LHARANGO@OWUCOMCN (Lauren Arango) (02/13/90)
>How do you feel about inclusive language in prayer? I.e. do invocations >addressed to "brothers" and prayers that we all become "sons of the living >God" bother you. Does your tradition make use of inclusive language? >What about using a neuter gender for God? or at least for the Spirit? > Michelle Hi, Michele.... I think that we should use inclusive language in prayer if we can. When I lead the Prayers of the People at my church, I change the "...and give thanks for all men" in the Book of Common Prayer to "...and give thanks for all people", and no one has called me on the carpet for it yet. :-) I am, however, enough of a traditionalist to think of God as God the Father; indeed the Trinity as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I would be uncomfortable with a neuter gender for God. To me, God was Jesus' father, and Mary was his mother. That makes me think of God in a masculine way, and I have no problem with that, personally. As far as the Holy Spirit is concerned, I guess I do think of it as an "it" rather than as a "he". I agree with you also, though, in that we oughtn't be messing around with scripture. If it seems sexist to us in our culture in this day and age, so be it....that doesn't give us the right to change it. God's peace, Lauren