Posted on 04/25/2007 6:54:31 AM PDT by NYer
“WOW -- coming from RC tradition I thought I’d never return to the Rosary. But here it is and here SHE IS. Blessed be, Mairly.”
The “here” in this message, found on herchurch.org, is Ebenezer Lutheran Church in San Francisco. But the SHE is not the Mother of God. SHE is “God/dess.”
On Wednesdays at 7 p.m., Ebenezer opens its sanctuary for the “Christian Goddess Rosary.” The church says it offers “Goddess Rosary Beads” and that “prayers and suggested meditations will be on hand as well as incense, candles and bells.”
“The Goddess rosary is grounded in traditions of the Christian Church and the proclamation of the gospel which is a vision of release from bondage for a new creation,” says the church’s web site.
The Goddess Rosary page on herchurch.org says that though “God as Father plays an important role” in Christian tradition, its “exclusive emphasis... contributes to a limited understanding of God, an understanding that supports a domination structure that oppresses and subordinates women.” Jesus used “Abba” as a “revolutionary deconstruction of domination structures of his day in both religious and social institutions.” The modern task is to do the same with “Goddess.”
Ebenezer, however, does not want to eradicate masculine images of God but to balance them with feminine images to “confront the biblical texts, products of their day and cultures, for the blatant patriarchal biases and misogynist attitudes.” And herchurch.org cites three Catholic theologians in support this confrontation: Harvard’s Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Fordham University’s Sister Elizabeth Johnson, and Rosemary Radford Ruether (who will lecture students in the course, “The History of God in Feminist Theological Discourse,” at LA’s Mount St. Mary’s College this spring.) Ruether calls the exclusive use of male imagery for God “idolatry.”
Herchurch.org offers a “Hail Goddess” prayer by feminist theologian Carol Christ, formerly of Harvard Divinity School but now director of the Ariadne Institute for Myth and Ritual in Greece. The prayer goes: “Hail Goddess full of grace. Blessed are you and blessed are all the fruits of your womb. For you are the MOTHER of us all. Hear us now and in all our needs. O blessed be, O blessed be. Amen.”
“I felt that I had stepped into a Presence, like a mother’s warm embrace,” wrote Dalyn Cook of Ebenezer’s Goddess Rosary. “The attendees were few in number, yet there was a sense of fullness in this welcoming space. I inhaled deeply the earthy scent of the incense, sending up delicate tendrils of smoke which curled around the altar in a nimbus visible against the warm rays of the evening sun filtering through the stained-glass windows....
“From the basket of rosaries, I took into my hand a strand of vibrantly-colored beads with a silver goddess icon in place of the traditional cross. The goddesses came in a variety of shapes and sizes, celebrating the beauty of the feminine form; I found reflections of my own figure in the full hips and Rubenesque curves of my goddess,” Cook wrote.
Thanks for the post. Interesting points which are good for those remaining in fellowship through faith in Him to be wise as the fox and wary of serpents.
Bingo. BTW, it's for us to remain in fellowship with Him as so commanded, and that also means there are things going on in His plan for us to do just that. Do we have faults? Sure. Then again, we also have lots of crowns awaiting us to perform good works through faith in Him so He is free by His grace to award us with them at His time.
Whenever somebody starts appealing to other saints or angels, I wonder why not just walk as He as created things for us to follow and walk by His example.
No matter how many innocuous arguments are given to appeal to other spiritual creatures, I tend to have my hands full just remaining in fellowship with Him and letting Him grow me at His pace. In other words, I have my hands full in keeping my spirit in step with His pace for me, so much so, that I really don't have any spare time (even with eternal life) to preoccupy others other than to encourage them to also find Him by the Great Commission.
Ah then I see that you somehow missed my answer where I specifically stated that all instances of my observing Roman Catholics (since I am not Roman Catholic) “praying to” Mary actually involves asking her to pray for them.
I hope this correction helps.
I don’t know what you have been reading in the newspaper, but the experiences that I have had with Roman Catholics indicates that they ask Mary and the Saints to pray for them.
Do you have a problem with someone asking a friend or loved one to pray for them? Yes or No?
No, not if they’re alive.
Me, too, and we always find what we’re looking for! One day we were looking for hubby’s wallet. I asked God to help him find it before church. Ten minutes before we left, a lady called (one to whom we minister from time to time)and she had found it on her porch! Amazing God.
A guy I work with is always pestering me when I lose something to pray to St. Anthony to find it. He knows I am not a Catholic, nor do I pray to saints. He says “Tony, Tony, turn around, something’s lost and can’t be found.” Kinda akin to burying a statue of St. Joseph in the yard to help one sell a house. Scripture does not support superstitions like this; but, I don’t see any big clamour for Catholicism to denounce them either. Stick with Scripture, you don’t go too far afield. Start adding the traditions of men and you may.
I bought that book and lent it to my son. I’ll have to encourage him to read it and get it back to me.
Exactly. Most of the time we agree (catholics and protestants) on the true basics of Christianity, but then get off on doctrinal stuff that’s heretical, IMHO. Both sides do it.
How many times has this "only" been pointed out?
And how many times has it been responded to with the comment that the "saints" aren't dead?
And how much good has it done either way?
You added the "instead". There is no "instead" either in what Campion wrote or in normal Catholic piety. Your point depends on the "instead", but at least in this instance you had to put it in before you could take it out.
Now you will want to tell us you know what we do better than we who do it know, that the 'instead' is there whether we say it or mean it or think it or not.
Evidently this is what passes for discussion among Protestants.
Helps clear up my impression. Thx.
AMEN.
GOOD ONE.
Maybe daughter in law will dare to read it! LOL.
With the gulf between . . . that God established . . . seems safe to assert that they are dead to this time/space dimension.
Look at post 116 (chosen almost at random) and tell me why we should stop taking pokes at our Protestant brethren.
Of course if we were enlightened, spirit-filled, and biblically based we'd know that the Bible is really about aliens.
No it's not. (My statement has as much authority as yours. I would have said, "IMHO Catholicism is not a denomination," but what good would it have done?)
Ping to 377
Okay. You tell us what the name of a RC Church means.
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