Words for God, with Rev. Sharon Edwards.

Words for God, with Rev. Sharon Edwards. Series: Holy Troublemakers A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon.

Curious about language, faith, and breaking boundaries? Join us this Sunday as we explore how words shape our understanding of the divine. Discover a fresh, inclusive perspective that might just change how you see God.

Join us each Sunday, 10AM at bendfp.org, or 11AM KTVZ-CW Channel 612/12 in Bend.  Subscribe/Follow, and click the bell for alerts.

At First Presbyterian, you will meet people at many different places theologically and spiritually. And we love it that way. We want to be a place where our diversity brings us together and where conversation takes us all deeper in our understanding of God.

We call this kind of faith “Spacious Christianity.” We don’t ask anyone to sign creeds or statements of belief. The life of faith is about a way of being in the world and a faith that shows itself in love.

Thank you for your support of the mission of the First Presbyterian Church of Bend. Visit https://bendfp.org/giving/ for more information.

Keywords:

Iona, language differences, holy troublemakers, Reverend Dr Will Gaffney, womanist scholar, biblical interpretation, feminine language, divine feminine, inclusive language, scripture translation, Black women, Imago Dei, patriarchal language, divine justice, compassion., presbyterian, church, online worship, bend, oregon

Featuring:

Rev. Dr. Steven Koski, Rev. Sharon Edwards, Becca Ellis, Brave of Heart, Guests

Transcript

Whitney Higdon: 0:40

Welcome to worship At First Presbyterian we, at First Presbyterian, practice a spacious Christianity, which means no matter where you are in your faith journey, you belong and there is space for you at the table, there is space for your doubts and questions. We believe doubts and questions are a gift that invite us into deeper conversations and a more authentic faith. We believe diversity is a strength. Every story is sacred and everybody matters. We do our best to live the spacious and radical love of Jesus so that all might have a chance to flourish in this world. We are so glad to connect with you in this way. We would also love to worship with you in person if you're ever in the neighborhood on Sunday mornings at 830, or 10am and never hesitate to reach out to us to learn more about us or how we might support You. I hope you enjoy this worship service. Welcome you.

Musicians: 4:54

Have mercy on me, O gracious one, according to your steadfast love, i. According to your abundant kindness, forgive me where my thoughts and deeds have hurt others, lead me in the paths of justice, guide my steps on paths of peace, teach me that I may know my weakness, the shortcomings that bind me, the unloving ways that separate me, that keep me from recognizing your life in me, for I keep company with fear and dwell in the house of ignorance, yet I was brought forth in love. Love is my birthright. You have placed your truth in the inner being. Therefore teach me the wisdom of the heart, forgive all that binds me in fear that I might radiate love, cleanse me, that your light might shine in me, fill me with gladness, help me To transform weakness into strength. Look not on my past mistakes, but on the aspirations of my heart. Create in me a clean heart O God, and put a new and right spirit within me, enfold me in the arms of love, fill me with your Holy Spirit, restore in me the joy of your saving grace, and encourage me with a new spirit

Unknown: 7:02

over the last two years, I have had the joy and challenge of living on Iona, a remote island off of the west coast of Scotland. I was the only American on staff, and I had a lot of learning to do. For one thing, football is actually soccer. Wait, I mean, soccer is actually football, and herbal tea is not tea at all. Also, a few more essentials, chips are actually crisps, and french fries are chips. Also zucchini is courgette and candy is sweeties. And the hardest one for me to grasp, dessert is pudding, whether it was pudding or not. But there was one word I just could never get right Pants. Pants must be called trousers. Otherwise I was saying underwear. My continued inaccurate use of the word pants caused lots of laughter, directed my way in Love Of course, words and their meanings and their intentions and their history. Our words represent our beliefs, our morals and prejudices and principles. The words we use are shaped by our experience, but also by the world around us. The words we choose and the language we use have the power to affect the people and the world around us as well over the next several weeks, we are exploring holy troublemakers, people of faith, not from the Bible, but people, nevertheless, who have worked for love, compassion and justice, even when that meant rocking the religious boat, much like Jesus did. This series has been inspired by a book written for young people by Deneen anchors. In it, she offers us folks whose life stories can inspire us all. Today, I am thrilled to introduce to you a holy troublemaker who made some good trouble because she cares about the power, impact and accuracy of words. Us, especially when it comes to talking about God. Our holy troublemaker today is the Reverend Dr will Gaffney, and as we hear her story, we will be invited to consider what words do you use for God? Will grew up in Northern Carolina, seeped in black church culture where scripture is held in high regard. So memorizing and reciting. It was a deeply ingrained practice, along with singing gospel music and summer church camp, eventually, she felt led, called to become a pastor while in seminary because of her intricate and intimate relationship with scripture. She felt drawn to learn the languages of the sacred texts. She became proficient in Biblical Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Aramaic. Today, Reverend Dr Gaffney is a former US Army Reserve chaplain, an AME Zion Church Pastor and an Episcopalian priest. She is a prolific writer and professor of the Hebrew Scriptures at Bright Divinity School in Fort Worth Texas, and she is a holy troublemaker because she has created holy trouble by pushing against the way the Bible has been translated in the past, while some of these traditional interpretations have helped solve or offered solace to great human ills and needs, they have also contributed to some of the great social ills of our time, you see, for centuries upon centuries, biblical texts have been interpreted by one particular gender with one certain color of skin, biblical interpretation and translation will always be influenced by the life experience, perspective and prejudices of the one doing the interpretation. So first, Gaffney invites us to consider the limitedness of that view, she encourages us to be interested in the perspectives of the people in the texts who often are overlooked or unheard, Usually the voices of women, enslaved people and children. Reverend will is considered a womanist scholar. She explains, womanism is interested in the well being of the entire community, and that especially means the well being of those who are vulnerable and often exploited to get there to begin new insights into Scripture, we start by listening to Black women today, their life experience gives us insight, new insight, for many of us, into the passages. A good example of this would be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, cornerstones of the Jewish Christian and Muslim faith, a womanist perspective, notices the woman who made their lineages continue are missing and pretty necessary to the whole thing, if you think about it, adding Hagar, Sarah ketruah, Rebecca and Rachel Leah, bilaha and Zilpah makes the passage longer, but also gives us the fuller picture of the story and also. Honors them, including and saying a person's name is very important in African derived cultures when we try to listen to scripture from the perspective of black women and the marginalized people who have been abused by people we've been taught to listen to and even admire. It can be very uncomfortable and even troubling, and for many of us, it is nearly impossible to take that perspective. However, that does not stop us from listening to their perspective as it deepens our understanding of who God is, who we are, and what our work in the world is to be. Perhaps, this is an invitation for you to consider broadening whose sermons you listen to and what authors and podcasts you consume. One of the other ways, Dr will Gaffney is a holy troublemaker. She advocates how crucial it is that we restore the feminine to our language and concepts of the Divine. Because of her language proficiency, she came to discover that biblical translators and editors have often hidden the feminine that is in the grammar of the original Biblical text. Consider the famous and comforting Psalm 18. Usually translated the Lord or God is my rock and my salvation, a more accurate transformation, translation is the rock who gave us birth is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, I call upon the Holy One, may she be praised. Normally in my distress, I called to the Lord is better translated. In my distress, I called upon she who hears we could also look at gaffney's Careful translation of the first two verses of Genesis shown us in the book The Holy troublemakers. In the beginning, he God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and shapeless, and darkness covered the face of the deep while she THE SPIRIT OF GOD pulsed over the face of the waters in many, many other places in Scripture, male translators left out the feminine from the language about God and simply added God. And because God has been associated with maleness, even replacing he with God, has kept and keeps God a man. I don't know if we can fully grasp how deeply ingrained and even subconscious this is for us. Danine anchors, author of the book, writes in her blog, I'd been around many people who talked about how every person was part of the Imago Dei, image of God, But every song, every prayer, every work of art, every metaphor for God that any leader had ever used in my presence, was decidedly and intentionally male as a child and even as a young adult, I assume. God was male because that was the stronger, better option. And then she quotes the historical Jesus scholar and author, Marcus Borg, who affirmed her instinctual sense of being excluded from the Imago Dei as a woman when all references to God are masculine. Marcus writes, How can woman be in the image of God, if God cannot be imagined in feminine form? Danine says that pervasive patriarchal idea of God equals male has turned into male equals God, and that equation has damaged us all at every level, from personal to societal, it needs to change. For Reverend will accurate translations, the truer sense of the words is about offering and extending the embrace of the scripture to all who read and hear that they may see and hear themselves in the scriptures. It's also a way to take seriously that we are all truly created in the image of God. And to me, what I find really fascinating. Reverend Gaffney tells us that feminine language for God occurs in the text repeatedly. This means that those advocating for inclusive and explicit feminine God language are not changing but are restoring the text, and could actually be considered biblical literalists those asking for the use of divine feminine language are not changing the text. They are returning to the origin of the texts. Let's check in for a moment. What are you experiencing as you hear these words, discomfort, relief, resistance, joy, all of the above and more. I admit I have not always been comfortable with this idea of divine feminine. My relationship with my mother is complex, but one day I experienced a trauma, and in my longing to heal, I found myself kneeling on Red Dirt desert floor with the dry, dry desert, receiving my flood of tears, and I asked, God, where are you? I received an image of a native woman sitting cross legged in a soft skirt, inviting me into her lap. That lap was so wide I could curl up in it a source of healing. She was and still is. I've gotten to a point in my life where I'm not much interested in using the word God. I prefer source of life and breath of love. So let's pause again if you are moving or doing something, stop if you are able or return to this moment later. Maybe place opposite hands on opposite shoulders. Close your eyes if you are able and comfortable. Take a few deep breaths and and then ask yourself, what name Am I longing to call God? What name Am I longing to call God?

Music: 24:48

If you've closed your eyes, open them, perhaps it was a name that is familiar. Perhaps it is one that is new. We are grateful for the life and the work. Work of will. Gaffery And I invite you to consider whether or not you yourself can be a holy troublemaker by using words that are open and welcoming, by choosing words that invite love and justice and compassion and maybe play around a bit with allowing God to be the fullness of God in your life, in your work and in your words, Amen

Unknown: 27:53

I'd like to end with a blessing from will gaffery. It is taken from the translation of Jeremiah 17, Blessed is the one who trusts in the author of life, for whom the womb of life is their trust that person shall be like a tree transplanted by water and by the stream stretching out its roots, it shall not fear when heat comes and its leaves shall be luxurious, and in the year of drought, it is not anxious, and it does not cease bearing fruit. Amen

Whitney Higdon: 28:44

Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope you enjoyed this worship service. If you would like to make a donation helping make these podcasts possible or support the many ways, first, Presbyterian seeks to serve our community, you can make a financial gift online@bendfp.org every week, we hear from someone thanking us for the gift of these broadcasts, and what a difference they make. Your support makes that possible. Our church is committed to reach beyond our walls, bringing hope where there is despair and love where it is needed the most. Your generous support helps us to be generous in love. Go to our website, bendfp.org, and click on the link. Give online. Your support is really appreciated and makes a difference in people's lives. Thanks again. I hope to see you next week. You