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Re-Examining Re-Imagining
by Karelynne Gerber
"Last night in this very room church happened, if we understand church to be a place where the sacred is celebrated, where spirit filled people are hearing, doing, acting healing through the truth of words. Church was teaching us something in the songs we sing....When you go on Sunday something ought to be didactic, you should learn something." Delores Williams spoke these words during her presentation at the Re-Imagining Revival held from April 16 to 19 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The recent Re-Imagining Revival was the latest in a series of gatherings aimed at doing "theological work born out of women's experience." These gatherings began with the now infamous Re-Imagining conference in 1993, a conference that was held as a celebration of the midpoint of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Decade: Churches in Solidarity with Women. Over 2200 participants joined in the festivities, which included worship of Sophia, a eucharistic-type ritual of milk and honey employing erotic imagery, and a goddess wall featuring Isis, Aphrodite, and the Virgin Mary among others, as well as speakers who blatantly denounced the atonement of Christ.
The Revival was billed as a reunion of sorts and was the largest of the follow-up conferences with nearly 900 women and a "few good men" in attendance. The participants gathered for four days of speakers, workshops and continued discussion of theology rooted in women's experiences. However, the Re-Imagining Revival was not a purely academic pursuit. It maintained a worship-like atmosphere full of music, dance, art, ritual and liturgy designed to appeal to the whole person and to encourage participants to let down their guard. Diane Knippers, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy says, "Re-Imaginers pay a lot of attention to ritual, music, dance, and the visual arts. This is consistent with their argument that women are more intuitive, more right-brained, and even less logical than men are. Setting the scene is important in understanding the Re-Imagining experience." The entire Revival experience, both the presentations and the worship, reinforced the ideals of radical feminist theology including the worship of Sophia and the elevating of the divine within.
Delores Williams is entirely accurate in referring to "church" as a place in which one celebrates the sacred. Ritual and worship are indeed powerful tools for teaching. But what did the Re-Imagining Community intend to teach through its worship, liturgy and rituals? The feminist theology that Re-Imagining adopts is often difficult to recognize and distinguish from orthodox belief. This movement uses the same language as the Church, but it applies new definitions to traditional terms such as atonement, God, etc. Sometimes their doctrines are unmistakably opposed to those of traditional Christianity, as was obvious from many of the presenters' comments. Frequently, however, the doctrinal divergence is subtle and difficult to recognize, especially when it is couched in worship and ritual. With the average lay person becoming increasingly less knowledgeable regarding Biblical truths and orthodox theology, these feminist re-interpretations can easily catch well-meaning people off guard. The worship and rituals at Re-Imagining provide a clever way of drawing more people into a theological position that they might otherwise question and reject if they were engaged in critical thinking rather than immersing themselves in a time of worship.
Examine the Revival's opening ritual. It was a celebration of those often neglected or misunderstood women who have come before us on the journey of Re-Imagining, and it incorporated music and dance, a beating drum, light and darkness, and dramatic readings. The scene felt like a séance when conference leaders summoned the spirit of "First Woman" and lifted her up as an example for all women to follow. Then participants sang, "You are a lamp unto our feet...and a light unto our path." These words, well known from Scripture (Ps 119:105) and from the familiar hymn, raise little cause for concern until one realizes that participants are applying this seemingly biblical language to Eve and to each other by means of this catchy chorus.
Later participants reconfirmed their approval of "First Woman" and her quest for wisdom when she ate the fruit of the garden by singing, "Taste and see how good is the fruit that falls from the tree...taste and see how good is the fruit of the garden." In a closing ritual, participants were even encouraged to mimic her actions themselves as they defiantly bit into shiny, red apples and stood in solidarity with Eve as she embraced "wisdom" and resisted patriarchal authority. Scripture offers no doubt that the act of disobedience in the garden is not something that Christians can celebrate. It was not an act in opposition to patriarchal structures, but in opposition to God. Reflection on this rebellion should bring the repentant sinner to his/her knees thankful for the mercy that God has poured out in Christ, the means of reconciliation between creature and Creator.
Revival lifted up the theme of "Troubling the Waters." Participants brought vials of water from their hometowns to the conference as a representation of their identity, their "histories, people, joys and sorrows." As Re-Imaginers sat at tables of ten, each person was given time to share what her water represented and to tell a portion of her story as she poured her water into a common bowl at the table. Later the water from all tables was collected into one vessel symbolizing a mingling of all participants and their stories, giving an image to the interconnectedness of the all. While at the table Re-Imaginers passed their water around so all could "trouble" it, stirring and splashing the water while saying what it is that troubles their own water. One woman summarized the belief of many Re-Imaginers when she claimed that it is the institutional church that troubles her water.
In later discussion, presenters asked participants to consider the ways that they could trouble the waters of the church and of patriarchal systems. One speaker examined the passage of Jesus, calming of the storm in Luke 8 and concluded that Jesus slept through the storm because he was in favor of having someone rock the boat! He only calmed the seas when the disciples, whom she viewed as symbols of the patriarchal church, compelled him to do so. Therefore, she called on women to continue troubling the waters! This is hardly the point of the passage. The point is what the passage reveals about Jesus' identity. By calming the wind and the waters Jesus reveals some of his divine power, and the disciples are amazed and wonder at his identity (Mt 8:26). It is soon afterward at another incident on the water that Jesus' disciples conclude that their Master who calmed the seas is truly the Son of God (Mt 14:33). Rather than troubling the waters, Christians can worship the Lord of all creation who has calmed the waters, for truly He is the Son of God!
Another Revival theme was that of "Raising the Body." Claiming that the spirit has long been associated with the male and affirmed and asserting that the body has been connected with the female and rejected, Re-Imaginers sought to reclaim the body. Participants brought spices to the conference and they again shared what their particular spice represents about their story with others at their table. These fragrant spices were collected together and then redistributed to participants so that they could anoint one another with them, drawing on the biblical image of the women who went to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body for burial (Mk 16:1).
Re-Imaginers viewed themselves not as anointing the dead, but as commissioning each other to continue the work of raising the body. Speaker Anne Patrick suggested four ways to do this: strive to overcome dualism between the sprit and the body; attend to the earth by recognizing it as the body of God; honor the bodies of past victims of violence and work to reduce it in the future; and continue to build up churches that incarnate the Easter reality of hope. However, what hope remains in the Re-Imagined Easter story once feminists leave Jesus lying dead in the tomb as just another martyr in the fight for justice?
Other liturgy and rituals that were designed for the 93 conference were repeated at Revival. The Sophia Blessing, now a standard blessing in the Re-Imagining community, was invoked on each presenter, with the exception of Musimbi Kanyoro, who refused it. Participants stood and sang, "Bless Sophia, dream the vision, share the wisdom dwelling deep within," while performing simple hand motions. When questioned about Sophia, many participants were unable to explain precisely who she is. Some claimed her as a feminine image of God. Others gave the academic answer that Sophia is simply the Greek word for wisdom. Some speak of "Sophia Jesus." Bible study curriculum published by the Re-Imagining Community equates Sophia with both Jesus and the Spirit as well as calling Sophia the Creator.
It is precisely this vagueness about Sophia that makes her such a powerful tool in the hands of radical feminist theologians. As Katherine Kersten said in Good News magazine, a conservative United Methodist publication, "[Re-Imaginers] flocked happily to Sophia's altar, yet few seemed to have a clear idea of who she was, or to exhibit curiosity about how she might be associated with the creeds and confessions of their home churches." While the book of Proverbs and some non-canonical writings draw on a personified female figure of Wisdom, they do not claim that Sophia, is an actual person. The Wisdom figure, Sophia, is a literary device, in contrast to Jesus, who is a real, historical figure. Just as God possesses wisdom, the people of God are to seek after wisdom and to walk in the way of the Lord. A female goddess figure has no basis in Scripture.
Finally there is the ritual of milk and honey which celebrates women's sensuality and "how good it is to be in our bodies." Re-Imaginers often claim that this ritual is not intended to be a substitute for the Eucharist, yet elsewhere they affirm that this cup of milk and honey was part of the oldest communion texts of the early church given "for the healing of the bitterness of the human heart with the sweetness of Christ's word." Perhaps they are correct. However, it is the liturgy written to accompany the Re-Imagining milk and honey ritual, certainly something that was not a part of the early church tradition, that is so disturbing. This liturgy was not read at Revival, but the milk and honey ritual cannot be separated from the words that were initially used to explain its significance. These words reveal just what it is that Re-Imaginers are celebrating when they share the cup of milk and honey.
Re-Imaginers have claimed that opponents to the milk and honey ritual reject it because of its affirmation of women's sexuality and its strong, sexual language. It is not the celebration of women's sexuality in this liturgy that is most problematic, for God did create people to express sexuality in carefully defined circumstances. What is troubling in this liturgy is that it equates God with Sophia, naming her as Creator God. Re-Imaginers proceed to ascribe a specifically female body to Sophia when they speak of the "milk of our breasts" and "the nectar between our thighs," and they suggest that it is these characteristics that enable them to claim to be in the image of Sophia. They invoke Sophia to let her own "milk and honey flow." This is presumably the same "milk of [her] breasts" and "nectar between [her] thighs" that the women have just affirmed. These words imply that Sophia, as Creator God, created the world in the same way that women create life when they birth children. In this liturgy women claimed to "invite a lover" and "birth a child," and apparently they envision Sophia as having done the same thing. It is here that God, as Sophia, is transformed into Goddess.
Hilda Keuster, who wrote the controversial liturgy, says that as a result of this and other rituals she is "beginning to hold a feminine image as my primary image of God." She explains that this was "largely the result of discovering, as I wrote, all the richness in a fully developed, gender-specific image of God as Sophia....Seeing what flowed from my pen when Sophia was invoked, described, and praised created an inner shift. Unconsciously and spontaneously, my thoughts and language moved away from a neuter divinity to a feminine God with whom I connect in a very deep, primitive, and natural way."
Each of these activities enhanced the Re-Imagining experience. Each managed to borrow just enough Biblical language or imagery so that many participants had no difficulty accepting them. One woman, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian church, said, "None of this is pagan, as far as I'm concerned. The rituals were biblically based. That's not to say that some of the rituals weren't similar to some pagan rituals because after all, the Bible grew out of pagan-influenced religion."
The conference offered two afternoon workshops that highlighted the importance of the holistic experience to Re-Imaginers, one focusing on movement and the other on ritual. "When the Spirit Says Move, You Gotta Move" intended to "explore ways to include our bodies in praying and celebration of spiritual moments....Use the gift of your body to enhance the spirit." Affirming that "ritual involves all our senses" those who choose to attend "Ritual Come Alive!" purposed to "work in small groups and use our imaginations to create rituals which include work, music, movement, environment, and whatever else the Spirit evokes."
One strength of the Re-Imagining community is that it has found a way to offer what the church has failed to deliver. What comparison is there between the centuries old hymnody of many mainline churches and the fresh, alive percussion and upbeat tunes at Revival? Where besides the occasional stained glass window do we see art in our churches? Do rows of pews promote an atmosphere that allows for movement and dance in worship? Do they recognize that worship is to be an interactive experience, or do they serve to alienate and make the congregation into an audience? What symbols and images do we in the church lift up, and do we take the time to explain what it is that these images mean and why we celebrate them? How many others like Delores Williams view the cross only in terms of death and miss seeing it for the symbol of life that it is? Do we break bread together and share the cup around a table with regularity? The Church must contemplate these issues. Perhaps some changes would revive our worship experience and allow people to again absorb the sound teaching of the church through images and artistic expression.
Many participants say that Re-Imagining is a mountaintop experience for them because the Re-Imagining Community understands and cashes in on the power of such rituals. It is not the creativity of the movement itself that the church should fear. Rather, it should fear for the women who are attracted to Re-Imagining because of its surface appearance and who will be influenced into accepting a theology that they have failed to fully understand. Although they may gain an experience of worship that seems to be full of life, they will be led away from the only Life that truly matters. For when worship is deprived of Christ, all the creative ritual and beautiful music become empty and meaningless. The Church alone can offer a meaningful experience of worship, because it alone worships the true and Living Lord! May we worship Him with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength! Amen!