Feminine God

I have no trouble praying to Mary, the mother of God. But, it took me a while to pray to God as she, as feminine. Yet, I knew God as Sophia, feminine for wisdom, God as a mother watching over her little ones. God, of course, has no gender, but definitely displays the virtues or aspects we usually associate with the feminine. 

In Genesis, the poetic imagery depicts God hovering over the huge expanse of space and creating the earth and the heavens. God births the sun, moon and stars, plants, animals and humans. The Hebrew poets took the stories of the pagan gods and transformed them into the story of creation. They eradicated the fertility gods and goddesses and portrayed God as birthing a new creation. 

Although the feminine in God was transformed into the sphere of the spirit, it was not destroyed. It became portrayed in allegory and metaphor. The Hebrews spoke of Elohim, which became the mother eagle of Deuteronomy (32:11). Later in the Wisdom literature this holy spirit was portrayed as Lady Wisdom. 

There are many passages in the Old Testament describing God in feminine imagery, such as in Deuteronomy 32:18b, where God is depicted as a woman in labor. In Hosea 49 15: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” In the Book of Proverbs, we read this dramatic poem: “I was by God’s side, a master craftswoman, delighting God day after day, ever at play in God’s presence, at play everywhere in God’s world, delighting to be with the children of humans.”

Women need to hear these passages proclaimed in places of worship around the world. They need to see God as maternal and caring as well as paternal and forgiving.