Tweaking Our Godspeak
- davidwperk
- Aug 24, 2023
- 5 min read
Daily Office Devotional, Thursday, August 24, 2023
Proper 15, the week of the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrase for reflection from today’s reading:
3 But I still my soul and make it quiet,
like a child upon its mother’s breast; *
my soul is quieted within me.
You will find the full text of this Psalm at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary readings (BCP, 980)
AM Psalm 131, 132, [133]; PM Psalm 134, 135
2 Samuel 19:1-23; Acts 24:1-23; Mark 12:28-34
Today we celebrate the Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle. (See below.)
David's Reflections
This short Psalm contains a striking and poignant descriptive image of God as a nursing mother calming a pensive child on the divine breast of comfort and peace.
Such images are not uncommon in Hebrew Scripture (See Isaiah 49:14-15; Isaiah 66:12-13, for example.). Unfortunately, most of our biblical translations and liturgical texts took shape before concerns about male-dominated language for God became prevalent on the theological landscape. A large part of that had to do with women joining the guild of biblical and theological scholarship and reading the Scripture and church tradition through a lens that brought to the fore what male scholarship had given short shrift.
Conversations with young adult women in churches have been among the factors convincing me that the language of our worship cannot remain male-dominant. Those young women tell me that they struggle to find a connection with God because the language infers that God is masculine. We know that God is neither masculine nor feminine, but our language, especially the Trinitarian formula Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the dominant use of masculine pronouns continue to infer the opposite.
What I have found workable at this juncture in my writing is to avoid the exclusive use of the masculine pronoun for God, by alternating the feminine and by substituting the terms “God” and “Godself” wherever the syntax allows. A similar approach has become my practice in the liturgy. I continue to advocate using the Trinitarian formula in the traditional places while eliminating masculine pronouns and minimizing the exclusive use of the term “Father” elsewhere in the liturgy.
All our language about God is analogical and metaphoric. We understand that God resembles earthly parents only in limited ways. Our Psalm for today captures two of those—God is ultimately personal and God seeks to deliver and console us.
In my devotional practice, I address God both as father and mother. I would encourage you to experiment with your ways of addressing God in your personal spirituality. The biblical texts resonate with a plethora of descriptive images for God—masculine (father, brother), feminine (nursing mother, young maiden, wisdom), agricultural (shepherd, for example), political (Lord, King), metaphor and simile (light, water, bread, etc).
The God who has disclosed Godself in Jesus of Nazareth defies all our language categories. To become exclusively devoted to certain images can degenerate into an idolatry of language and images. Those who cling to older Episcopal prayer books out of a devotion to Elizabethan English and the theological orientation of those earlier books, border on that idolatry. I have found the work of Brian Wren, British Presbyterian liturgical scholar, very helpful. Consider this quote from Wren.
Language change is not all- important: If it were, then changing
language would be all that is needed to change the world. Nor is it unimportant: if it
were, we could concentrate on doing love and justice, and quit worrying about how we
speak of God. To separate language from action is false. Language change is an
essential part of action. . . . Language is a public medium. If I use, or abandon, racist or
sexist language, or begin to name God anew, I shall open myself to comment and
criticism and shall have to explain and defend my usage. It may then be easier than
before to act on what I have said."
Language, like tobacco, is habit forming. Some patterns of writing and
speaking are addictive and may damage both the user and others who breathe
the same linguistic atmosphere. If we see the damage being done and decide to kick the
habit, we may get withdrawal symptoms and hostility or derision from other smokers.
But, in the end, we shall enjoy breathing fresh air. *
*Brian Wren, What Language Shall I Borrow? (New York: Crossroads, 1993), pp. 82-83.
Collect of the Day, Proper 15, the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of this redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 232)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle.
Collect of the Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle
Almighty and everlasting God, who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach your Word: Grant that your Church may love what he believed and preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
A Collect for Protection
O God, the life of all who live, the light of the faithful, the strength of those who labor, and the repose of the dead: We thank you for the blessings of the day that is past, and humbly ask for your protection through the coming night. Bring us in safety to the morning hours; through him who died and rose again for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP, 124)
For Quiet Confidence
O God of peace, you have taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 832)
A Prayer for Light
O Lord God Almighty, as you have taught us to call the evening, the morning, and the noonday one day; and have made the sun to know its going down: Dispel the darkness of our hearts, that by your brightness we may know you to be the true God and eternal light, living and reigning for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 110)
A Collect for Mission
Everliving God, whose will it is that all should come to you through your Son Jesus Christ: Inspire our witness to him, that all may know the power of his forgiveness and the hope of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 816-817)
Daily Office Psalm, 131 Domine, non est
1 O Lord, I am not proud; *
I have no haughty looks.
2 I do not occupy myself with great matters, *
or with things that are too hard for me.
3 But I still my soul and make it quiet,
like a child upon its mother’s breast; *
my soul is quieted within me.
4 O Israel, wait upon the Lord, *
from this time forth for evermore.
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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