catapult magazine

just a quick intro to a topic i’ve been meaning to post about for a couple of days now…some folks at our church have been discussing what to do about gender language in liturgy, hymns, Scripture, etc. as it refers to God (ex. “seek the Lord while He may be found”).

does anyone have any thoughts on this or want to offer arguments on either side of the debate?

Matt, in light of your last post, it seems we may not fundamentally disagree, at least in practice; our disagreement in practice is only one of degree. You are not willing to change “Our Father” to “Our Parent” but you are willing to change “His people” to “God’s people.”

We disagree to a greater extent in theory, and this is evidenced by the sort of arguments we make to support our practice.

I find it problematic when in the worship of God we change God’s words to suit the worshippers. To me, this only places higher value on the sensibilities of (human)listeners than on the intimate, self-revelation of God. I know you would never assert that we ought to love our neighbor more than God, but I wonder whether your arguments imply this without your intention.

It’s my own dumb fault for not following this discussion all along. I’m just catching up now, so forgive me if I’m repeating someone else’s argument.

First of all, I don’t know how it would be possible to understand the message(s) of Scripture without understanding the cultural significances of gender roles in the societies from which the writings come. Much of Jesus’ activity does not make sense if we have no clue about the birthright rituals of early Jewish culture and the typical relationship between a father and a firstborn son in that culture. God could have come to earth just as God: the universal genderless abstract being that loves us in a perfectly abstract and theoretical way. But God saw it fit to reveal himself in terms of a relationship between father and son. The bible does not say: “Jesus, as God, woke himself up after being dead for three days.” No, it is important to the story that God “the father” vindicates Jesus “his son” by raising him from the dead. The relationship between God the father and Jesus the son reminds us of God’s relationship to Israel (his children) and to all the other firstborn and secondborn sons of the Old Testament. Jesus must be vindicated by God so that we can see that the reward (blessing) that the prophets were always longing for finally has been given. God the father gives the birthright of eternal life to all his children, thanks to Jesus, our brother. We are no longer slaves to sin and death, but free family members at the most intimate place of Jewish and Greek custom: the table.

All these cultural things are significant for us to understand the story of Scripture. Don’t we lose a good part of the story if we mess around too much with the way God chose to reveal Himself to us? If we go too far down this road, the whole story will start to lose its significance in the same way that the salvation story is losing (has lost) its cultural weight now that slavery seems to be nearly extinct. Understanding the story of the sacrifice of Jesus depends on a certain cultural context of what it means to be a slave that owes a debt to his/her master. We don’t have such a cultural system of slavery in place any more, so shouldn’t we find a new way of explaining Christ’s method of salvation (which has traditionally been explained in terms of death on the cross being a slave/servant’s payment of the debt owed to the Master God)?

How ’bout this?

God is the greatest CEO in the world. He/She wants to hire us on His/Her team for a very important business opportunity: the creation of a great Kingdom that will make everybody really rich. God’s business partner and expert venture capitalist, Jesus, came to hire or fire God’s next potential apprentices for this great venture. You don’t have to pay anything up front to invest in the company. Jesus actually wants to pay you for your investment. Sound like a good deal? Call 1 800 GET PAID.

Now that’s culturally relevant! (spoken like a true Christian)

That’s hilarious, Grant. We needed a little humor to lighten the mood!!

I’ll be sure to call in. With a resume like mine, I’m sure to be hired…

Oh wait…geesh.

I just realized, though, that MasterCard already has it covered—it is the card that pays you back. With a card like that, who needs Jesus?

Actually, Discover pays you back. But almost no one accepts it.

Yeah, but VISA is everywhere you want to be. Omnipresence is a real virtue.