Our Mother, Who Art In Heaven...
Posted by: tony on 06/16/2006 10:53 AM
Updated by: tony on 06/19/2006 05:39 PM
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Expires: 07/17/2006 12:00 AM
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I hear about churches all the time who use this sort of prayer, even when Jesus, when asked how to pray, said: "Our Father..."
Amy Welborn writes about the gender imbalance in Christian churches. She quotes from an article in the Washington Post entitled Empty Pews: Where Did All The Men Go?
The gender gap is not a distinctly American one but it is a Christian one, according to Murrow. The theology and practices of Judaism, Buddhism and Islam offer "uniquely masculine" experiences for men, he said.
"Every Muslim man knows that he is locked in a great battle between good and evil, and although that was a prevalent teaching in Christianity until about 100 years ago, today it's primarily about having a relationship with a man who loves you unconditionally," Murrow said.
"And if that's the punch line of the Gospel, then you're going to have a lot more women than men taking you up on your offer because women are interested in a personal relationship with a man who loves you unconditionally. Men, generally, are not."
I remember the Catholic Church pre-Vatican II. God was a judge. His mercy was infinite, but He had certain rules you were expected to follow. If you didn't follow the rules, you had to take the consequences. God would weep at what He had to do to you, but as any good father knows, you have to take responsibility for your actions, and sometimes you need to punish your children for their own good no matter how much it hurts you.
Now Jesus loves you unconditionally. There is little or no talk about sin and repentence. There is no call to holiness. There is a "mommy" God who enfolds you in His (her?) arms, loves you as you are, kisses your boo-boos and tells you that everything will be alright.
We don't have to call God "our Mother", because that is what He has become in everyone's mind.
Crucifixes have been replaced by "risen Lords". Seeing our savior suffering on the cross makes us think that maybe we might have some obligation to carry our own.
Sin is not mentioned. "Reconciliation rooms" where we get to have face to face "chats" with the priest are almost never used. People, men in particular are not being challenged to turn away from sin and follow a life of holiness.
If God loves me unconditionally, whatever sins I've committed or whatever inclination to sin I might have, why do I need to go to church?
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