God Beyond Language

~ God Beyond Language ~

When an admired and accomplished teacher leans down to explain something to a three year old, she doesn't use all the words in her vocabulary. She chooses those a child can understand. Words that build on concepts already known to his limited mind.

Perhaps, when our great all knowing God bends down to explain the Divine to our small minds, a similar thing happens. God uses the familiar to help us begin to comprehend a mystery - the fullness of which is so many times greater than we are that we can never truly grasp it all. The Godhead. So God speaks of One who has hands and arms to carry beloved children or rescue them from danger. Who knows us already in the womb, gives life and nourishes us. Who knows both birth and death, good and evil. Who knows all about both anger and love. Who teaches about fear and pain as well as healing and joy. Who offers both comfort and justice. All of which a mortal can comprehend from personal experience.

From heaven's vast and perfect realm, God enters our lives, takes our hands and carries us as children. Out of abundant language far beyond our own; far beyond our capabilities, God teaches us on our own level, the way of salvation. Offering a glimpse of eternity and giving the joy of Christ's Spirit to guide our way.

The people, now thinking we grasp the essence of our Creator, interpret and express our view of God's self as a gloriously magnificent manifestation of ourselves. Forgetting the incomprehensible enormity of ONE who holds the oceans in cupped hands, weighs mountain ranges on a scale and counts the stars by name. Forgetting that God is not created in our image.

We tend to forget that God's language goes far beyond any we will ever learn on this earth. That God is so much greater than our vocabulary is able to express. We tend think too small. We tend to limit God.

JoMae

6/3/15

A Mother's Day Echo of Psalm 131:2

  Like A Weaned Child With Its Mother

Like a weaned

 child with its Mother,

My spirit is quiet within me

Like a weaned child

 with its Mother,

My soul is at peace in Godde

A Little Lullaby for Grownups on difficult days - my echo of Psalm 131:2 

         Reminding me that my LORD (YHWH) is also my Mother

 

Psalm 131

A song of ascents. Of David.

1My heart is not proud, Lord,

my eyes are not haughty;

I do not concern myself with great matters

or things too wonderful for me.

2But I have calmed and quieted myself,

I am like a weaned child with its mother;

like a weaned child I am content.

3Israel, put your hope in the Lord

both now and forevermore.   (NIV)

The Joy of Cooking

The Joy of Cooking 

Our daughter loves to cook

An interest held in common with her Dad

A long time craft for her

His honed in later years

Upon retirement

I love to see their heads bent over recipes

Chopping, stirring, baking

Or watching cooking shows

When we're vacationing together

And re-connect

Then off they go for groceries

To create their perfect menu

While I observe with joy -

One eye in my book

The other on my writing pad

Snapping word pictures 

To tuck into my heart

And carry home with me

An aroma sweet and wonderful 

As each delicious meal

                                           -JoMae

                                            2/17/15

piano prayers

piano prayers

I play the folks who come to mind

Their fears their pain their loss

I plead a jolt of joy amid the horror

To give them hope to make it to tomorrow

I ponder on the hate filled men of ISIS

And beg the Spirit to attack their swords with Love

A mystery of mercy to engage their minds

That one by one their hearts be struck with Wisdom

I wander through my thoughts of friends and all

And seek a blessing here a healing there

A word of comfort or of wisdom

A sense of the Divine Embrace hugging their souls

I tune my heart with trust

Sharpen my thanksgiving

Sing a note of praise

And rest in peace

-JoMae

Come To Me

"Come To Me"

Christ 

Living in me

Cradling my soul

Here when I'm needy

Here when I'm whole 

Ahead of me, guiding

Above, firm to protect

Around, a companion

Atoning neglect

                               -JoMae

                                    1/29/15

                    

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”  Matthew 11:28-29 

Hammock Prayers

Hammock Prayers

When illness or other trials come,
the prayers of God's people
form an invisible hammock
woven of air yet strong as steel

to gently rock a fearful heart.

A net to catch a worried spirit
and rest it in the loving hand of God.

-JoMae

A reflection of much pondering on prayer and the caring of friends and family during recent illness. All is well now, and we are most thankful.

Blind Spots and New Vision

Blind Spots and New Vision: Virginia Mollenkott’s   
The Divine Feminine

The Divine Feminine: The Biblical Imagery of God as Female 

By Virginia Ramey Mollenkott

Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2014 (reprint of 1984 edition) 
Paperback, 120 pages 

Reviewed by JoMae Spoelhof 

Dr. Virginia Ramey Mollenkott’s book, The Divine Feminine: The Biblical Imagery of God as Female, has recently been reissued, and I am eager to recommend it. It beautifully illuminates the feminine images of God as portrayed in the Bible. First published in 1984, it remains a valuable tool for glimpsing a view of the Godhead that tends to be glossed over and invisible in traditional Christianity. As Mollenkott writes, “For those who accept trinitarianism, it will be striking that all three persons of the divine triad [the Creator God; the eternal Christ; and the Holy Spirit] are depicted in feminine as well as masculine images”(p. 4). 

The author guides the reader through familiar scripture passages, pointing out an underlying presence of God’s feminine face.  For people like me, raised in a deeply embedded patriarchal/hierarchal mindset, Virginia Mollenkott is a godsend.  She addresses the power of such patriarchal teaching, power to keep one from being able to see the feminine in God. She helped me grope through layers of my own blind spots to recognize that our Creator does not recoil from language referring to God’s womb or labor pains or countless other examples of identification as female, as I once believed. Our God loves us as Mother as well as Father. And Mollenkott doesn’t just tell us this, she shows us, carefully referencing each passage that points to this truth. 

Her book discusses numerous instances in the Bible where God is spoken of in feminine terms. She cites many references to God as giving birth, nursing an infant, and carrying out other maternal activities. Referring to Acts 17:28 (where Paul explains to the Athenians that God is not far from anyone for “it is in God that we live and move and exist” as God’s offspring), Mollenkott points out that “although the apostle does not specifically name the womb, at no other time in human experience do we exist within another person” than our time in our mother’s womb (p. 16).  Another motif the author examines is God as midwife, actively involved in delivering new life (chapter 6). And the whole of chapter 7 is devoted to teaching about the Shekinah, a grammatically feminine term referring to God’s glorious presence, as manifest in the tabernacle (and temple later on), and as the pillar of fire by night and pillar of cloud by day, guiding the Israelites out of slavery. 

Along with showing Christ’s affirming and empowering interactions with women, the book is full of both familiar and less familiar images unpacked to reveal fresh meaning, including Lady Wisdom, God as female homemaker, the bakerwoman God, and analogies from nature (mother eagle, mother bear protecting her cubs, mother pelican).  Mother Hen, for example, so familiar to Christians from Jesus’ desire to protect Jerusalem’s children “as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings” (Luke 13:34), is especially underscored. Through the highlighting of several Old Testament passages such as “I take shelter in the shadow of your wings” (Ps 57:1), we are reminded that Jesus’ words would have been very familiar to his Jewish listeners. Ruth and Boaz lived with that familiar image as well, and I was delighted to read of Ruth’s wonderful response to Boaz’s blessing, in which Boaz had praised Ruth for caring for her mother-in-law Naomi. “May the Lord recompense you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge” (Ruth 2:12).   Mollenkott writes, “Later, Ruth takes Boaz up on that blessing, urging him to “spread your wing [Kānāp, the same word used in 2:12] over your maidservant, for you are a redeemer” (p. 94). 

New to me was the prevalence of early church leaders who addressed and referred to both Creator God and Jesus Christ as Mother, embracing rather than avoiding feminine images and metaphors for God.  I’d heard some of this, but the names and quotes documented in this book surprised me, as did how long this practice  went on— beyond the early centuries of Christianity and well into the Middle Ages.  However, while these leaders spoke of God as both mother and father, they still considered female qualities to be inferior to the male. Writes Mollenkott, “But if we can teach ourselves to value the roles traditionally associated with the female on a truly equal level with those associated with the male, the result will be the enrichment of all humanity. Inclusive God-Language is a step in the direction of that enrichment” (p. 13, italics added). She then challenges religious leaders to recognize “the female presence in their grammatical choices” and to utilize “biblical references to God as female.” She sees this as a way for these leaders to “demonstrate the sincerity of their commitment to human justice, peace, and love, and therefore to psychological and social health” (pp. 13-14). 

Virginia Mollenkott later explains how we see what we expect to see in Scripture. 

“All of us approach any written text with

certain expectations and those expectations

govern what we are able to see in what we

are reading. Perhaps it is helpful to think in

terms of an interpretative grid, a grid that

gives clear focus on some things and blocks

   us from seeing others. 

   A patriarchal interpretative grid has simply

made it impossible for most people through

the ages to be able to perceive the many

images of God as female which are the

subject of this study.”   (pp. 64-65) 

She further reminds us that for those whose expectations have been blocked by language teaching the exclusive maleness of God, many layers of misinformation will need to be peeled away. Looking back, I can see how true this has been in my own life. When I first read The Divine Feminine several years ago, it addressed questions I barely knew to ask. It began to open a new understanding and to bring some clarity to my questions about God and gender. But moving beyond deeply instilled patriarchal teachings took a long time.  After living with these new ideas and letting them percolate, while gradually increasing my comfort level with loving God as both Mother and Father, I picked the book up again some years later. By then I was ready to take in more details, better understand my yearnings, and thereby gain the confidence to speak out. Each time I read, its message met me in a new place on my journey; and at each reading, more layers of patriarchal “blindness” fell away so that I could notice truths I hadn’t been ready to absorb before.  It takes a long time for old layers of thinking to fade away and a new reality to feel normal. 

Now, having read it a third time to prepare this review, even more has fallen into place. If you are grappling with lifelong patriarchal teachings about God and Christianity, pick up this gentle book!  It is packed with information that will help. It will enrich your life.  It has truly enriched mine. Through these pages, I see that my precious God and Savior not only is reflected in my father, but is also a God who “looks” like my mother —and me!  Both male and female are created in God’s image, an image that is both masculine and feminine. I’m so glad this book is available again to enlighten the lives of a new generation. 

------------- 
This review, first published by Christian Feminism Today in the Spring of 2014, can be found here. CFT is dedicated to sharing 'Equality and Inclusiveness Through God's Expansive Love'.

Kitchen Blessings

Tea For Two

 Kitchen Blessings

The kitchen is warm, the coffee hot
as I wrap my hands around my favorite mug
and ponder many blessings.

The world beyond the window where I sit
is a harsh cold whirl of snow.
But our fear is now behind us.

Spring is in view!
The darkness is over.
We have survived the night.

Soft music and the comforting
whir of the dishwasher
remind me of normal.

Soon our days will return to routine;
Once again draw to a close with tea for two
Around this old kitchen table.

                                JoMae

                                  12/14/14

 I pecked this out on my phone while enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon cup of coffee while John wrote Christmas cards.  His health is returning and this is probably the last Sunday we will be home together.  Our goal is to get back to church this week.  I thought of going alone this morning, but in a wonderful way, these hours together have become precious.  This new symbiotic pattern is becoming unnecessary and while that is a good thing, in a way it will be missed.  I  was not needed at home this morning.  He can manage on his own.  But I cherished the thought of one last quiet Sunday morning alone together. And stayed.

Harvesting Words

Harvesting Words

I scan the horizon for just the right words

words that speak eloquent meaning to me

words to examine and test for their flavor

words holding truth like a sweet pungent pear
words that will clarify difficult answers
words that are ripe and ready to pick
words that will satisfy

sometimes I find them in bits I have written
seeds I have planted myself

often they're sprouting in pages I'm reading
or pop out of a piece I am listening to - a
perfect expression for the question I'm asking

then I quickly reach out to snatch it and
 tuck it safely within a sentence that is
 desperately gasping for life.

JoMae
6/1/14

                                                                               

Lavender Lawn Poem:

Lavender Lawn  

The weeds are ruining our small city lawn

Which should be re-seeded one day.

But they're green!  I mean, from

My perch on the porch they look perfectly okay!

The real reason I want to keep our weeds,

The gift they bring to me,

Is the profusion of lavender spilt every Spring

When blooms begin to sing!

Each May, for a couple of weeks or so

We have an ethereal violet view.

A sight so soothing to my heart,

So treasured for memories evoked,

I always dread when it must go.

Today our lawn is lavender blue

Suspended on a field of green

With dandelion splash for accent -

A composition fit for a queen!

Our rabbit family comes to chew.

Squirrels chase each other's tails.

Birds hop around and poke and preen

While I sit up here enjoying the scene

As if I have nothing else to do.

Blessing it all is the tall lilac bush

Blushing full bloomed as she sways in the breeze

Bending and bowing her well ladened limbs

Wafting aroma of lavender green

All over my world.

I'm watching - yet seeing a photo I have

Tucked in my heart for fifty odd years -

Of the mom I once was in a soft purple dress,

Posed with my firstborn in Ellison Park

On a lawn drenched in lavender blue.

My First Mother's Day

May 1961 

-JoMae Spoelhof
 5/15/14                                                                      
                                                                               




I had purchased that simple cotton dress in my favorite color to send to John's mom for Mother's Day.  Somehow it never got sent.  One day he suggested I try it on.  It was a little snug, but I wore it anyway for our walk in the park.  I felt pretty that day and knew that I was loved - by the small boy in my arms as we sat among the violets - and the smiling young man behind the camera!