Perhaps an even more moving video for those whose fathers were broken, or deeply flawed, or not there at all.<\/p>\n
In a former parish, there was a sister-liturgist<\/strong> who\u2013eager to promote \u201csensitivity\u201d\u2013decided that the Gloria<\/em> should be sung with the refrain \u201cGlory to God in the Highest, and peace to God\u2019s people on earth;\u201d she was content to brutalize the ear, change a liturgical prayer that is not supposed to be changed, and disorient the people just a tad, in order that no one should be subjected to that troubling male pronoun, \u201cHis.\u201d<\/p>\n I always thought it was a nonsensical point; why go to the trouble of training the people to avoid the \u201cHis\u201d in that sung prayer, when it proceed to refer to God as \u201cHeavenly King, Almighty God and Father,\u201d and to Jesus as \u201conly Son of the Father.\u201d And of course, I got into a civil debate with her about it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t understand,\u201d she said kindly (because she was a very kind sister) \u201cit\u2019s important that we begin to think of God as having no gender at all, containing aspects of both mother and father, but not limited to our understanding as \u201cFather.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, mysticism if fine; I\u2019m a fan,\u201d I said. \u201cBut the prayer\u2013which is liturgical and not subject for editing by you or me\u2013makes enough male references throughout that it seems incongruous and silly, to enforce this clumsy and cold \u201cGlory to God and peace to God\u2019s people,\u201d<\/em> phrasing. It\u2019s ick<\/em> to my ear. And it puts God at a distance; it\u2019s not intimate.\u201d<\/p>\n To sister\u2019s credit she remained kind<\/strong> but she did buckle down and let me know she wasn\u2019t budging. \u201cThere are a lot of people in the world who have had bad fathers, they have bad memories, a lot of people find referring to God as \u201cFather\u201d to be distancing and hurtful. They cannot relate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, sister, I happen to be one of those people who had a bad father and carries bad memories, and I like<\/em> referencing God as Father; I happen to find great comfort and solace in having a Heavenly Father who more than fills the void left by my earthly one.\u201d<\/p>\n She looked stunned. \u201cYou are the first person who has ever said that to me; that is not the usual perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut don\u2019t you think that\u2019s a perspective worth promoting? Isn\u2019t it a much better thing to tell people whose fathers have failed that they may be consoled by a Father who will never<\/em> fail? Wouldn\u2019t that be more positive, and ultimately more healing, than wrecking the liturgy to pander to neurotic sadness?\u201d<\/p>\n We live in an era where all Motherhood is celebrated as a \u201cchoice,\u201d<\/strong>, but choices are by their nature invitations to be inconsistent. When a mother may \u201cselectively reduce\u201d her twins or triplets down to the one \u201cchosen\u201d child, or carry a baby unto viability, then deliver just enough child from the birth canal in order to slaughter it, the celebrated post-modern notions of motherhood do not speak much to transcendent constancy or unfailing love, and yet it is Fatherhood that has taken a beating in the culture. It is Fatherhood that is considered dispensable, on earth and\u2013apparently\u2013in heaven.<\/p>\n Good mothers are amply applauded in society, as they should be. Perhaps if we can funnel some of the whirlwinds of the age back into valuing fatherhood, and celebrating the powerful effect of a good father on his children\u2019s lives, people will be encouraged\u2013or allowed\u2013to find the Fatherhood of God and embrace it for themselves, be consoled and taught by a Person whose earthly counterpart they may have missed in their lives. Perhaps fathers will themselves discover in that reflection, the inspiration and instruction they need to love with wisdom and space.<\/p>\n
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