Almighty God - El Shaddai - Mother God

What amazing readings we have upon us this weekend!  Yet, I was struggling to find words to write about them. I sat, I read, I prayed... and nothing really came.

Then I went to church and our pastor and I got into a brief discussion about the Scriptures as I was setting up for mass. One part of his homily is what I will write about today.

When you think of the words "Almighty God" what image comes to mind?  I don't know about you, but when I was asked me that question, my cultural conditioning kicked in and I immediately thought of the image of a powerful, old man... White hair flowing, white robes gleaming, exuding all kinds of power and might.

So when asked, I replied "Zeus-like!" My pastor just had to laugh; thus is the Greek influence on our Church, is basically what he said. 

Then in his homily he asked that question at large - what image does Almighty God conjure for you? Most of us think of Old Man God. Father God. Powerful God.

Our first reading from Isaiah really demands that we consider otherwise.

Thus says the LORD:
Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her,
all you who love her;
exult, exult with her,
all you who were mourning over her!
Oh, that you may suck fully
of the milk of her comfort,
that you may nurse with delight
at her abundant breasts!
For thus says the LORD:
Lo, I will spread prosperity over Jerusalem like a river,
and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent.
As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms,
and fondled in her lap;
as a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.

When you see this, your heart shall rejoice
and your bodies flourish like the grass;
the LORD's power shall be known to his servants.

I love this reading. It totally resets the image, doesn't it?  There are many directions that I could take with this - not the least being, what an incarnational and fleshy faith we practice, but I won't be going there today.

Another thing I think of is the on-going conversations in society about public breastfeeding. I won't go there either, but it does give one pause in the context of this reading.

Where I will go, is one of the directions that Fr. Pat took and that is the etymology of the term Almighty God.

Loose that whole powerful, old, white man thing, because the roots of almighty are quite different indeed.

The roots of El Shaddai are feminine.

"indicates that Shaddai might be related to the word for breasts (shadaim), indicating sufficiency and nourishment (i.e., "blessings of the breasts and of the womb" (בִּרְכת שָׁדַיִם וָרָחַם)).  In this case, the Name might derive from the contraction of sha ("who") and dai ("enough") to indicate God's complete sufficiency to nurture the fledgling nation into fruitfulness."

What an image. Suddenly - everything completely shifts. Everything.

Another link offers us this:

"One of those derivatives is the word shad, breast, bosom, used both in erotic scenes and the practical usage of feeding babies. A relation with the name Shaddai is not unthinkable, as this is the name by which God initiates the covenant of which Jesus is the final fulfillment."

Feeding, nurturing, loving, guiding. This is very much an image of God, yet many shudder at the thought of the feminine images of God. Yet, we have to consider that God is both male and female as we are made in God's image.

We are culturally conditioned to consider the male as the head of everything. However, God is neither male nor female. And we are also conditioned in church (in the Roman Catholic church anyway) to think of men as the arbiters of power - the priests. Yet we are all baptized into our own power as "priest, prophet and king." So it is important to consider that what we think and what is, are two entirely different things.

God in all forms is our comforter, our nurturer, loving us, bringing us forth, feeding us, nourishing us.  These things are a reminder that we box ourselves and our God in with the images of our culture and our cultural heritage.

And this is a reminder as well, that our God is a God full of surprises and unexpected happenings. The unexpected does not refer to the past alone, but rather encourages us to the present and to the future, where nourishment and surprise, comfort and delight meet us at every moment if we but allow for it.

Let us suck fully at the abundant breasts of our God and nurse with delight. It is there that God will comfort us and then send us forth to do the same.