Random

I'm remembering that the Thompson sisters sing the last verse of 'Amazing Grace' with "sing life's praise" instead of "sing God's praise" and it is irking me, though it's hypocritical of me to be irked. After all, when I sing along to 'Gentle Arms of Eden' I always sing "rock me, Mother" instead of "rock me, Goddess." And if by some bizzare chain of events I came to ever sing that song in public, I would probably still sing it with "mother," and so how can I be cranky about the Thompsons doing the same to a much older song that exists in many, many forms?

I sing "rock me, Mother" because... well. 'Gentle Arms of Eden,' like everything Dave Carter wrote, comes from a place of such truth, as I once said to breadandroses. It's rare for me to sing along with any of his songs and not feel them - mean them - pray them. And I... to address a prayer to Goddess, or a goddess, is... for me it's not helpful. My god is the God of Abraham and Sarah, the God who was made human in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and that God is neither male nor female but having aspects of both. In my thoughts, in my prayers, 'God' is not a gendered term any more than 'author' is a gendered term, and for me to say 'Goddess' feels as divisive, belittling, and silly as saying 'authoress' or 'poetess' or 'deaconess' or any other cutesy Victorian man-as-default terms.

To say 'Mother,' though, is to contemplate an aspect of God, an aspect of my relationship with my God. It's not a mode of address that I use often, but it's one that I'm comfortable with, one that feels true for me in a way 'Goddess' doesn't.