The book is Wearing God: Clothing, Laughter, Fire, and Other Overlooked Ways of Meeting God by Lauren Winner. Early on in the book she offers “A Short Note on Gender and Language for God,” where Winner challenges the reader to use either non-gendered or female pronouns for God - even for a short time - arguing that the he/him pronouns influence our picture of God and overly connect God to the masculine. The biblical foundation for the feminine God can be found when God compares Godself to a mother, a laboring woman, a hen and a midwife and there are plenty of non-gendered self identifiers: a rock, a bird, cloth, flame and a gate, to name a few. She issues a warning with the she/her challenge - that we shouldn't just use feminine pronouns when God seems nurturing and masculine pronouns when God seems warlike. Replace them all and see how it feels; how does it shape the way we imagine God.
As I was thinking about this in respect to the Numbers reading, I thought it might be nice to listen to an audio version of the Bible read by a woman. So I searched for one. There are no complete audio Bibles read by women. I couldn't believe it! There is an app called Courage for Life that has a large portion of the Bible available in female voices, but they haven't done Numbers yet. Another project by a woman named Shirley Banks is trying to crowd source a female voiced audio book version of the Bible. There are only 12 completed books on her website.
Since I couldn't hear the book of Numbers read in a female voice, I thought it might help to pick a modern image of God from one of the many film portrayals and think of that actor/actress speaking every time God comes on the scene. When I googled film portrayals of God, I found pictures of Octavia Spencer, Alanis Morrisette, Morgan Freeman, Whoopi Goldberg, George Burns, and even Will Farrell. I was also reminded of the Oracle in the film the Matrix portrayed by Gloria Foster. I watched a few clips of these different expressions of God and then went back to the text.
It was surprisingly helpful to read God's voice as a woman. Especially a grandma. It reminded me of my own Grandma Billie, my mom's grandmother who would somewhat playfully swat my backside and say "help your mother" when I needed a little prodding to do the right thing. I realized that the angry male voice was terrifying to me, but the angry old female voice was somewhat comforting and had more of a right to be angry.
Just try it with the following passage. Imagine your favorite grandma - maybe your own or maybe a TV or film grandma - a feisty one works best for this text. Got her in mind? Ok, now read these verses:
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather before me seventy men who are recognized as elders and leaders of Israel. Bring them to the Tabernacle to stand there with you. I will come down and talk to you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is upon you, and I will put the Spirit upon them also. They will bear the burden of the people along with you, so you will not have to carry it alone.In my journey to find the best on screen portrayals of God, I came upon clips from a show I had never heard of: Joan of Arcadia. After asking around, several friends said that they thoroughly enjoyed it. It ran for 45 episodes back in the early 2000s and during its run, God appears to Joan as a Little Girl, Old Lady, Dog Walker, Cute Guy, Goth Kid, Twin Girl, Chess Player, Mime, Naval Officer, Housewife, Businessman, Homeless Man, Sidewalk Vendor, Mascot, Street Guitarist, Balloon Sculptor, Majorette, Rich Woman, Loner Loser Kid, Bad Stand-Up Comedian, and an East Indian Sunglasses Salesman - just to name a few!
“And say to the people, ‘Purify yourselves, for tomorrow you will have meat to eat. You were whining, and the Lord heard you when you cried, “Oh, for some meat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will have to eat it. And it won’t be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty. You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the Lord, who is here among you, and you have whined to him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”
But Moses responded to the Lord, “There are 600,000 foot soldiers here with me, and yet you say, ‘I will give them meat for a whole month!’ Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them? Even if we caught all the fish in the sea, would that be enough?”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Has my arm lost its power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!”
I watched a few clips and most of the first episode online, and I felt comforted and challenged by this idea of God appearing to this teenage girl in all of these normal people. After watching this montage put to music, I found myself wondering how each of these Imago Dei's voices I could hear speaking scripture to me. And how many times I miss God speaking to me because God comes to me in unexpected ways.
In the beginning, God said these words to Godself, "Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us." Every person we meet, every person who has ever lived, has been made in God's Image. But more than that, it is only when we learn to hear God in every voice together - the unison of all of the images and all of the metaphors - the fullness of God! that we begin to get a glimpse of who God really is. And a glimpse is all we get, even with all of creation singing its chorus together.
So I will keep listening with different voices as I read through the Bible this year. Maybe today, I will hear the voice of my friend's little girl, and tomorrow the voice of Vito, the karaoke singing senior citizen who lives in my building. A chorus of voices in unison speaking truth to me. All of it helping me to enter the Presence and helping me to be present to those Imagos Dei I encounter each day.
