God of Many Names
Reverend Judy Currier
August 17, 2008
John 4:19-24
The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him, must worship in spirit and truth."
There is rich diversity in the names and titles used for God in the scriptures. Books have been written exploring images of God. This morning I want to make a brief tour through some of these images to show how they can enrich and expand our understanding and experience of God.
Jesus said to the woman, "those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth." Yes, God is spirit! But, a spirit is hard to get a hold of. We can acknowledge God as spirit, and even pray to God as spirit, but, when we need God to be close, when we are hurting, when we need strength, we imagine God as other than ‘just’ spirit. We don’t change God, or our belief in God, but personal images are easier for our human mind to grasp.
It is like the little girl who is frightened of the thunder storm and climbs into her parents’ bed. Mommy takes her back to her own room and tucks her in. Mommy reminds her of Gods care and what the girl learned in Sunday school about God loving her and gets back in her own bed. At the next crash of thunder the little girl is back in bed with mom and dad. A bit exasperated mom says don’t you believe God will take care of you? The little girl says, "Yes, but in a storm I want someone with skin on."
When we put ‘skin’ on something we want give it a gender. It is part of our language, our custom. We inherited the "he" from ancient languages which differentiate between male and female words. God was a "he" word. Adonai means my master or Lord, El Shaddai, is God almighty; El ohim (used in Genesis) means Gods - Gods in the plural form. ....we won’t even go there today...
If we had gone with the "spirit" word, then God would have been a female word. In both Hebrew and Greek Spirit "Ruah" and "Pneuma" are both words with feminine endings.
Sally McFague in her book Models of God goes so far as to say, "Metaphors of God, far from reducing God to what we understand; underscores by their multiplicity and lack of fit, the unknowability of God." She goes on to say, "This crucial characteristic of metaphorical language for God is lost, however, when only one important personal relationship, that of father and child, is allowed to serve as a grid for speaking of the God-human relationship. In fact, by excluding other relationships as metaphors, the model of father becomes idolatrous, for it comes to be viewed as a description of God."
‘What is in a name?’ Shakespeare asks. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." It is still a rose. To a person who knows roses, a floribunda, or an American Beauty, brings up a different image than a Martha Stewart rose.
So with God, a person may have knowledge of God, but to a Christian who has walked with God through joys and disappointments of life, when God has been with you in grief, illness and pain, for you, God the "rock of ages" adds a richness, a fullness to our personal understanding of God.
I believe God is so all encompassing, so comprehensive, so inclusive, that we can’t take in all the facets of God. Perhaps like a diamond which can be moved and each tiny facet winks at us, we see this one and then this one.... but the beauty of the whole is there also. God is always more than we can know.
An Islamic child must learn the 99 names of Allah. How many names for God can you think of? What are some of your favorites?
Moses, when he was called to lead the people out of Egypt, asked God for a name. Who are you? God said "I am who I am" tell them "I am" sent you." I can imagine Moses saying, "Huh?"
That passage has puzzled people through-out the ages. In essence it is a way of explaining the personal name given God in the Old Testament: Yahweh. (Actually spelled "YHWH", for in ancient Hebrew there were no vowels.)
It means something like, "I cause to be what is." Or "I am the causing one." The creator, perhaps? But the Hebrew people did not allow one name or one image of God to stick to tightly. The Bible pours out pictures of God to us. Yet, God remains a mystery. God can be felt, glimpsed, intimated, but never fully known until a future fulfillment. Paul wrote, "now we see in a mirror dimly, then we shall see face to face."
This morning I invite you to let your mind loose for a moment and let the pictures I share with you become like slides in a slide show, images of God, some familiar and some not so familiar, or perhaps some not so comfortable.
God is father. This is by far our most common word for God. It is one Jesus used often. What would be your image of God described as "Father"? (Strong, Protector. Wise.) Once Jesus used ‘abba’ when the disciples ask him to teach them to pray, it’s the word for daddy. How is that different than Father?
Shepherd is another common image. Ezekiel 34: "I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will find them a place to rest." What qualities do you think the ancients saw in a shepherd that they experienced in God? (Leader.... Tender... Protector... safety...) Psalm 23 He leads me to the still waters... the green pastures.... Restores my soul....
These two images of father and shepherd have become so dominant that we forget God can also be understood as a woman, as in Luke 15 when Jesus is telling the story that God is like the father of the prodigal son and then goes on to say God is like a woman who has lost a coin. Have you images of God as mother? Isaiah 66 "As a mother comforts a child, so shall I comfort you and you will be comforted."
"I cry like a woman in labor", says God in Isaiah 42. Have you ever been around a woman who is going into labor. She says, "NOW is the time to go to the hospital!" and you go. No waiting until later... no arguing. When has God said to you, "NOW is the time. Enough fooling around, enough thinking it over. NOW is the time."
An eagle has long been a powerful image of God, "As an eagle stirs up her nest... that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings catching them on its pinions. So the lord alone did lead Israel" Deuteronomy 32:11.
"The Lord is my Rock…my stronghold, my fortress" is from Psalm 18. "My God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield." Remember the times God was the strong rock you held on to in times of sorrow or crisis?
"We are clay and you are our potter" Isaiah 64. Do you see God as a potter molding clay, creating, with the wet clay oozing through strong fingers? We sometimes sing, "You are the potter I am the clay, mold me and make me after thy will..." God as the divine creator bending over the clay, our living, breathing world draws its life from the creative breath that shapes and forms it.
Hebrews 12, "Our God is a consuming fire." John Wesley knew a fire inside. He said his heart was strangely warmed. "A fire shut up in my bones," is how Jeremiah described his call by God. Does God burn in you? What will be consumed? What favorite security blanket? What fences of self protection? It can be uncomfortable opening our minds and hearts to a new image of God.
Can you picture God as baker woman taking the warm bread out of the stone oven? The Bible does.
Think of it. We have pictures of God as male and as female, as eagle and as fire, as judge, refuge, king, word, bread, rice, lover, dove, even inanimate images like a rock, a blanket, a fortress, or a tree. The United Methodist Committee on Worship came up with a list of over 200 images or names for God, most of them Biblical, such as "source of life", "Israel’s shield", or compassionate one". Using these names can be a valuable experience in our prayer life.
I grew up in the church. We were all sons of God. I had heard it all my life: you are a child of God, you are a son of God, yet it didn’t quite fit. I didn’t know why, I just knew I was uncomfortable. One day when I was about 37 I was walking across campus at college thinking about being a "son of God" and how would a son of God do such and such, when it hit me like a bolt out of the blue, Wait a minute! I am a daughter of God! It was my moment of personal relationship with God. It all suddenly fit!
I was very close to my earthly father. I knew what it felt like to be my father’s daughter. I had brothers and they were his sons, but my sister and I were Dale’s daughters. I had often explained my place in the greater family as, "I am Dale’s daughter" and then some second cousin twice removed would say "Oh, OK. They knew where I fit in the family and who I belonged to.
I am a daughter of God. I know where I fit and who I belong to."
If our images and words leave people out, then they need remodeling. We may not need to use other images, but if our use of only one image leaves others out, then we must change our language to include all in the community of God. But it isn’t the words or images by themselves. It is the use of them, that limits and restricts and that is wrong.
When God called me into the ministry and the Methodist church said, "no, only men are called," it was wrong. When the Catholic Church teaches that women cannot be priests because God and Jesus are male and priests have to be in the physical image of God, we have turned our images of God into idols and tyrants. If our naming God leaves someone out then we must find new names, for God is the God for all.
When, in the name of God we make women, or a race, a class, or a sexual preference second class, one of "the other", then we need to change the God names we use. When our faith gets foggy and indistinct and we become bored or neglectful, we need to personally find some new names for God, to widen our view and deepen our faith.
There was an artist who painted what became a famous picture of Jesus and the children. He painted the canvas with Jesus sitting on a rock in the middle, and gathered around him were children. You may have seen it. But, before the artist was finished he woke with a start in the middle of the night. Something was wrong with the picture. He rushed to the studio and furiously changed the colors of the children. White became black and brown and yellow. Jesus welcomes the children of the world, not children of one race or nation.
I suggest an exercise for you this week when you meditate. I ask you to take a name for God that is new and different. Let it form an image for you, let it sit front and center on the altar of your mind. I challenge you to widen your picture of God. Will you become sensitive to the restrictive nature of our language? I try to use images and pronouns that do not limit, for I believe when we use only one or two images of God we are limiting our ability to grasp the Almighty, we are restricting all that God can be for us. We are saying I will only experience God like this and not like this or this.
What name do you call God? What is the name that rises out of your heart of hearts when you talk with God? Live with that question for a while. Move beneath the God names which have been given to you. Discover the name that you call God. Live with the name. Use the name in your prayers, in your meditation. Explore the meaning of your name for God, its nuances and its subtleties. Celebrate your discovery and then ask yourself, "What name does God call me?"