God as mother

How does it help us understand ourselves to think about God in the feminine?

God as a mother who comforts her child. (Isaiah 66:13) God as nursing mother, (Isaiah 49:15), and God’s children as newborn infants (1 Peter 2:2). God who is pregnant and gives birth (Isaiah 46:3-4, Deuteronomy 32:18, John 3:5). God as a woman in labor (Isaiah 42:14), and God as the midwife delivering a child (Psalm 22:8-10).

There are more examples too. . . God as a mama bear, God as a mother eagle, Jesus as a mother hen, God as a woman looking for her lost coin. What if we imagined our life with God as a time to get close and receive life-giving nourishment, trusting God in the same sort of way as an infant trusts her mama?

When we start realizing that God is not contained by [male] imagery, we grow in our understanding and our relationship with God.

The message is an excerpt from God as mother by Michelle Terry in the April 30, 2018, issue of Café. Today is the eighth Sunday after Pentecost.

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