"Masculinism" goes Mainstream | Inclusive Language Hymns |

Friends,

Whew! I just got certified as a Social Justice Mediator. 36 hours of zoom sessions with training, practice, adjustment. I'm proud, and exhausted!

Hopefully I'll be able to write about it soon.

-Liz

Inclusive and Expansive Language

I went to an ordination of a fellow UCC pastor about a year ago. His sponsoring church is lead by a gay man.

And the service included not a single use of inclusive language. God was "he" throughout.

I gotta say: No wonder we are where we are in this nation today.

If mainline churches cannot recognize that the fundamental nature of God does not have gender, then perhaps there really is little hope for our faith.

I will admit that I’m not a good at predicting the future. When I was in seminary twenty plus years ago, I didn’t even study the arguments for inclusive and expansive language for God (and for humanity!) I thought the issue was resolved! Who could believe in a higher power that is trapped into human forms?

For sure we believe in the incarnation, but that is amazing because God is so much more than humanness.

[God] emptied Godself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
​(Philippians 2:7-8).

The incredulous language here is not a God that looks like and acts like a human male, coming onto earth, but rather a God that is completely more than human becoming less-than in order to live among us.

This is not the story of a man-God becoming a man-human.

The biggest argument given is that Jesus refers to God as his male parent. Which is absolutely true and important. Jesus also describes God as a Shepherd (which is often the role of a daughter or youngest son in those times). God as ruler, judge, potter. God as the bread of life, light of the world, God is the vine, the door or gate. God is like a mother hen. God is love.

In the Hebrew Bible God is protector, rock, a fortress, a shield. God the creator is a verb, not a noun. Elohim is plural not singular.

The other argument is that Greek and Hebrew use “he” to refer to God. I will simply remind us that these are gendered languages. These languages also use “she” to refer to the Holy Spirit. While we are at it, truth, blessing, land, and nation all take the “she”pronoun in Hebrew as well.

The only reason to limit God to the “he” pronoun is bad habit.

But why do I care? Because it hurts us. Because patriarchy hurts women, non-binary people, and men. Because “masculinism” is now a driving force in our elected leadership, and we have not equipped followers of Christ to reject this blasphemy.

Language guides our thinking. Language is how we grapple with(inadequately) with our faith. Language is how we communicate what is important to the generations to come. It is critical that we communicate that we all are made in God’s image, and that God is not a a big human male, limited by all that pre-supposes. .

What is your church doing, or thinking about doing these days? How are you being here in your particular place? Just reply to this email to let me know what's happening. ​
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Here are some links to inclusive language hymns. To be honest I mostly use old hymns and adapt them, or get the words from the Chalice hymnal. Sometimes I print just the edits to the hymn in the bulletin, or call out the substitute words the congregation can use.

An article from the Atlantic Magazine on Masculinism. It's a bit frightening.

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