We’ve been singing a wonderful hymn in church the last few weeks. Author Brian Wren wanted to show that “aspects of the divine are revelaed in our maleness, femaleness, youth, and age in a moving, growing matrix of life in God.”
“Bring Many Names”
Bring many names, beautiful and good,
celebrate, in parable and story
holiness in glory,
living, loving God.
Hail and Hosanna!
bring many names!
Strong mother God, working night and day,
planning all the wonders of creation,
setting each equation,
genius at play:
Hail and Hosanna,
strong mother God!
Warm father God, hugging every child,
feeling all the wonders of creation,
caring and forgiving
till we’re reconciled:
Hail and Hosanna,
warm father God!
Old, aching God, grey with endless care,
calmly piercing evil’s new disguises,
glad of good surprises, wiser than despair:
Hail and Hosanna, old, aching God!
Young, growing God, eager, on the move,
saying no to falsehood and unkindness,
crying out for justice,
giving all you have:
Hail and Hosanna,
young, growing God!
Great living God, never fully known,
joyful darkness far beyond our seeing,
closer yet than breathing,
everlasting home:
Hail and Hosanna,
great, living God!
(c)1989 by Hope Publishing Company
I have been exploring a variety of images of God in the past couple of years particularly God as mother. I am going to start writing of the images of God I am praying, and how they are changing me, how I see God, and the way I pray.
The picture is Farid de la Ossa Areita’s God, the Mother.
No, I haven’t heard of her. I’ll make sure to check out her books. And sometimes kids’ books are the best. As Madeline L’Engle used to say (loose paraphrase): “I think about what I want to write. If adults can’t handle, I write a book for children or teens.”
Have you read the book In God’s Name by Sandy Sasso? This post made me think of this wonderful book, a favorite of mine.
Rabbi Sasso also writes a wonderful book But God Remembered, telling the stories of forgotten women in scripture. If you haven’t found her yet, I highly recommend the reads. You will find her in the children’s section, but her writing is for all of God’s children.
I’d love that SpiritMists. I will drop you an email. I’m going to be posting a different version of The Lord’s Prayer we prayed last Sunday.
I would love to be in e-conversation with you about feminine images of God in prayer; I love the idea, and find it very difficult to implement on a personal level. It makes it difficult for me to pray sometimes, because I see this as a limitation that I don’t know how to deal with…
Thanks for your wonderful image–I love it!
(love the new haircut too!)