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Ann Perrin  In reflecting on the femalegod my thoughts travel on a journey into the goodness of God’s creation. Uppermost is my concern for the planet and the survival of all of God’s creation, not just humankind. The femalegod calls us to live today with our mind on the future.
Unpack the issues...
And then all that has divided us will merge
And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind
And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both women and men will be strong
And then no person will be subjected to another’s will
And then all will be rich and free and varied
And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many
And then all will share equally in the earth’s abundance
And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old
And then all will nourish the young
And all will cherish life’s creatures
And we will live in harmony with each other and the Earth
And everywhere will be called Eden once again Judy Chicago, “Merger Poem” 1988
So, where did this journey take me? My first thought led me to the poem above by Judy Chicago. It is about balance in all things. The femalegod brings balance to the universe; enough for all and all for enough. There is no punctuation in this poem, showing us our interconnectedness. If one thing changes, all is changed. The image of trinity rose before me, interconnected and always dancing, no one really knowing the steps because once one tries to memorise them they change and so the dance of life moves on. Next my thoughts wandered into the imago Dei. We are all made in the image of God, both male and female, the image of God. Remembering this I gave thanks. With the privileging of the malegod for many, many millennia, I give thanks because it is in seeing the femalegod moving to the fore that enables all of us to see in relief the damage we are inflicting upon our planet and ourselves. So gathering my thoughts together I have a picture of the femalegod who calls us into relationship to rethink not only our social relationships but also our relationship with our reality with a commitment to radical interdependence and equality with men and but also between us and the whole non-human cosmos. This is the only way we can bequeath a just and sustainable society to our future generations. I realise now, my reflection on the femalegod includes ecological hues. She can be seen in ecofeminist action. For now and in the future the femalegod wants us to survive in the best way possible, so she has an eschatological edge to her. She knows creation so we need her for our end times as well. She knows about conception birthing and nurturing. If we leave her relegated to our new creation theologies she will fade away. Her import today needs to come from today — acknowledging the past and imagining our future. She is often relegated to darkness. She is the celebration of the Eucharistic in the death of Christ, for she is there in our Saturday nights and we celebrate her Easter morning for she is birthing the new community in Christ. She is there in the ascension holding us grounded in our humanness. We cannot follow but she is in our birthing of the new community. This has brought my thoughts back to the triunegod enabling us to see ourselves as community. We are called to consider both individual and collective aspects of our humanness to exist holistically. She pulls us back to recognise our finite nature and the finite resources of the world. We cannot take flight into a future that contradicts this. Is it our responsibility to know eternal life or live our human lives? It is our responsibility to use our temporal lifespan to create a good and just community for our future generations. In any attempt to describe God we can only use what we know from looking around us and out of what we see is needed for our world. The answer will be in how we treat the people of this earth. We will find another answer to this in how we express our relationship to the rest and reality of God’s creation. But this is no time to stay dualistic in our pursuing of the mission Dei. We are called to work together as we risk the hospitality of Christ with the world. Ann Perrin is a candidate for ministry in the Uniting Church. She began full time study at United Theological College, Sydney, at the beginning of 2007 and lives on campus.
Unpack the issues... Discussion points - Why do you think we need to talk about God as male or female?
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