THE HOLY SPIRIT IS FEMALE!
May 24, 2015
Saint Cecilia
Catholic Community, Palm Springs, CA
Rev. Dcn. David
Justin Lynch
Acts 2:1-11 Psalm
104:1, 24, 29-31, 34
Galatians 5:16-25
John 15:26-27; 16:12-15
+ In the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.
The Greek New Testament uses the
word “pneuma” hundreds of times. Its usual meaning is “spirit”, but it can also
mean “breath” or “wind.” That is what Jesus was describing when He said
that the apostles would receive the Holy Spirit, and what the apostles did in
fact receive on Pentecost; indeed, today’s first lesson from the Book of Acts
describes a “strong driving wind” that filled the whole house and brought
tongues of fire.
So it’s natural that when we think of the Holy Spirit, we think of an invisible
power, something felt or experienced, rather than a person we can see. However,
the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity whom we celebrate
today. I’m sure you remember the hymn [sing] “God in three persons, blessed
Trinity.” Persons, however, are either male or female. So, is the Holy
Spirit, or to use old English, the Holy Ghost, a male or female person? Today’s
Gospel speaks of the Holy Spirit as a “He”, as do many traditional theologians.
Why? How did we get there?
Unlike English, many other
languages, such as Spanish, classify nouns by gender, as masculine or feminine.
In Spanish, nouns are preceded by an article, that describes their
gender, “el” for masculine, “la” for feminine. Hence we speak of “el piso”
meaning “the floor”, or “la mensa” meaning “the table.” Latin and Greek
have not only masculine and feminine nouns, but neuter as well. In other words,
those languages have not only he’s and she’s, but it’s as well. To complicate
the picture even more, words that are a particular gender in one language do
not always translate to a word of the same gender in another language.
The first scriptures were written
in Hebrew. The Hebrew version of the Book of Genesis uses the word “ruach” to
identify the Spirit that moved over the waters at the beginning of creation.
“Ruach” is a feminine noun. However, when the scriptures were first
translated from Hebrew to Greek, in what’s known as the “Septuagint”, the scholars
used the Greek word “pneuma” which is a neuter noun, to translate the Hebrew
word “ruach”. And when Saint Jerome translated the scriptures from the Greek
Septuagint to the Latin Vulgate, the word he used was “Spiritus”, where the
Hebrew had used “Ruach” and the Greek used “pneuma”. “Spiritus” is a masculine
noun. Thus, the Greek version of today’s Gospel uses the “pneuma” while the
Latin version uses “Spiritus”. This equivalency of vocabulary is pretty much
found throughout the Bible, and since many modern languages are in part derived
from Latin, it’s easy to see why the English translations of the Bible have
consistently used “he” in describing the Holy Spirit, particularly in the
patriarchal social and political context that existed in the church, when the
first translations were done. In the days of those first translations, women
were second class citizens, and in some churches, they still are.
If we go along with that program,
women are completely shut out of the Trinity. Somehow, that’s not fair, and the
church is all the worse for it. Not only have traditional churches shut out the
gifts ordained women bring to ministry, but they’ve shut them out
theologically, too. A Holy Trinity that consists of Father, Son and a male Holy
Spirit would have us believe that nothing female could possibly be divine.
Looking at the situation from a fundamental fairness view, should not at least one of
the people in the Trinity be a woman? That is not only a good idea for the
church, it’s also theologically sound. Here’s why.
The Holy Trinity is like a
family, the Family of God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But a biological
family is not possible without a father and a mother. So, even though
the Holy Spirit is not named Mother, the Holy Spirit possesses the characteristics
of Divine Motherhood as the Father possesses those of Divine Fatherhood. The
Holy Spirit’s activities are expressed in 'giving birth,' 'nurturing,'
'forming,' and 'mothering’ all the Father's creation.
The Divine Feminine, also called
Divine Wisdom, or Sophia, or the Holy Spirit, was present
during the Creation of the world by the Father. The first appearance of
the Holy Spirit in scripture is when the Spirit of God moved upon the waters at
the beginning of creation. That spirit was Divine Wisdom, which existed before
God created male persons, and even before God made the earth. Divine Wisdom
Herself speaks to us about Her origin in the Book of Proverbs in Chapter 8,
Verses 22 and 23, “The Lord begot me, from the beginning of His works, the
forerunner of His deeds of long ago; from of old I was formed, at the first, before the
earth.” Divine Wisdom and the Holy Spirit are identified as being one and
the same person in the Old Testament Book of Wisdom, the richest source of
information about wisdom, and it is there that we find the strong connection
between wisdom and the Holy Spirit. In its first chapter, we read that
wisdom is a kindly spirit. Wisdom is the spirit of God that fills the whole
world, and is all-embracing. The Book of Wisdom speaks of wisdom as the
breath of the power of God. Scripture intertwines the concept of the spirit of
God with the wisdom of God.
In the eleventh chapter of
Isaiah, we find the exposition of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are
understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, and wonder and awe at the
power of God. The first among them is translated, “Sophia” in Greek, “sapienta”
in Latin. Both are feminine nouns in their respective languages. Throughout the
Old Testament, “wisdom” is described in feminine terms. Proverbs, Chapter 8,
begins, “Does not Wisdom call, and Understanding raise her voice? On the top of
the heights along the road, at the crossroads, she takes her stand.”
But what exactly is wisdom?
It is not knowledge. Many computers are more knowledgeable than most
people. The hard-drives of our computers have more recallable knowledge than we
do. Wisdom is not intelligence. Computers perform complex and
abstract intellectual operations, like analyzing and predicting whether a
lender can expect to be repaid, or whether an insurance company should accept a
particular risk. Wisdom, however, is about developing goals and skillfully
handling situations to achieve those goals. Wisdom is the ability to choose the
best course of action from among alternatives, taking into account the context
in which the choice occurs. Wisdom is practical, down-to-earth street smarts. A
wise person is one with good judgment, based on experience and/or ability, to
quickly perceive and analyze one’s surroundings, to figure out what action is
appropriate.
Today’s Epistle gives us
principles for wise choices. It contrasts the works of the flesh with the
fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those traits sound to me more
feminine than masculine. and are what women bring to the table in the church’s
lay and ordained ministry to a greater extent than most men. The church,
and the world at large, needs those traits for survival. Consider their
opposites, identified in today’s Epistle as works of the flesh: idolatry,
sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissensions, envy,
drunkenness, and the like. Ask yourself which set of
behaviors makes for a better world. Do we use the principles arising from the
works of the flesh, or those originating from the fruits of the spirit, for
individuals to make appropriate life choices? And should not organizations, countries,
and the world as a whole, do likewise? It’s not a hard choice.
Look at what happened in
Waco, Texas this past week, where nine people were killed in a fight between
rival motorcycle gangs. The works of the flesh were on display in all their
gory, and I truly mean gory, not glory. The fruits of the spirit were nowhere to
be found last Sunday in Waco. Consider the opposite. What if all those folks
were members of progressive churches rather than gangs, worshipping God on
Sunday morning, and living the Gospel, instead of killing each other at the
Twin Peaks Restaurant, whose marketing modus operandi is demeaning women by
dressing their waitresses in low cut outfits?
We’ve all heard about
uncomplimentary names and other discriminatory behavior directed at people of
color, LGBT people, immigrants, those who need the social safety net, and
members of certain religions. Some very visible groups practice hatred of those
outside mainstream white society as a way of life, funded and encouraged by the
wealthiest Americans to attract support, y promulgating fear of one’s neighbor
to obtain power over those who are a threat to their wealth. What you see in
that conduct is the works of the flesh in action, selfishness, anger, hatred
and idolizing money in place of God. What if the wealthiest one percent
replaced fear with love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity and gentleness?
What this is all saying, is that
the work the Holy Spirit begun at Pentecost had more yet to accomplish, and
still has a lot accomplish in our world today. God sent the Holy Spirit for a
purpose, to motivate and perpetuate the work that Jesus started. The Holy
Spirit presents Herself at Pentecost as a transformative agent. The Holy
Spirit accomplishes Her work by changing the world. The first thing
She did at Pentecost was allow everyone to understand one another’s language.
Should not all of us learn to speak more than one language? In the Southwest
United States where we live, it helps one get a job and have more friends.
When the apostles received the
Holy Spirit, things changed. They were no longer a small group that met among
themselves. The apostles became the church. They preached. They baptized. They
shared one another’s goods. They healed. They fed the poor. They started
communities. They celebrated the Eucharist. They did everything Christians
should be doing today.
The Holy Spirit was the
motivating force behind what the Apostles did. She can be the motivating force
for us, too, if we allow the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Divine
Feminine, the Divine Wisdom, to pervade our lives, our families, and the
communities in which we live. The Holy Spirit performs a mothering role for us,
of unconditional love, acceptance and caring. The Holy Spirit sent at
Pentecost was God’s gift to all of us, to drive the establishment of the
Kingdom of God.
A prominent thought among early
Christians was “parousia” or the second coming of Jesus. Many of them believed
that the Parousia would be in bodily form, with Jesus descending from Heaven to
earth. Indeed, the Bible says Jesus is coming back. How, we do not know,
so we can’t limit ourselves to believe in just one format, for how it might
occur.
The late George Bernard Shaw once
said, “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why. I
dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” Hence, what about the
possibility that the second coming of Jesus, is the coming of God’s kingdom to
be established on earth, to promote God’s justice? What about an earth where
the Divine Feminine values of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, supplant idolatry,
hatred, rivalry, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, envy, and
drunkenness? The Holy Spirit, the Divine Feminine, the Divine Wisdom relates to
“Why Not” rather than “Why”, to keep humanity’s focus on life going forward,
rather than life in the past, just like the forward focus of the action of the
Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Conservatives operate from the
premise that what works in the past will work in the future. However, that is
not realistic, because change is a constant, requiring continuous adaptation.
Sexism, racism, anger, greed, and idolatry were part of the old aeon of ancient
history. The Holy Spirit at Pentecost was not an invitation to continue life as
it had been in the past. Instead, the Holy Spirit at Pentecost completed the
work of Jesus to inaugurate a new aeon. She was intended to set off a
continuing chain of reaction. As the Holy Spirit motivated the formation of the
church, by making humanity to be part of continuing change, we move on through
life as a pilgrim people, as the Church of God, one family of believers, with
the Holy Spirit, Divine Wisdom, and the Divine Feminine, as the mighty wind
pushing us forward. AMEN.
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