Speaking about God

The almost exclusively female congregation had just finished singing, “Let there be peace”, when a friend turned to me and remarked that the Catholics had gone for gender-neutral language. The original words of the song, “with God as our Father, brothers are all are we/Let me walk with my brother” had been rewritten, “with God our creator, children all are we/Let me walk with my neighbour”.  “In my dreams,” was my first thought, but I responded with, “We prefer the term inclusive language.”

This exchange took place at the conclusion of this year’s World Day of Prayer, an ecumenical event that celebrates the determination and achievements of women around the world in overcoming poverty, oppression, and human rights abuses.  It was the turn of the Catholic women in my hometown to host the event, and they had opted for an inclusive language version of the closing song.
http://www.worlddayofprayer.net/

Their choice seemed appropriate to me for what has traditionally been a women’s event that gives voice to the many women worldwide who live with the unjust systems of patriarchy.  Male dominance and violence consistently figure in the lives of women everywhere.  The image of God as a benevolent male is contrary to the lived experience of many people, female and male alike.

Language shapes and reflects values

I was recently reminded of this encounter at the World Day of Prayer service while listening to a discussion on gender neutrality in Sweden. The discussion centered on language, and the use of one little word, “hen”.  The most recent edition of the Swedish online “National Encyclopedia” proposes replacing “han” (he) and “hon” (she) with the gender neutral pronoun “hen”.  Sweden, the most gender equal country in the world, would like to eliminate traditional gender stereotyping and roles, and views language as an effective tool to accomplish that goal.

The Swedish example and the example from the World Day of Prayer illustrate the ability of language to both shape and reflect the values of a society or a community. The power of language to express a specific worldview underlies the feminist push for gender-neutral or inclusive language when referring to God.

Androcentric language for God remains the norm

Since the 1980’s, the application of gender-neutral language to God has been a common practice in many seminaries, Bible colleges, and theological schools.  This practice is clearly not catching on very quickly; three decades later, most churches persist in referencing God as male in their worship and official documents.

Christianity has inherited centuries of androcentric language, language that is centered on and around men to the exclusion of women, to describe the ineffable God. While theologically God is spirit, possessing neither a male nor female form, linguistically God is typically described, and visually depicted, as male.

"Creation of Adam" Michaelangelo

The almost exclusive use of androcentric language to describe God, particularly in public worship, perpetuates the stereotype of male superiority, implies that women are subordinate, and that male dominance is divinely ordained. The persistent metaphor of God as a ruling (usually white) male legitimizes social systems that glorify men, exclude women, exploit the marginalized, contribute to racism, and justify environmental degradation.  These are the very same social systems that many churches recognize as sinful, and seek to transform through acts of social justice.

Balance androcentric language with feminine images of God

The language of public worship, if it cannot be gender-neutral, should at least aim to be more inclusive.  Specifically masculine language can be balanced with Biblical images of God as mother, wisdom, and spirit.

"Sophia, Godess of Wisdom" by Pamela Matthews

A priest visiting my parish on Mother’s Day provided a good example of this.  He opened his homily with a description of God as a mother’s love.  He used an image from the Hebrew bible to speak of the unconditional, everlasting love that God, like a mother, has for each one of us.  For me, his homily functioned as a counterpoint to all the prayers that followed which referenced God as “he”.

There are many images of God as female, and as part of the natural world, that can be incorporated into worship. Incorporating some of these images more systematically into our speaking about God might just change the way we think. And therein lies the rub. Long held beliefs about the very structures of society, both religious and secular, will come under scrutiny and may be found wanting. 

Two sides of the same coin

As the Swedish drive for gender-neutral language indicates, linguistic change and structural change are two sides of the same coin.  Religions that speak about transforming unjust systems need to take a hard look at their language for God. In my view, it is time to stop making God into the image of men. 

Recommended post on "Biblical Maternal Images for God"

http://3dchristianity.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/biblical-maternal-images-for-god/

For more on inclusive language see  Isabella Moyers blog, Catholic Dialogue, http://catholicdialogue.com/2012/05/28/pondering-inclusive-language/

Today's culture a challenge to faith

A student's probing question

I gave the group of students in my religion class the following instructions, “Read the next two pages, and underline the ideas that you think are important.”  The exercise was a subtle way for me to evaluate the students’ mastery of concepts covered earlier in the year. Had they grasped the key elements of the catechism?

As we went around the table, each student read out one statement that they had underlined, and we briefly discussed them. I was satisfied with the students’ knowledge and understanding. They were on track with the religious education portion of their preparation for Confirmation.

One student, though, underlined a statement that had nothing to do with doctrines. It was a simple statement that readers could easily overlook as unimportant. “Ah,” I thought, “we are onto something here.”

The student had highlighted a section that talked about difficult choices and decision-making.  He read aloud, “The steady stream of difficult choices can be very confusing. This confusion can lead you to question how God is involved in your life or whether he’s involved at all.”

"Faith in the Church" by a454

The student’s selection demonstrated something deeper than the mastery of the catechism. He was probing the depths of his relationship with God. Poised between childhood and adulthood, he is considering the religious beliefs he has grown up with, and the role those beliefs have or will have in his life. The child, who readily accepts the faith of his parents, is giving way to the young man, who is preparing to make his own personal act of faith.

The culture no longer supports religious practice

In the past, many of us were simply carried along on the stream of the prevailing attitudes and practices of the community around us. When I was the same age as the students in my class, everyone went to church. It was what people did on Sundays. People sometimes regarded those who did not attend church with a degree of suspicion. Religious practice was part of the culture of the time, and it was not limited to the church building. 

Public schools opened the day with a Bible reading (which most of us rarely understood) and with the Lord’s Prayer (which we rattled off inattentively). Banquets opened with grace. Civic meetings began with prayers. There was no such thing as Sunday shopping. The culture was friendlier towards religious belief, and religious practice, even if it was merely a habit, was the norm.

Today’s culture is obviously much different in its attitude towards religion. Sunday no longer holds a special place in the week.  For many, attending church ranks low on the to-do list, if it ranks at all.  Our secular culture neither fosters the practice of religion, nor helps the individual sustain the spark of belief. The individual has to make a decision about faith and practice, without support from the culture.  This decision confronts everyone, not only the students in a religious education class.

Even if we decide that God will be part of our life, the culture frequently tests our commitment to that relationship. The values of our secular culture are often in direct contradiction to the values of the religious tradition that nurtured us as children.

Where the Gospel demands that we serve others, the culture advocates looking out for number one. Where the Gospel emphasizes respect for others, the culture bombards us with sexualized images that denigrate the human person. Where the Gospel challenges us to turn the other cheek, the culture advises us to fight back, to get even. Where the Gospel encourages generosity towards others, especially the poor and marginalized, the culture entices us towards rampant consumerism. Where the Gospel values humility, the culture fans the arrogance of the ego.

An objective for my lesson that day was to evaluate the students’ mastery of concepts; did they know the catechism?  I was pleased that they did, but even more delighted with the probing heart of that one student. 

Community supports faith decision

While knowing the teachings of your religious tradition is important, and helpful when faced with confusing moral dilemmas, entering into a personal relationship with God, and participating in a community of believers is critical for sustaining a life of faith.  This is particularly important in today’s world, where religious belief is often regarded with suspicion and hostility, and cultural practices are no longer conducive to the practice of religion, which helps to keep faith alive.

The student’s question is one worth asking of our self from time to time.  What place, if any, does God have in my life?

Photo Credit: "Faith in the Church" by a454, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net  http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1930

Serious themes in “The Hunger Games”

The recently released movie, “The Hunger Games”, based on Suzanne Collins’s book of the same name, continues to attract moviegoers.  Although targeted at teens, both the book and movie have attracted a widespread audience. The popularity of the “The Hunger Games” probably has more to do with its plot and marketing, than with themes of voter apathy, pop culture’s focus on the self, and the moral relativism prevalent in western society.

Watch the trailer: http://www.thehungergamesmovie.com/intl/ca-en/index2.html

Plot Summary

The “Hunger Games” is set in post-apocalyptic North America, in a territory called Panem, which is Latin for “bread”.  A totalitarian government, operating out of a luxurious, decadent Capitol, controls the 12 districts that comprise the nation. Every year, as punishment for a rebellious uprising, each district sends 2 tributes, a male and female between the ages of 12 -18, to compete in the Hunger Games. The games are in their 74^th year, and something is about to change.

In a survival of the fittest contest, the 24 tributes compete over a two-week period until only one remains alive. The games are played out in a fenced off wilderness area, equipped with cameras that broadcast the event throughout Panem. The contestants are ranked, and citizens bet on the tributes. The state manipulates the games with technology. The Gamemakers, who dutifully do their jobs, send in fireballs, poisonous blueberries, and ferocious man eating dogs in attempts to eliminate tributes. This manipulation makes the games more exciting for the fans, and more profitable for sponsors and government.

Overtones of the Roman Empire

The philosophy of the games is aptly summed up in the Latin phrase “panem e circenses”, meaning “bread and circuses”.  The Roman poet Juvenal coined the phrase in the 1^st century to describe the political strategy of providing free grain and lavish gladiatorial games to control the people, and distract them from any meaningful participation in civic life.  The phrase also denotes a decadent and hedonistic populace; people who satiate themselves with entertainment, instant gratification, and pleasure.

In the Panem games, Big Brother and the media team up to keep the people in line and ensure the status quo. For the citizens of Panem, the games are both entertainment and a yearly reminder of the consequences of rebelling against the established order. The games are definitely reminiscent of the gladiatorial contests that symbolized the moral decay of Rome.

Gladiators from the Zliten Mosaic (Libya)

Satire and visual criticism

The movie satirizes the reality TV genre, its popularity and its fans. The hunger games are an extreme version of “Survivor”. The citizens are fans with no moral compass. They happily gobble up the questionable values on display, which are attractively packaged and excitingly presented.

“The Hunger Games” visually portrays criticism of the gap between the rich and poor.  Those in the Capitol enjoy an abundance of food, while the heroine, Katniss, illegally hunts and sell squirrels to provide food for her family. The city dwellers wear extravagant, absurd fashions (that satirize the runway) in contrast to the poor, simple attire of those in the outlying districts.  The powerful ignore the plight of the poor while the wealthy are oblivious to it.

Moral relativism fills the spiritual vacuum

The Capitol is a spiritually bankrupt place. The citizens have lost their sense of the sacred, and of the transcendent soul within each person. “The Hunger Games” depicts a sad world populated with pitiful people who feverishly seek fulfillment in empty and cruel pleasures. The collective moral compass is broken, and the average citizen has no moral touchstone.

In such an environment, the only life that has value is one’s own; others are expendable, especially the marginalized. They can be voted off the island in the most callous manner, as in the lottery selection process, called “The Reaping”, that takes place to select the tributes.

Relativism flourishes in this spiritual vacuum, and insidiously creeps throughout the entire country. In “The Hunger Games”, the spin-doctors have lulled the population into accepting the unthinkable, teens killing teens for the amusement and profit of others.  The people of Panem accept the games as an honorable tradition instead of an atrocity, and the tributes as self-sacrificing heroes instead of frightened children trying to stay alive.  The people are complicit in endorsing an evil.

While I thought the movie was highly overrated, unnecessarily violent in places, and occasionally boring, the movie raises questions about modern day politics, pop culture, morality, and spirituality that deserve consideration. If it does not, our society is as shallow and spiritually bankrupt as the government and citizens of the Capitol.

Sitting around the kitchen table

Four generations of women

I grew up surrounded by women of strong character.   My mother, my grandmother, and my great grandmother were able to handle life’s ups and downs with grace. The more difficult the situation, the more determined they were to overcome the problems. 

Their example of grace under fire, their “when the going gets tough, the tough get going,” approach to trouble, has definitely influenced my attitude and my capacity to catch life’s curve balls. It is as if their strength of will has been passed on from generation to generation.

Warm memories of Sunday mornings

Me (in the white), with my sisters on a Sunday morning

I have vivid memories of Sundays with these three women. Together, my three sisters, my mother, my grandmother, and I headed off to church, where we met my great grandmother. She was always there ahead of us, in her usual place. She sat on the right as you entered the church, about halfway up, at the end of the pew.  In her hand, she clutched her black rosary beads, and we were conscious of the clink of the beads as she turned to smile at us before resuming her prayers.

After church, we would go over to her house, which was situated across the highway and half a block down the back lane from the church. Often, my little sister and I would walk with our grandmothers, while my mother drove the car over. Sometimes, we would urge our grandmothers to hurry, or we would rush off ahead, hoping to arrive before my mother in the car.  Other times, we relished the leisurely walk, holding hands as we happily chattered away.

 My great grandmother (center), with my grandmother to the left,
my mother to the  right, surrounded by me and my sisters

When we walked into my great grandmother’s house, we were treated to the tantalizing aroma of freshly baked bread. We knew that thick slices of buttered toast, accompanied with her delicious red currant jelly, made from the fruit she tended in her large garden, were on the morning’s menu.

The toast satisfied our hunger, but the lively conversations that ensued were the best part of our time in the kitchen. The women always had a week’s worth of catching up on family news, and as we grew older, my sisters and I would chirp in with our opinions.

Roots that reach deep into the past

When I reflect on that time in my life, I am reminded that I have roots that reach deep into the past, before the formation of my earliest memories. The four generations of women gathered in that kitchen tangibly symbolized previous generations. Each generation helped to shape our individual and collective stories.  The story continues to unfold, stretching into the future, as my daughter’s life, and the lives of my sons are interwoven with the lives of these same women.

My daughter and I in the matching sweaters, my grandmother and my mother

Faith and family informed the lives of these women. In the pew, and around the table, I witnessed a living faith, infused with love.  The spirituality in that kitchen may have had originated in the personal piety of my great grandmother’s clinking rosary beads and bended knee, but it strongly manifested itself in familial relationships.

Not every moment of these relationships was perfect. Sometimes, the women argued. Sometimes they exchanged harsh words in anger. But always, the little kitchen was warm with deep affection. There was the willingness to admit a mistake, to forgive an offense, and a readiness to help one another. 

The experience of those Sunday mornings, first as we gathered at church, and then as we broke bread around my grandmother’s table, was foundational to my spiritual formation.  I absorbed many values, and learned about faith and relationships on those Sunday mornings.

The witness of faith

While my faith is experienced in the present, its origins are rooted in the past, in the witness of my family, and in the witness of the first Christians, who encountered the resurrected Jesus, and passed the faith of that first Easter morning onto future generations.

Easter faith, boiled down to its essential element, is the story of God’s timeless love affair with humanity. It is a story rooted in the past, encountered in the present, and reaching into the future.

Easter faith encounters God waiting in the pew for our arrival: God guiding us across the highway: God baking the bread to satisfy our hunger: God dying on a cross to forgive our offenses.

Easter is the story of God and us, of grace overcoming fire. It is the story of a God whose unconditional love for us will stop at nothing, not even death, to sit at the kitchen table with us.

Pursuing peace through humanitarian assistance

NGOs play a vital role in the pursuit of peace

Non-governmental organizations (NGO) play a vital role in promoting justice and in building peace. The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace recently learned that the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has drastically reduced its funding.

In 2011, the public contributed $12.6 million in donations to Development and Peace, while CIDA’s contribution was $8.2 million. From 2006-2011, CIDA contributed $44.6 million. Over the next five years, CIDA will contribute a paltry $14.5 million, and has stipulated that this money can only be used in 7 of the 30 countries where Development and Peace operates. Although Development and Peace has a substantial presence in Africa, only 1 African country is on the CIDA list. This is shocking since the continent is plagued with problems, like poverty, drought, starvation, AIDS, and civil strife.

NGOs make an important contribution to the global community. Development and Peace, for example, works with other voluntary international agencies to promote sustainable development, to reduce poverty, to empower women, and to protect human rights in Africa, Central and Latin America, and parts of Asia, collectively called the Global South. This is the work of peace building, and it benefits all of us.

The Cambodian experience - an example

I recently had the opportunity to hear Mam Sambath, the executive director of Development and Partnership in Action (DPA), a Cambodian NGO and partner of Development and Peace, speak about the successes and challenges of reconstructing Cambodian society after the 1975-1979 genocide of the Pol Pot regime that killed 2 million Cambodians.

The Cambodian example is instructive for understanding the problems that threaten the wellbeing of thousands of people daily throughout the Global South. DPA’s work in education, natural resource management, food security, and health are helpful in understanding the important contribution of NGOs.

Raising the standard of living for a community

Click on Solidarity Cards to
read more at
http://www.devp.org/en/sharelent/materials

Some specific DPA projects include literacy training for women, building schools, and providing scholarships, especially for girls. Educating communities in proper agricultural techniques, livestock management, and fish culture secures the food supply, and increases income. Literacy and agricultural projects raise the standard of living throughout the community.

Seeking justice for indigenous communities

In Cambodia, as elsewhere, the physical and spiritual wellbeing of indigenous communities is integrally connected with the land. Through its natural resource management programs, DPA helps communities develop sustainable land projects. It advocates for indigenous land rights, and helps communities obtain legal recognition for projects, and legal land titles. This is important when companies with government granted land concessions seek to develop the land for mining or plantations.

Improving health

Simple measures improve health for both individuals and the community. Water pumps, filter containers and hand washing reduce the incidence of disease. Mosquito nets protect against malaria and dengue fever.

Coping with climate change

With DPA’s help, communities develop an action plan to cope with climate change. Small irrigation projects, dams and canals help communities avoid or mitigate widespread damage from drought and floods.

While projects and programs improve the standard of living in rural areas, it is more difficult to impact government attitudes that contribute to systemic injustice. Mam noted that human rights abuses, the prohibition against public assembly, and limited access to public information are continuing challenges.

Longing for peace

While Cambodia’s experience of gender inequality, illiteracy, poverty, and the exploitation of indigenous communities is a common story, so is the people’s desire to live in peace and with dignity. This longing in the human heart unites people in the Global North and in the Global South, and is a reminder of our common humanity, and our responsibility for one another.

Of the world’s 184 recognized nations, 157 nations comprise the Global South, where lack of safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, environmental degradation, human and civil rights abuses, and ethnic conflict are part of daily life. NGOs help communities address some of these challenges, and are a tool for positive action in the Global South.

Humanitarian projects are worth the money

In my view, government funding of NGOs is taxpayer dollars well spent. NGOs are an effective, efficient, and inexpensive tool for positive action. NGOs pursue peace through projects that fashion a more equitable and compassionate world, where all people share in the good gifts of the earth. Without respect for the dignity and rights of all people, there can be no peace.

The Canadian government continues to cut funding to humanitarian organizations. In the long run, this may contribute to sustaining conflict, rather than promoting a culture of peace.

Sites of interest:
Development and Peace: http://www.devp.org/en
http://www.devp.org/en/blog/reduced-funding-development-and-peace-global-south-needs-you-more-ever
Development and Partnership in Action: http://www.dpacam.org/