“Our Mother” Video
“Our Mother” performed by Vocal Divine, comes from the new CD, HER Sacred Songs, recorded at Ebenezer/herchurch Lutheran in San Francisco.
Our Mother who is within us, We celebrate your many names. Your wisdom come; your will be done, unfolding from the depths within us. Each day you give us all that we need. You remind us of our limits and we let go. You support us in our power, and we act with courage. For you are the dwelling place within us, the empowerment around us, and the celebration among us, now and forever, now and forever, now and forever, now and forever. Blessed be!Words: Miriam Therese Winter
Music: Pamela Parker
Arrangement: Dionne Kohler
Vocals/Guitar: Dionne Kohler, Kathleen Neville-Fritz, Alison Newvine
Violin: Lana Dalberg
Visual Artists:
Alice Heimsoth: four photos in the sanctuary and one outside of Ebenezer/herchurch Lutheran, San Francisco (http://www.herchurch.org/), and one photo of Divine Feminine paintings by Shiloh Sophia McCloud (http://www.shilohsophiastudios.com/) © Alice Heimsoth. Used with permission. http://www.aliceheimsoth.com/gallery/258290
Lucy A. Synk: “Ruach” © Lucy A. Synk. Used with permission. http://lucysynkfantasyart.com/print_gallery
Stacy Boorn: “Goddess in Blue,” and “LightDarkness” © Stacy Boorn. Used with permission. http://stacy.awegallery.com/; http://www.awegallery.com/index.php?page=artists&aid=1
Elizabeth Zedaran: “Flow” © Elizabeth Zedaran. Used with permission.
Mirta Toledo: “Sophia” © 2003 Mirta Toledo. Used with permission. http://www.afrolatinart.com/#/mirta- toledo/4532396991
Sister Marie-Celeste Fadden, O.C.D.: “God Who Gave Birth to Humanity” © Carmel of Reno. Used with permission.
Mary Plaster: “Sophia, Divine Wisdom” © 2003 Mary Plaster. Used with permission. http://www.maryplaster.com/mary.html
Although many churches limit God to male names and images, Scripture does not limit God to maleness. The Bible gives a multiplicity of divine names and images, including female divine names and images. Maternal divine names and imagery occur throughout the Bible. The prophet Isaiah pictures God as a comforting Mother: “As a Mother comforts Her children, so I will comfort you” (Isaiah 66:13). Biblical maternal images also include a “Nursing Woman” (Isaiah 49:15), “Mother Eagle” (Deuteronomy 32:11-12), and “Mother Hen” (Matthew 23:37).
Many of the church “fathers” affirmed the biblical imagery of the Divine Mother. In the 13th century. St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, refers to Christ as “our Mother, Wisdom of God.” Prominent in the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, Martin Luther and John Calvin celebrate biblical images of God as Mother. Luther comments that the maternal imagery in Isaiah 46:3 shows that “God cares for us with an everlasting maternal heart and feeling.” Calvin states that biblical images of God as Mother best convey God’s “ardent love towards us.”
Vocal Divine creates music for Ebenezer/herchurch Lutheran, San Francisco (http://www.herchurch.org, and plans to branch out to more venues. Here is an excerpt from the church’s mission statement: “Our mission is to embody and voice the prophetic wisdom and word of the Divine Feminine, to uplift the values of compassion, creativity and care for the earth and one another. Our purple church is home to a diversity of spiritual traditions and perspectives that are woven together to create a strong, stretchy fabric that provides everyone with ample room to grow. We are committed to acts of justice and peace as we help shift the worldview from domination systems to mending and caring for the web-of-life.”
To purchase the new CD, HER Sacred Songs, contact Alison Newvine: alison.newvine@yahoo.com.
Recorded by: Joe Hoffman, Hoffmann Studios, Occidental, CA