Week beginning 16th July

 

Your word is a lamp to our feet and a light our path.
Accept our offerings of praise, O LORD, and teach us your ordinances.

Psalm 119.105,

MP 640 The Church’s one foundation

The church's one foundation - YouTube

Prayers:

God of eternity
you entered history in the life of Christ
making it possible for all aspects of human life
to be lit up by your Spirit.
Help us to honour our heritage of faith
by nurturing your Word and Spirit in our own lives
that we may yield much fruit
in lives devoted to honouring you
and loving our neighbours. Amen.

God of history and eternity
you call us to be your faithful people.
And so we worship you today,
in the company of all your people around the world
and of the saints who went before us
and who now worship you in heaven.

For you have given us your word
in the pages of scripture
in the person of Christ
and in the witness of the church-
a wonderful heritage of faith
which lights our path through life.
Accept our praise
for the sake of Jesus,
the Son whom you sent to set us free us from sin.

Merciful God,
we confess that the word you have planted in our souls
has too often failed to bloom
in faith and good works that honour you.
We have sold our heritage cheaply,
and are content to let the gifts of your Spirit wither away.
Forgive us for setting our minds on wrong things
and being too easily distracted from the path you have shown us.

silence

Hear the Word of God:
there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

May the Spirit of God which dwells in you,
set you free from sin
and bringing you to new life through Christ.

Reading:

Book of Proverbs,chapter 8: verses 1 to 31

Song: Happy the man

Happy the Man Who Finds the Grace - YouTube

Reading:

The book of Isaiah, chapter 66: verses 12 to 14

Reading:

The gospel of Luke, chapter 13: verses 18 to 34

Song: Spirit of holiness

Spirit of holiness BLOW THE WIND SOUTHERLY - YouTube

Prayers:

Everlasting God, we join together in praying to you for the needs of the church, the world, our communities and ourselves, trusting in your love which reaches out from before the foundation of the world.

Loving God, we bring before you the worldwide church, all so different and diverse, yet all seen, known and loved equally by you. We pray especially for our brothers and sisters facing persecution. We pray for Gods protection against rising extremism over his church and that isolated believers will know God’s comfort and find ways to grow in their faith. We pray also for Gods wisdom and protection over Open Doors' work, that it will bear much fruit.

Holy God, whenever we start to get offended by your generosity or open-mindedness, give us the grace to repent and join your rejoicing. Guard the Church against self-righteousness and all rules and limits which you would not own, but keep always before us the rule of love. Lord, We ask that as the church seeks to move forward, it will do so with love, mercy and justice at the heart.

Creator God, we pray for your world.  Forgive us when we are ungrateful when spiritual blindness prevents us from appreciating the wonder of your creation and the endless cycle of nature.  Forgive us for taking without giving; reaping without sowing.  We pray for the farmers of the world, many of whom still use those methods described by Jesus and we especially pray that they may be treated with fairness for their labours. We especially remember those who work with the land, especially those who are suffering so badly from climate change.

Father God, we thank you for the love we share with our families and our friends.  We recognise that they may have faults and they love us in spite of ours.  Help us to be flexible and adaptable in all of our relationships and also capable of accepting constructive criticism. Loving God, we bring before you the children and families who this week will be finishing school for the summer break. We know that the summer can be a joyous time of togetherness and memory making, however we are also aware that it can feel like it goes on forever, where there are difficulties such as relationships, juggling care, finding extra meals and isolation, so a time of peace turns into a time of anxiety and stress. We ask for you to be with all over this time, grant rest, peace and harmony and help us as your church to reach out and shine your light into this community.

Loving God and Lord of life, we pray for the gift of courage to face up to and cope with illness. We pray for it for ourselves, and for those who we now name before you quietly within our hearts.

We thank you for those who through their courage have come through illness.

Gracious God, give us ears to hear and minds to understand the message of immortality for the children of your kingdom so that we may look forward with patience and confidence to that time when we will join you in the peace of eternity.  We especially pray for those recently bereaved.

Faithful God, we thank you for the opportunity of being together in prayer. As we look forward to the week to come, we pray for an awareness of your love and support in all we do.
for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour, Jesus Christ.  Amen

Song: Jesus my Lord

Jesus My Lord Will Love Me Forever (Clayton) // Congregational Hymn Singing - YouTube

God: male or female

Some of you may be aware that there has been some controversy in the Church of England over the last year, and in other denominations before that. Specifically, the subject I am referring to is the matter of how we address God. The C of E has set up a group of theologians to look at whether there are opportunities to use more inclusive language in their worship. And whether it is appropriate to do this.

The response to this has been mixed! Some welcome it, others don’t see the need for it, or the point of it. Others ridicule, or vilify the effort as a waste of time and money, even accusing it of being a distraction from the church’s main mission.

If you read Contact magazine a few months ago there an article on this very subject. The author seemed to be at best sceptical about the project, suggesting that the time taken up would be better spent “sharing the Gospel to hell-bound sinners whilst the days of grace are still with us.”

Undoubtedly, this is what the church should be about. I cannot fault the author’s enthusiasm for evangelism. However, one of my frustrations over the years has been the ability of the church in general to put people off by the use of inappropriate language. This makes me ask the question “How many ‘hell bound sinners’ have not heard the call of Christ because of the language the church uses?”

Most defences of the existing use of a male pronoun for God are based on two things; the English translations of the bible, and tradition. Tradition is fine, it is what our lives and civilisations are built on. But, just because our forbears did something is not necessarily a reason for us to do it. The Church is not a museum, it is not a project to preserve the language and customs of a bygone era.

Translations of the original texts is a fraught process. Words in other languages have gender, every noun is either male or female. Some languages have a third, neuter, option. This is difficult for English speakers, when encountering other languages. French for instance has two genders, everything is male or female, and the gender in language is not always the same as the sex. For instance, the male reproductive organs have a female gender, and the female organs have a male gender! A nightmare for the translator. German has a third, neuter, option. The upshot of these facts is that things which we are used to referring to as “it”, are either “he” or “she”.

The article in Contact quotes the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, Interestingly, back in 2018, he very wisely said “God is not male or female. God is not definable.”

However, the article then goes on to robustly defend the exclusive use of the male pronoun when referring to God.

In order to make a decision, it is necessary to look at the facts.

• Jesus was indisputably a man. He was born as a human, and therefore had to be either a man or a woman, and he was a man.

• Jesus called God “father”. The word he used was abba, which does not carry the formality of “father”, perhaps more like “dad”, but nonetheless male.

• Jesus is referred to as the “son” of God.

I can think of no circumstance where it would be appropriate to refer to Jesus using any other pronoun but a male one. To do so would detract from his humanity.

However, when it comes to God, it is not quite so clear cut. There are several passages where God is apparently identified as having a “feminine side” as we might say today. Right at the start of the bible, in the story of creation we have an important sentence.

“So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.”

It was only when both men and women were created that God was fully imaged. Both men and women are made in the image of God!

The first time that God says something is “not good” is when man is alone. It is necessary for a woman to be created in order to make the creation perfect, more reflective of the divine nature.

God has feminine attributes as well as masculine.  Or, perhaps better said, God has attributes which both men and women image uniquely!  There are things about God that men more directly put on display, and there are things about God that women more directly display.

There are a number of interesting images from scripture of where God is likened to attributes which we regard as female:

• God comforts his people like a mother comforts her child (Isaiah 66:13)

• Like a woman would never forget her nursing child, God will not forget his children (Isaiah 49:15)

• God is like a mother eagle hovering over her young (Deuteronomy 32:11)

• God seeks the lost like a housekeeper, trying to find her lost coin (Luke 15:8-10)

• God cares for his people like a midwife that cares for the child she just delivered (Ps 22:9-10, Ps 71:6, Isa 66:9)

• God experiences the fury of a mother bear robbed of her cubs (Hosea 13:8)

• Jesus longed for the people of Jerusalem, like a mother hen longs to gather her chicks under her wings (Luke 13:34)

Some of these are familiar to us through the work of hymn-writers, or Sunday school and preachers.

I am not saying that God is a woman! Any more than I am saying that when God is shown as protecting people in the way that an earthly father ought to, this proves that he is a man!

God is much more diverse that that. Some of this diversity is reflected in one of the names for God used in the old testament. In many places, he is referred to as “Elohim”. These are the places where the translation uses “God”, such as Genesis chapter 1. In other places, the name “JHWH” (Jehovah) is used, usually translated as “The Lord”.

Elohim is a plural form. Not used to suggest that there is more than one God, but to demonstrate God’s diversity and enormity. There is a modern language usage which tries to avoid being sex specific by using “They” instead of “He”, “She” or even the rather clumsy “He or She”. In view of the diverseness of God, suggested by Elohim, might this be a solution?

In our attempts to evangelise, we must try to avoid a “one size fits all” approach to language. Images of God which are helpful to some, can be barriers to others. In particular, in our fragmented and broken society, the image of “Father” is one to be very careful with.

The Holy Spirit is at one more clear cut, and more controversial. The Hebrew word for spirit, ruach, has the female gender. Similarly, so does the Aramaic word, probably the language which Jesus would have spoken much of the time. This means that there is a very strong case for referring to the spirit as “She”. There is a hymn in “Singing the Faith”, the new Methodist hymn book which encapsulates this.

StF 393 She sits like a bird, brooding on the waters - YouTube

We are used to the idea of the church being the “bride of Christ”, which in the hymn “The church’s one foundation” is extended to the church being female. And yet we regard the church as “The body of Christ”. This hymn, to my knowledge has never been controversial.

Wisdom, sometimes given the name “Sophia”, the Greek word for Wisdom, is translated as having the female gender in the passage we read from Proverbs. Traditionally identified as the spirit of God, she is referred to as being with God as the very beginning of things. There seem to be “echoes” between “Wisdom” and “The Word” as described in John’s gospel. Perhaps Wisdom can also be identified with “The Word”, something picked up by Wesley in our hymn “Happy the man”, where Wisdom, Heaven and Christ are identified as “One”. Certainly, Wesley seems to have no difficulty in using the feminine pronoun in this case.

In conclusion, I do not believe that it is possible to answer the question “What sex is God?” As in so many questions, God is much bigger that our understanding of Him. Forty Years ago J. B. Phillips wrote a book “Your God is too small”  In his discussion of God, author J.B. Phillips encourages Christians to redefine their understanding of a creator without labels or earthly constraints and instead search for a meaningful concept of God. Phillips explains that the trouble facing many of us today is that we have not found a God big enough for our modern needs.

In our conversations about God, and God’s sex, we need to be aware that the question is much bigger than any answer which we can give, limited as we are by human ideas, and the language which we attempt to use. We must also be aware that whilst God has attributes which we attribute as Male, there are also those attributes which we consider Female. Our language, and outreach must try to accommodate this.

Song: Facing a task unfinished

Facing a Task Unfinished - YouTube