God as Mother

   Names for God is such a tricky thing. Even though God is genderless, church folk ofter resort to thinking as God as male, even if their are both masculine and feminine images for God in the Bible. When I was little I had this storybook about a little boy that went to church with his mom and dad. One of the illustrations was of the family walking into church and above their was an image in the cloud of a young man, with brown hair, wearing a white shirt and tie, smiling down on them. It took me years to realize that was a though cloud of the what the dad looked like when he walked into church, and that the little boys mother is behind him in the cloud, albeit more hidden. That illustration has stuck with me and has been my primary image of God for a long time.
    When I was in Australia, friends and I went to a coral concert where the 23rd Psalm was sung with female pronouns. I was offended. I emailed my professor and asked if that was Biblically correct. Thankfully, he never answered me back. Because a few years later, in seminary, I approached female imagery for God again, specifically God as mother, and was deeply touched by it.
    When it comes to language for God, are we as pastors talking about how God is genderless, and really cannot be defined in words? Or do we just not go there. Do we take the power of the pulpit to push our own view of and relationship with God or do we nurture people however they may relate to the Divine?
    The United Methodist Church has been on the fringes of this conversation for years, but is now making an intentional effort to collect information around the names for God. Please take time to look over this survey and honestly participate: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/names4God