminine qualities in God.

In this passage we see Jesus pray for his disciples, and quite frankly, I hear the voice of a mother praying for her children more than the voice of a father or a friend. And what does Jesus pray for? That God will protect the disciples. And "that they may be one."

"That they may be one." That is every parent's prayer for his/her children, right? Ever see children fight over an estate? What could be more dishonoring to a parent? Can you imagine the pain a parent would feel seeing her/his children fight over what had been left to the children in the hope of making their lives better?

I think any parent would say: if you want to hurt a parent, hurt the children. And parents would probably rather have a child do something mean to them than see their children fight with each other. Now extrapolate that to this world, with God as our parent, and we as God's children. What do you think war does to God? Do you think God sees anything as being worth fighting a war over?