Holy Mother
“Although the symbol of Christ is withering in power, it is still the most evocative myth of Western culture.”
God Is Not Three Guys in the Sky
There’s no doubt that Jesus Christ still serves as the dominant sacred symbol for Americans. Mohammed and the Buddha lag far behind. Before technological progress brought foreign cultures to us, the only mental frame conceivable—the Spirit world “everybody” imagined—had a Garden of Eden, Jesus, Mary, & Joseph, the cross, heaven and hell, Resurrection, Trinity, and an end of the world with Second Coming. These filled the Western mind and satisfied most people spiritually for many centuries.
With the coming of pluralism comes the realization that one exclusive image for the holy mystery beyond human comprehension amounts to idolatry. The only way to avoid it is to mix the images. To that end, I provoke you with alternatives here.
• The god Attis died on March 22 and rose on March 25. Observance of his dying and rising, like Christian rites, included overnight vigils and singing of hymns. A church historian noted that pagans accused Christians of plagiarism.
• Sister Elizabeth Johnson, a Catholic nun, wrote a book entitled She Who Is, a book cited in my God Is Not Three Guys in the Sky.
• Like Christ, the goddess Persephone rises from the dead at this time of year and renews the earth. She figures in the mother/daughter myth that preceded the father/son myth of Christianity—another image, another time.
• You are invited to relax into the lap of Mother Earth as She refreshes Herself in this springtime of burgeoning growth.
Our Mother
Our Mother who art within us,
Each breath brings us to you.
Thy wisdom come,
Thy will be done,
as we honor your presence within us.
You give us this day all that we need.
Your bounty calls us to give and receive
all that is loving and pleasurable.
You are the courage that moves us to be true to ourselves
and we act with grace and power.
We relax into your cycles of birth,
growth, death and renewal.
Out of the womb, the darkness, the void, comes new life.
For you are the Mother of All Things.
Your body is the Sacred Earth and our bodies.
Your love nurtures us and unites us all.
Now and forever more.
Dale Allen Productions
God Is Not Three Guys in the Sky
There’s no doubt that Jesus Christ still serves as the dominant sacred symbol for Americans. Mohammed and the Buddha lag far behind. Before technological progress brought foreign cultures to us, the only mental frame conceivable—the Spirit world “everybody” imagined—had a Garden of Eden, Jesus, Mary, & Joseph, the cross, heaven and hell, Resurrection, Trinity, and an end of the world with Second Coming. These filled the Western mind and satisfied most people spiritually for many centuries.
With the coming of pluralism comes the realization that one exclusive image for the holy mystery beyond human comprehension amounts to idolatry. The only way to avoid it is to mix the images. To that end, I provoke you with alternatives here.
• The god Attis died on March 22 and rose on March 25. Observance of his dying and rising, like Christian rites, included overnight vigils and singing of hymns. A church historian noted that pagans accused Christians of plagiarism.
• Sister Elizabeth Johnson, a Catholic nun, wrote a book entitled She Who Is, a book cited in my God Is Not Three Guys in the Sky.
• Like Christ, the goddess Persephone rises from the dead at this time of year and renews the earth. She figures in the mother/daughter myth that preceded the father/son myth of Christianity—another image, another time.
• You are invited to relax into the lap of Mother Earth as She refreshes Herself in this springtime of burgeoning growth.
Our Mother
Our Mother who art within us,
Each breath brings us to you.
Thy wisdom come,
Thy will be done,
as we honor your presence within us.
You give us this day all that we need.
Your bounty calls us to give and receive
all that is loving and pleasurable.
You are the courage that moves us to be true to ourselves
and we act with grace and power.
We relax into your cycles of birth,
growth, death and renewal.
Out of the womb, the darkness, the void, comes new life.
For you are the Mother of All Things.
Your body is the Sacred Earth and our bodies.
Your love nurtures us and unites us all.
Now and forever more.
Dale Allen Productions
Comments
You will find a wealth of invaluable documented information elided and ignored in Christian circles at: www.netzarim.co.il
Anders Branderud