BakerWoman God

My friend Tom's post about being a puzzle in God's hands reminded me of a poem. Another friend, Ruth, posted this poem "BakerWoman God" on another site long ago and far away. Initially, I was a bit uncomfortable with the poem's feminine imagery for God.

I said it was long ago. :-)

BakerWoman God

Bakerwoman God,

I am your living Bread.

Strong, brown, Bakerwoman God.

I am your low, soft, and being-shaped loaf.

I am your rising bread,

well-kneaded by some divine and knotty pair of knuckles,

by your warm earth-hands.

I am bread well-kneaded.

Put me in fire, Bakerwoman God,

put me in your own bright fire.
I am warm, warm as you from fire.

I am white and gold, soft and hard, brown and round.

I am so warm from fire.

Break me, Bakerwoman God!

I am broken under your caring Word.

Bakerwoman God,

Remake me.

Alla Bozarth-Campbell

I am still most comfortable with calling God "Father" because that is what Jesus did. However, I am also enriched by understanding that God's divine image is reflected in both male and female. As I searched the internet for this poem, I came across a site which called it "blasphemous godess worship." How sad. If you need a scripture reference where God was portrayed as female, I offer some wisdom from Dr. Ben Witherington.

One of the things scholars have noted about...parables is that Jesus seemed to like to tell them in pairs. In this case we have the parable of the lost sheep, paired with the parable of the lost coin, and in fact the real meaning of these two parables is basically the same—God seeks and saves the lost. But why tell that story in these two different ways? One reason, clearly enough is that Jesus was a radical. He is the first Jewish teacher we know of that had both men and women as disciples, and indeed not just casual disciples, traveling disciples (see Lk. 8.1-3).

Strikingly, in the first of these two parables God is portrayed as like the male shepherd, leaving behind the 99 sheep to go and find the one lost one, whereas in the second parable he is said to be like the woman who is frantically sweeping the dirt floor of her house looking for a lost coin. We have here God portrayed as both a man and a woman seeking the lost.

This must have surprised quite a few people... It doesn’t surprise me though—not only was Jesus an equal opportunity redeemer of all sorts of people, both male and female, God, who in the divine nature is Spirit, neither male nor female, has no problems with being said to be like either a man or a woman who seeks to find what is lost. It’s some of us that get hung up on such a notion.

(That was an exerpt from a sermon, posted here, just in case you'd like to read the whole thing).

As I reread the "puzzle" post this morning I found myself remembering this poem about being kneaded and shaped--just how I feel right now. I hope you enjoyed it.