For the past month or so I've been reading Sue Monk Kidd's book Dance of the Dissident Daughter, which is about her spiritual journey from patriarchal establishment to the sacred feminine.
During Advent/Christmas, I've thought a lot about Mary...who she was, what she did, what patriarchal tradition has done to her.
And in recent weeks, I've started addressing God as Goddess. Yes, Goddess. Why not? Since God/dess is neither male nor female but both are made in the in the image of God/dess, why not use the feminine word rather than the masculine word? We don't have a neutral word, and I'm not sure we should. Why not have both?
It feels weird, though. It doesn't come naturally. I've become used to addressing God as Mother God, but "Goddess" seems a little more...um...radical. Why is that? Because my culture (even my "moderate" church culture) has engrained in me that God is male, and my intellectual belief otherwise doesn't change my gut reaction to the word God - an envisioning of divine maleness. And of course Jesus is male, Jesus who is the divine. Jesus is a man. I won't start calling Jesus a woman, I promise! But I need a feminine picture of the divine as well.
Why? Does it matter?
Yes, dammit! It matters!
It matters when society says that girls (and boys) should look and act a certain stereotypical way, and the church confirms and supports that. It matters when the only (or vast majority) of voices we hear from the pulpit are male. It matters when my daughter says she won't be a pastor because "that's a mostly man thing." It matters when I cannot get the image of God as a white man with flowing white beard (skinny Santa Claus) out of my head. It matters when I can count on one hand the number of female senior pastors I know (3...I know 3. I know OF more than 3, but I only personally know 3, and I went to seminary...I know a lot of pastors). It matters when the only pronouns I hear in worship and devotion are masculine. It matters.
A lot.
Because we are created in the image of God/dess, too. And we matter. A lot.
(to be continued)
Amen, sister! I cringe at the new "girlie" Legos. I frankly don't understand why they feel the need... we visited a Lego store in Atlanta over Christmas break and there were plenty of girls shopping in there, despite the lack of specifically girlie things on sale.
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