Is It Okay to Call God Mother? : Considering the Feminine Face of God is the title of a book by Paul R. Smith, a Baptist minister from the heartland of our country, written over 20 years ago. When I first came across it, I knew saints through the centuries, such as Julian of Norwich, had experienced God as Mother, but it was a delight to have my eyes opened to recognize all the “mother” references throughout the Bible that had previously escaped my attention.

Our first lesson today provides a good example of one of them as we hear the prophet Hosea speaking for God: “Yet it was I who taught Ephraim how to walk. I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.” Take time to read that passage again; know they are addressed to each and all around the world. My Bible’s footnote on this passage says it speaks of a parent’s relation to a child. While that might be true today when fathers are more intimately involved in child care, in Hosea’s time, those actions were clearly understood as a mother’s role, showing us feminine aspects of God’s love for us. We know Jesus called God “Abba, Daddy,” but he also used the image of the mother hen gathering her brood under her wings (Mt.23:37) to express divine care and protection. Father, Mother, Yahweh, Adonai, Allah, God answers when we call.

You’ve heard the old joke that when someone asks what to call you, the response is, “I don’t care what you call me so long as you call me to dinner.” I suspect that describes God’s position about how we address the Divine as well as anything. God desires our attention, our devotion, our very selves; what we tend to call the Holy One depends on our experience of God’s presence. How we name that varies as our relationship with the Beloved changes. And it is O.K.