God as Mother

The title of this blip bears no relation to the blip itself. As I was scarifying the lawn in preparation for reseeding after last year’s hammering when the building works were underway, this bright splash of a butterfly appeared. While it basked in the sun it was still difficult to get close enough to capture it in focus!

The title refers to this morning’s sermon at church on Mothering Sunday. The theme was on the numerous references in scripture to God in a female mothering nurturing role. But our tradition has been to refer to God in the masculine. In not giving sufficient weight or recognition to the numerous references to the description of the feminine role of God, have we over time altered how God is viewed? Reading a text by replacing “he” with “she” can alter significantly how a text is perceived. As ever, words matter.

At the start of Genesis it states that man and woman were created in God’s image , emphasising that God is both mother and father. Interesting thoughts on Mothering Sunday.

I had intended to use the extra photo from a copy of the Visconti Hours I was given by French friends on my 21st. But I thought that the butterfly was the better photo summing up a lovely day in the garden.

The alternative was a shot of the underside of the car trying to see what had caused the noise the other day. Garage sorting it out!