“What Wondrous Thing” Video
What wondrous thing is happening here
where minds and souls are opening?
The scales fall off our blinded eyes;
new sight arouses hoping.
A new thing springs forth on the earth
with blessing, hope, and healing;
the power of woman saves all life,
Sophia-Christ revealing.
Epiphany surrounds us now,
as we reclaim our wholeness;
Sophia-Christ within us all
inspires us with new boldness.
Refrain:
Look, look, for She is here;
Her wisdom words have long been near.
Now, now, behold Her grace,
Divinity in Her image.
Words © Jann Aldredge-Clanton, from Inclusive Hymns for Liberating Christians (Eakin Press, 2006). For permissions, contact: www.jannaldredgeclanton.com.
Performed by: Devi Vaani (Kathleen Neville-Fritz, Dionne Kohler, and Alison Newvine), from album “Sing of Peace,” recorded by Joe Hoffmann Studios, Occidental, CA
Lyrics: Jann Aldredge-Clanton
Visual Artists: David Clanton, Colette Cashburn Numajiri, Elizabeth Zedaran, Stacy Boorn, Lucy Synk, Mirta Toledo, Mary Plaster
The lyrics of this song draw from these biblical passages:
Genesis 1:27 proclaims that female and male are created in the image of the Divine; therefore, Deity includes female and male. This fullness of divinity has long been hidden under layers of exclusively male sacred images. Female divine images may at first startle us with their unexpectedness because of our culture’s long devaluing of females. The Female Divine has been hidden, but now She is being resurrected.
1 Corinthians 1:24 & 30 declare that Christ is the Wisdom (Sophia) of God and that Christ became for us Sophia from God. The early church believed that Jesus was a revelation of Sophia (Greek for “Wisdom”). Early Christians associated Jewish wisdom literature’s personified Sophia with Jesus, believing Jesus to be the incarnation of divine Sophia.
Jeremiah 31:22 celebrates a new thing on the earth: the power of woman reordering relationships and saving life. This “new thing” that began long ago in Jeremiah’s day is springing up on a larger scale today as individuals, churches, and other organizations discover the great need for women’s gifts for the healing of our world.
The UN Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW) emphasized this need for women’s gifts. This year’s theme was “Women’s Empowerment and Its Link to Sustainable Development.” Women from 45 countries—including Uganda, Sudan, Nigeria, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Bangladesh, Belgium, Cuba, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Israel, United States—gathered to develop global policies to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide. In spite of the enormous challenges that women still face, we are making slow progress toward equality.
Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn in their book Half the Sky echo the theme of this year’s UN CSW on women’s empowerment as the key to sustainable development. They illustrate that the key to economic progress for all countries lies in unleashing women’s potential. When women gain equal opportunities in education, jobs, pay, government positions, and other areas of life, their countries prosper. For example, an equal job opportunity for a woman provides not only economic security for her, but also resources that she uses to transform her community. Empowering women, Kristof and WuDunn demonstrate, is the best strategy for eliminating poverty.
Empowering women to become all we’re created to be in the divine image brings transformation to all life. Including the Female Divine in our worship provides a theological foundation for this empowerment which leads to transformation.
“Look, look, for She is here; Her wisdom words have long been near. Now, now, behold Her grace, Divinity in Her image.”