Mothering God

One of the hymns recommended for use with two of the lectionary readings for this coming Sunday (Jeremiah 1:4-10 and Psalm 71:1-5) is "Mothering God, You Gave Me Birth," 2050, in The Faith We Sing. It is set to the familiar MARYTON tune that is also used in The United Methodist Hymnal to accompany "O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee," no. 430.

But it is the text of this hymn that was controversial when The Faith We Sing was released in the year 2000. It led to charges that we were replacing the traditional patriarchal God of the Scriptures with new feminine deities. There were complaints and protests, many resulting from organized campaigns from various groups within The United Methodist Church. Today the complaints have disappeared, but there is still a lack of understanding of this hymn. The text, by Jean Janzen, a writer and teacher of poetry working and living in California, is based on the writings of Juliana of Norwich, a fifteenth century English writer, mystic, and hermit. As with some other hymns in The Faith We Sing and The United Methodist Hymnal, this hymn makes use of feminine imagery in depicting God to help us understand and celebrate God's creation and nurture of humanity. Some have seen the upper case "M" at the beginning of each stanza's first word, "Mothering," and understood it to be a name for God, Christ, and Spirit, or perhaps a feminist rendering of the Trinity, or an attempt to establish and worship feminine deities. In reality, of course, the upper case results from its place at the beginning of the sentence, and the word "mothering" is a descriptive adjective and not a name or title.

Thus, "Mothering God, you gave me birth in the bright morning of this world" is a statement of recognition and thanksgiving for God's creative act in Genesis. In the human birthing process, we do not create life by causing a deep sleep, removing a bone from the man, and using dust and ashes to create a new adult. We understand the science of human procreation and the birthing role of the mother. It is thus quite natural for us to believe God to be present in that process today and, indeed, to even say that it is God who remains the ultimate creator, the ultimate life-giver in that process; and it is God who ultimately gives birth to each new baby born.

When the poet author says "you are my rain, my wind, my sun," she is not suggesting that God is literally rain, wind, and sun. We understand these as parts of God's creation and necessary gifts to us that provide for human existence. It is a poetic device to further recognize that, just as God gives us life, God also nurtures its continuation.

Stanza two recognizes that Christ, God incarnate in human form, who literally gave his life for us and who continues to sustain us through the sacrament, also bears a similarity to the role of a mother in human interaction. Stanza three similarly speaks of a mothering aspect of the Spirit in the work of continuing nurture and intimacy, the bringing and growing in the faith.

These images, rather than being attempts to replace the patriarchal God of the Scriptures with feminine deities, help us to experience and understand the fullness of the Trinitarian God in terms of human relationships and experiences.