CORRECTION! For all the purist and spellcheckers out there, and you know who you are.. Thank you, I need a permanent one because spell check isn't enough, big band isn't a misspelling it is a typo. Why can't computers know what I want to say? They try to tell us every thing else, like what button to push or they stubbornly refuse to do anything. My last comment reads, BIG BAND, it should read BIG BANG and honestly the pun wasn't intended but does work.
"Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise him all creatures hear me low(?), Praise him above ye(what does this mean?) heavenly hosts, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost". I love the Holy Ghost best. He was a combination of Casper the Friendly Ghost, one of my favorite comics, and really scary Halloween ghosts which I love too. She was always a woman because it made no sense to me even as a wee child to have a totally masculine trinity. Everyone knows that it is Father, Mother and child. Why didn't they get this? How did Christianity become so misogynistic? When St Patrick went in to convert the heathen Irish the pagans insisted that there had to be a female god- head and so the Blessed Virgin arose to prominence and became the sweet ambassador for humans and God. God then became less wrathful (how did he get to be wrathful and not disobey one of his own 7 deadlies?) and became a God of love and redemption. Thank God for the Irish. One merely has to look at the art of the times to see what we were thinking about it all. God visually softened and didn't look so mean and judgmental. It is interesting to me how we went from cultures that had female deities to one that didn't like the idea very much. How did we change from a matrilineal society with female god-heads to a patriarchal one? Lets face it we wouldn't have civilization if women didn't demand it. We would still be marauding tribes, like most of the world still is since we don't have female deities. We need a balance here, the yin and the yang, the anima and the animus, republican and democrat, which to me represents the two world views, masculine and feminine. The eternal battle of the sexes played out in the nightly news. Go Hillary! The question then looms, will she just become another Athena woman like Margaret Thatcher, or really lead us into a more humane world. It is worth a try. That is the only real change, the other candidates are just business as usual.
"Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise him all creatures hear me low(?), Praise him above ye(what does this mean?) heavenly hosts, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost". I love the Holy Ghost best. He was a combination of Casper the Friendly Ghost, one of my favorite comics, and really scary Halloween ghosts which I love too. She was always a woman because it made no sense to me even as a wee child to have a totally masculine trinity. Everyone knows that it is Father, Mother and child. Why didn't they get this? How did Christianity become so misogynistic? When St Patrick went in to convert the heathen Irish the pagans insisted that there had to be a female god- head and so the Blessed Virgin arose to prominence and became the sweet ambassador for humans and God. God then became less wrathful (how did he get to be wrathful and not disobey one of his own 7 deadlies?) and became a God of love and redemption. Thank God for the Irish. One merely has to look at the art of the times to see what we were thinking about it all. God visually softened and didn't look so mean and judgmental. It is interesting to me how we went from cultures that had female deities to one that didn't like the idea very much. How did we change from a matrilineal society with female god-heads to a patriarchal one? Lets face it we wouldn't have civilization if women didn't demand it. We would still be marauding tribes, like most of the world still is since we don't have female deities. We need a balance here, the yin and the yang, the anima and the animus, republican and democrat, which to me represents the two world views, masculine and feminine. The eternal battle of the sexes played out in the nightly news. Go Hillary! The question then looms, will she just become another Athena woman like Margaret Thatcher, or really lead us into a more humane world. It is worth a try. That is the only real change, the other candidates are just business as usual.
Labels: male of female?, Praise God
posted by Anne Coe | 6:55 AM
6 Comments:
This would have been interesting if you had not brought up such a flawed creature as Hilary, the poll-taking politician. Polls, of course, preclude making either rational or moral choices, as the choice is determined by the strength of numbers.
Some people think the second line of the Doxology is: "Praise Him all creatures here below" (here on earth); some think the third line is: "Praise Him above ye Heavenly Host" (even above the angels). But I do like your version of the second line, particularly; I would like to hear you low, as in: "The cattle are lowing, the poor baby sleeps." Can you add an audio clip to your blog?
I heard the most wonderful, but heart breaking story the other day. I was talking with one of the lost boys of Sudan. He was telling me about walking alone across Africa. He sang "Jesus loves me this I know" to remind himself that he was not alone. He had tears in his eyes when he told me the story. God bless him and his family.
I love that song. In fact I love so many of the old hymns. I love Iris Dements version of Lift me up to higher ground. These truly give us solace and sucor when we need it most.
Karl Barth was a famous postwar German theologian. When he was very old and near death, he was asked by a colleague: "After more than 70 years of examining your faith, what is the most important lesson you've learned?" Karl Barth looked up, smiled, and began to sing, "Jesus loves me, this I know."
This makes me want to come out of my retirement from being a Christian. It is so easy for so many, but not for me. I've got a God gene though and so embrace the divine reality that is revealed to me through stories like these. (except the Hillary one)..
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