She Lives!
Sophia Wisdom labors throughout the world today;
Her works of loving kindness reveal the Truth and Way.
Her justice flows like waters upon the weary land;
She calls us all to follow Her healing plan.
We join Sophia Wisdom to take down every wall,
to open doors of welcome, including one and all.
We spread Her fullest blessings to people everywhere,
Her gifts of peace and justice for all to share.
Sophia Wisdom blossoms, a Tree of Life and Love,
Her glory shines forever within us and above.
We claim Her glorious visions of new reality,
a world where all can flourish, where all are free.
Refrain:
She lives, She lives! Sophia lives today;
She lives and works throughout the world to show the peaceful way.
She lives, She lives! We hear Her urgent call;
we work with Her to change the world; She lives within us all.
Words © 2014 Jann Aldredge-Clanton
Music © 2015 Larry E. Schultz
Larry E. Schultz, minister of music at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, joins Pullen choir members Jane Rhudy and Carol Hodge in singing “She Lives!” to a tune he wrote. He created this video for our presentation at the digital 2020 Annual Hymn Society Conference.
Whatever happened to Wisdom? She is in the Bible, but too often ignored and excluded. “Wisdom” is Hokmah in the Hebrew Scriptures and Sophia in the Greek language of the Christian Scriptures. In all my years growing up in church I never heard of God as Wisdom. I never heard God referred to as “She,” even though the Bible uses Wisdom as a female personification of God and refers to Wisdom as “She.” “Happy are those who find Wisdom. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with Her. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all Her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of Her; those who hold Her fast are called happy” (Proverbs 3:13,15,17-18). She raises her voice, and Her urgent cry rings out through the centuries (Proverbs 1:20-25). She is Sophia in the Christian Scriptures, linked to Christ (I Corinthians 1:24, 30).
In the midst of a pandemic and racial injustices, our country and our world are more than ever in deep need of Wisdom. But Wisdom and other female divine names and images continue to be excluded, as women have been excluded from leadership and still are in many religious traditions. Wisdom is sadly missing. Instead of Wisdom, we have racism, sexism, misogyny, heterosexism, exploitation of the earth, and other injustices. Instead of Wisdom, we have violence. Instead of Wisdom, we have greed. Instead of inclusive images of Deity that affirm all human beings as created in the divine image, we have exclusive images that devalue more than half of humanity. We need Sophia Wisdom and other female divine images so that there will be justice for females and for all human beings. Without Wisdom we all suffer.
Why then do most congregations continue to resist naming Her in worship? They still don’t get that by naming Sophia Wisdom, Her healing power will increase in the world. But maybe as one of my clergywomen friends said, they “get it,” but they just don’t “want it.” At some level they realize the power of naming Her to dismantle patriarchy at the foundation of multiple injustices, and they fear the changes that will come.
The good news is that we can see Sophia Wisdom living in our world today. In fact, we see Her rising everywhere. More and more people are seeking Her healing paths of justice and peace. More and more people are claiming the power of Her name.
During this time when churches are taking the wise path of putting their services online, I can go around the country and find Sophia Wisdom rising. I find Her in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, at First Baptist Church in the prayers and sermons. I find the Divine Feminine named and imaged in San Francisco at Ebenezer/herchurch Lutheran in the sermons, prayers, music, art, and readings. I find Her in Raleigh, North Carolina, at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in the sermons and music. Sophia shows up in Dallas at Church in the Cliff in the welcome and conversation. She shows up at The Gathering, A Womanist Church in the sermons, prayers, and litanies. The Divine Feminine is named and imaged in New Wineskins Community in the songs, prayers, readings, art, and conversation. She also shows up in Dallas at Friendship-West Baptist Church in the sermons and prayers. She shows up in the sermons and music at Northminster Baptist Church in Monroe, Louisiana, and at Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC.
Sophia Wisdom is also rising through social justice actions and ministries. Recently in New Wineskins Community we celebrated Her rising in ourselves, others, and the world. We named ways we see Her bringing racial and gender justice, such as the removal of symbols of racism, Black Lives Matter and Say Her Name rallies, #MeToo movement, and churches and other organizations working to be anti-racist.
On Sunday August 9, Sophia Wisdom rose up in strength here in Dallas.
above, The Gathering Co-Pastors Rev. Kamilah Hall Sharp and Rev. Dr. Irie Lynne Session
below, The Gathering Ministry Partners Alexandria McLemore and Vontril McLemore
Sunday morning a Black Lives Matter Ride-In for a New Dallas caravan of thousands of cars and trucks drove through our community to Friendship-West Baptist Church, where a week earlier a large caravan of white supremacists showed up at Friendship-West, a church strongly aligned with Black Lives Matter and other justice movements. Ministry partners of The Gathering, A Womanist Church participated in the Ride-In for a New Dallas event, organized by Dallas Black Clergy for Safety, Equity and Justice. The event registered voters in addition to calling for racial justice, for the end of economic disenfranchisement and other injustices suffered by the Black people of Dallas. Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III, pastor of Friendship-West, preached while people in the caravan stayed in our cars and listened on the radio. He included “Mother God” in his sermon and proclaimed, “They thought they could shut us down, but they just stirred us up. You come with batteries included. You have batteries from the inside that will help you with battles on the outside.”
At the same time that the caravan was working for social justice, other ministry partners of The Gathering were ministering to people experiencing homelessness. Wearing masks and gloves, they gathered at Central Christian Church to cook and deliver meals to 167 people.
cooked and delivered meals to 167 people.
Sophia Wisdom blossoms, a Tree of Life and Love,
Her glory shines forever within us and above.
We claim Her glorious visions of new reality,
a world where all can flourish, where all are free.
She lives, She lives! Sophia lives today;
She lives and works throughout the world to show the peaceful way.
She lives, She lives! We hear Her urgent call;
we work with Her to change the world; She lives within us all.
YES!! This is very hopeful, thank you!! Taking the oath to continually help Wisdom Sophia rise in the world!
You are helping Her rise in the world! Thank you!