Kids Say the Darndest Things...

Working with children for the past ten years I have heard wonderful and strange things. One three-year-old handed me an illegible piece of paper and said, "Give this to God for me." One child said, "I believe two things. That Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that God is a man." The three year old naturally assumed I could deliver a note to God for her because I was always spouting off about God as if I knew God personally, and the child who knew that God was a man had only heard of God referred to as "He." What else was she supposed to think?

Children, like many adults, don't understand symbolism or generalizations or words that are supposed to represent something other than what they imply. If you heard the following liturgy:

"The White Male God be with you
And also with you
Lift up your hearts
We lift them up unto the White Male God..."

You might be disturbed. You might say,

"Well, that seems like a God that does not represent a huge percentage of humanity, and we are after all supposed to be formed in God's image."
And you might get the following reply:

"Well, of course we are only SAYING 'While Male' really we mean anyone- man, woman, any race, we only say 'White Male' to represent everyone."

This is what we are told when we object to calling God "He" or referring to God as "Lord." To many ears, and not just female ones, the words "Lord" and "he" seem to mean what they seem to mean. And most of all to childish ears, that have not been sufficiently taught to be oblivious to their own perceptions.

Particularly because our faith is a faith whose designated savior was the most revolutionary feminist that first century Judaism have ever seen, we should think on these things. In his outrageous flaunting of the laws of his day, he taught women, he spoke to women on the street, he touched women who were ritually unclean, he healed women, he lived from the means of the women who supported him, and he raised up women who were rejected as the lowest of the low. And he called God not "Father" but "Papa, or Daddy," (the more accurate translation of "Abba") terms not meant to connote masculinity, but the incredibly complete and intimate and utterly loving relationship he felt with God.

Surely Jesus was a brilliant student of the scriptures and surely he knew of "Chochma", the Wisdom Sophia, the compassionate, wise, peaceful and feminine aspect of God in the Old Testament.

"She is the way to everlasting true wealth and honor. Her way is pleasant, and all her paths are peace. She is a Tree of Life to those who embrace Her, and those who unite in her find happiness." - Proverbs 3:14-18

In many ways the Wisdom Sophia sounds like the God of Jesus' describing. It is hard to imagine Jesus denying anyone the ability to identify with and feel utterly close to God, his Dad.