Sunday Afternoon Reflections: Mothers' Day and the Church as Our Mother

Early on in the history of the Church it has been said, “As God is our Father the Church is our Mother.”  This “doctrine” has been affirmed by Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants alike.  Among this chorus, John Calvin also affirmed this doctrinal turn of phrase.  John Calvin titles chapter 1 of book 4 of “The Institutes of the Christian Religion” “The True Church . . . as Mother of All the Godly” (Battles’ Translation pg. 1011).  In the Henry Beveridge translation of Calvin’s “Institutes”, in the summary of the argument of Book 4 Chapter 1, we read:

“With her God has deposited whatever is necessary to faith and good order . . . The Church is our mother, inasmuch as God has committed to her the kind of office of brining us up in the faith” (pg. 2279).

Commenting on Ephesians 4:12, John Calvin writes:

“This is the universal rule, which extends equally to the highest and to the lowest.  The Church is the common mother of all the godly, which bears, nourishes, and brings up children to God, kings and peasants alike; and this is done by the ministry [of the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers]” (pg. 282).

So, how true is this phrase, “As God is our Father the Church is our mother”?  After all, just because a few famous people say something that doesn’t make it true – even if a mass majority of people claim a truth that doesn’t make it true.  And, Scripture doesn’t explicitly refer to the Church as our mother.  In fact, Israel, which prefigures the Church in the New Testament, receives its name from the patriarch Jacob whom God renamed Israel (Genesis 32:28).  Yet, there is one lone passage which paints a word picture of the Church as our mother.  Isaiah pictures Jerusalem as a mother nursing the Jewish people with consolation; and, as with Israel, Jerusalem prefigures the Church in the New Testament:

“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance.  For thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounce upon her knees.  As one who his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem” (66:10—13). 

(In Galatians 4, Paul – explicitly using allegory – depicts those who have faith in Jesus as children of Sarah.  This passage seems to be a stretch due to its explicitly allegorical nature, but a quick Google search will show that this passage is the preeminent Catholic and Easter Orthodox proof text for affirming that the Church is our mother) 

In Isaiah 66:10—13, God paints a word picture of Jerusalem as mother to the Jewish people without directly calling Jerusalem “mother”.  Given that the Church is defined as the gathering of God’s people in all times and in all places; and by extension, given that Israel and Jerusalem prefigure the Church in the New Testament: Isaiah 66:10—13 teaches that the Church is our mother.  This divinely inspired word picture makes beautiful sense.  When we are born again, we are born into the church.  As the children of God our faith is nurtured and cultivated in the church.  Spiritual food is prepared for us within the church.  When we read what the Bible has to say about godly motherhood, we see a lovely picture of what the Church is to be to those who believe in Jesus Christ. 

So then, mothers, on this Mothers’ Day, please realize what an honor God has granted you-all.  By living out your call to be godly mothers, you-all have the opportunity to exemplify what the Church is to be as it nurtures and nourishes us in the faith.

With everything written up to this point, attempting to brush a single Scripture passage aside, couldn’t someone still object to the wonderful phrase, “As God is our Father the Church is our mother”?  Couldn’t someone say that this phrase paints a picture of a spiritual-single-parent-God who is somehow deficient in his character or attributes so as to need to provide us with a mother in order compensate for his heavenly parenting deficiencies?

God does not need the Church in order to compensate for some sort of deficiency – God has no deficiencies.  God is neither male nor female, and while he explicitly has told us to refer to him in the masculine as Father, he still claims for himself those attributes we (in our limited earthly wisdom) have decided to call motherly attributes.  For example:

 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?  Even these may forget, yet I will no forget you” (Isaiah 49:15). 

I believe this is why, when speaking of himself, God mixes female imagery and the masculine singular pronoun in Isaiah 46:3—4:

“Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you.  I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.” 

In Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34 even Jesus refers to himself as a mother hen longing to gather the people of Jerusalem under his wing.  Jesus’ words recall Deuteronomy 32:10—12 in which God refers to himself as a mother eagle caring for Israel as little eaglets:

“He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.  Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them upon its pinions.  The LORD alone guided him, no foreign god was with him.”  (Although, one could argue that this text be taken to refer to either male or female eagle parents.)

Commenting on the phrase “The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2b), the Dutch Annotated Bible commissioned by the Synod of Dort notes that this phrase pictures the Spirit as a mother bird sitting on her nest awaiting her young to hatch. 

And, in the one passage which clearly depicts the Church as a nursing mother (Isaiah 66:10—13), the passage concludes with God claiming for himself the motherly attributes which he had previously ascribed to Jerusalem:

“As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem” (v. 13)

So, how are we to make sense of this?  If the church is our mother, then why does God appear to claim the very same motherly attributes for himself?  The key is the prepositional phase “inasmuch as” in Beveridge’s words, “The Church is our mother, inasmuch as God has committed to her the kind of office of brining us up in the faith.”  In other words, the Church is our mother inasmuch as God has made her to be our spiritual mother.  James 1:17a says that, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.”  This includes the good and perfect gift of the Church as our mother.  Paradoxically, God the Father cares for us as a mother cares for her children by giving us the Church as our spiritual mother. 

Mothers, please don’t error in assuming that only fathers bear the image of the Heavenly Father in their fatherly role.  The Bible makes it deliberately clear and obvious that all people are created in the image of God – mothers and fathers alike.  So then, mothers, on this Mothers’ Day, appreciate that you-all have the opportunity to wonderfully reflect the image of God as you live out your calling as mother. 

Happy Mothers’ Day.

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Sunday Afternoon Reflections: Psalm 123 and Focused Worship

Every event has a focus.  And, everyone anticipating an event looks forward to something as the focus of their attention.  When I would go to the Iowa Sate Fair, I looked forward to the plethora of deep fired junk food.  When I went to the 4^th of July fire works show in Nashville, I was looking forward to the explosive grand finale.  When I go to a concert, there’s that one song I am looking forward to hearing.  When I go out to my favorite restaurants, I salivate as I look forward to my favorite dishes.  When I go to a ball game, I look forward to seeing my team whoop on the rivals.  When I go out to see the latest block buster movie, I look forward to rich cinematography.  We look forward to events. We long for meaningful experiences. 

OK, so what about the event of corporate worship?  Some of us look forward to good advice that will help us to manage our relationships; we want our families and friends to function in a way that gives us greater happiness.  Some of us look forward to dropping our kids off in a great kids’ program; we want our kids to turn out right in order to make us proud.  Some of us look forward to a soul stirring worship performance; we don’t want to be bored.  Some of us look forward hear some pleasant thoughts and good words; we want to know we are alright in order to feel better about ourselves. 

What are we to look forward to in worship?  What did the pilgrim in Psalm 123 look forward to as he anticipated worship?  The beginning of Psalm 123 gives us a direct answer:

“To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the Heavens!” (v. 1)

With everything we tend to look forward to as we approach worship, all pale in comparison to God.  Why would we look forward to a modicum of self-help advice when we could come face to face with truth of God?  Why would we settle for a spiritual baby sitter for our kids when they could be getting to know God?  Why would we put up with a so-so performance when we could be speaking directly to God?  Why would we accept simple platitudes designed to boost our self-esteem when we could hear the Word of God?  When we gather together for worship, we gather together for a grand corporate conversation with God.  Worship is a God-centered dialogue among God’s people.  We hear God’s call to worship.  We respond in praise and adoration to God.  God calls us to confession, and we offer our confession to God.  In return, we hear God’s words of assurance.  We respond with praise and thanksgiving – through song and tithing.  We ask God to help us understand his Word, and his Spirit helps us to understand the Word as it is preached.  We pray and ask God to help us to apply the Word to our lives.  God sends us out to love and serve him.  We sing praises to God in thanksgiving for the Word, and God sends us out with his benediction.  Worship is a God-centered dialogue. 

That may all sound well and good, but, all too often, when we gather together, we approach God inappropriately.  We look to God, but only as a cosmic genii in a bottle.  We approach God, but we do so with all our bargaining chips in hand as if we are approaching some heavenly negotiator.  We have all come to God in worship with good intentions only to find ourselves focusing on our own long laundry list of wants (and sometimes a few legitimate needs).  To offer a parodied caricature, at times, we can come to God like this:

“Ye, God, thanks for all you do.  You’re great and all.  So, by the way, while we’re talking, could you help me with my home refinance so that I get that 3.98% rate?  And, you know my son; could you help him to fit in at school?  I’d love for him to get in with a great group of friends who could boost his self-esteem.  And, could you bless my folks with an awesome anniversary trip to Hawaii?  I’d also sure love to do well on my presentation tomorrow – a great presentation would help to advance my career.  Then, I might get a raise and be able to buy that ski boat I have wanted for years. . .” 

Well, verse 2 of Psalm 123 sets us in our proper place preventing us from assuming that we can approach God as equals (or, more true to our nature, preventing us from assuming that we can approach God as his superior). 

“Behold, as the eyes of servants look tot eh hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD God, till he has mercy upon us.” (v. 2)

When we gather together in worship, we are servants addressing the sovereign King of the universe.  We don’t look upon our own lives with the self-centered expectation that God will address us and our requests. 

So, what do servants look to from their king?  At least four things: 1) the king’s word, 2) the king’s provision, 3) the king’s protection, and 4) the king’s honor/reputation.  First, a king issues commands, gives orders, makes covenant promises, offers commendations, gives advice, shares wisdom, makes judgments, and gives blessings.  And, good servants don’t just listen to the words of their king; good servants are moved to action by the words of their king.  So too we look forward to hearing God’s Word and living out God’s Word.  Second, especially in more ancient times, servants are completely dependent upon their king for their daily sustenance.  So too we look forward to our daily bread for the hand our Heavenly Father.  Third, (picturing the epic battle scenes from the Lord of the Rings) a king provides shelter for his subjects who posses no castle of their own.  King Jesus provides himself as a refuge from sin, death, and the Devil.  Fourth, a good king’s name and reputation rests upon his servants as they serve in his kingdom.  So too Jesus Christ gives us his righteousness and grants us the honor of bearing his name as we serve in his kingdom. 

But, there are a couple of problems.  First, serving a king puts a person at odds with all other authorities and rulers.  This was definitely true of the Jewish pilgrims singing this prayer on their way to Jerusalem.  In biblical Palestine there would have been all sorts of people from non-Jewish tribes who despised the Jewish people and their worship.  Ancient pilgrims singing Psalm 123 would have been in danger of being harassed on their way to Jerusalem for worship.  So the Psalmist prays the concluding two verses of Psalm 123:

“Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough contempt.  Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.” (vv. 3&4)

But, this prayer raises a second problem, why would God have mercy up us?  If we take an honest assessment of our lives, we realize that we are worse than wretched servants in God’s kingdom – we are treasonous rebels in God’s kingdom (Romans 5:10).  We pay God lip service and then we worship other things with our lives.  Our jobs become our hope and salvation in uncertain economic times.  We pay homage to a royal court of entertainments that offer us a refuge so we can escape from the grind of daily life.  People lord over our lives as we eagerly seek to please them like we’d become a court jester.  We dishonor God by claiming to serve him while at the same time we serve all sorts of false gods. 

So, what hope is there?  When we are condemned by those who scoff at us and hold up our sin before God, what are we to say?  As we have said before, there is no hope in the Psalms apart from Christ.  Jesus is the fulfillment of the Psalms.  Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And Romans 5:6—10 says,

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”

When you approach worship you will be scorned.  You will be scorn yourself as you dredge up old sins, shame, and guilt.  Those around you will scorn you by implication, minimalization, depreciation, and marginalization.  The Devil will scorn you with lies and accusation.  These three will scorn you by holding your sins against you and then calling your value into question. 

So, what are you to do?  Take your sins and throw then in the face of your accusers and claim Christ as the one who has saved you from those very sins.  If you hear a little insidious voice saying, “You thing you’re the kind of person God wants worshiping him, aren’t you the same scum who . . . ?”  Respond by saying, “Yes; I am that person, and Christ died to pay the price of those sins!”  There is no accusation that overpower the saving work of Christ.

 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

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