Of all the words that Jesus spoke, the ones most commonly repeated by his followers are the prayer that begins, "Our Father". Jesus took a big gamble when he spoke of our Father in heaven. God is beyond gender, neither male nor female. God is beyond our imagination. God is spirit, with no human body, so in calling God male or female we are projecting our own human notions into the immortal and invisble.

Moreover if we have bad associations or memories of either father or mother, we risk contaminating our idea of God with them. That is where Jesus took the gamble. Those who have known a father as a tyrant, drunk, abusive or absent, may have negative responses to "Our Father in heaven". If Jesus had spoken of "Our Mother in heaven", he would have run a simialr risk.

No human words are as heavily laden with emotional associations as "father" and "mother". It is only when we move away from home, and reflect on our hostory, that we begin to see what other and father did to us, for better or worse. And when we do, some of our religious attitudes and feelings start to make sense. All through life we try to sort out our sense of our heavenly father/mother.

Jesus always speaks of his father. We see what he meant in the parable of the Prodigal Son, in which the central figure is the merciful father. In that extraordinary and moving story, Jesus comes nearest to giving us a picture of God.

Whatever Father's Day means for you, may you have a fresh understanding of the God who loves you beyond measure.

Lynette Leach - Minister
based on material from Sacred Space www.sacredspace.ie

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.