Inclusive Language for God in the Psalms

Dear Friends in Christ,

Yesterday morning I sat in church and read morning prayer as I have committed to doing every Wednesday in Lent. Although I was alone, I read out loud. As I read the canticles and the psalms I substituted “God” for he or him every time.

Anyone who knows me or has had a conversation with me about language used for God knows that inclusive language for God is important to me. It is one of the reasons I use worship material from Enriching Our Worship (EOW) 1. Which is intended to “expand the language, images and metaphors used in worship.” (EOW 1 p.5)

There is widespread support for the idea that as our understanding of God has evolved so must our use of the words to describe God. But God is ineffable; bigger and more mysterious than we have the words to describe, and if we insist on using anthropomorphic language for God which inevitably attributes human characteristics to God, over time the words themselves come to form and limit our understanding of God.

But an interesting thing happened as I read this morning. At first the substitution of God for he/him/his felt clumsy and didn’t flow. But as I read, the shift gave the meaning more emphasis. I may have begun by using God instead of he/him/his as an exercise in inclusivity, but as I read, I became more aware of how imposing the attributes ascribed to God were, more attuned to the magnitude of God’s greatness more in awe of God’s saving deeds.

Consider the words of the Venite. Read it out loud. And then read it out loud again substituting the word God for he/him/his. And try it for other psalms and canticles. See if it enlarges your understanding of God’s greatness and impresses you anew with God’s majesty.

Come, let us sing to the Lord; * let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before his [God’s] presence with thanksgiving * and raise a loud shout to him [God] with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God, * and a great King above all gods. In his [God’s] hand are the caverns of the earth, * and the heights of the hills are his [God’s] also. The sea is his [God’s], for he made it, * and his [God’s] hands have molded the dry land.

Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, * and kneel before the Lord our Maker. For he [God] is our God, and we are the people of his [God’s] pasture and

the sheep of his [God’s] hand. *

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Jane+