Robinopedia: Lord
I've been wondering why I continue to use the word Lord to refer to God. It's awfully patriarchal. When I think about it, I don't; I say God or Spirit, or the Light within, or several names run together.
Some of it is just tradition, just what I'm used to. It's still in plenty of hymns, prayers, the Bible, historical Quaker writings. It's like when I was first married and I changed my last name. If I was thinking about my name, I would use my married name. But if I was thinking of something else, and tangentially referred to myself by name, I'd naturally use my old last name. I knew that was over forever when I recently looked for myself in my college yearbook, and caught myself looking in the M section. So some of it is just not thinking. But I think there's more to it.
Maybe it has to do with the idea that only God is Lord. No person, no man, not my father, not my husband, not my president, is my Lord. I am a free and independent adult human being, endowed by God, my Creator, with certain inalienable rights, as they say.
One of the interesting things I've been learning about the Bible is that Jesus had all this stuff to say about the king-dom of God - as opposed to the very real human kingdom where he and the folks he was preaching to lived. He said that it was human kings and lords that caused oppression, and that when and where God was king, things would be different. And that God's kingdom starts here and now if we believe in it and follow it.
Maybe this also has to do with the Quaker sense of discerning and submitting to God's will - to the orders of my only Lord.
I'm still not really comfortable with it, but I think I'll have to live with it a while longer.
Some of it is just tradition, just what I'm used to. It's still in plenty of hymns, prayers, the Bible, historical Quaker writings. It's like when I was first married and I changed my last name. If I was thinking about my name, I would use my married name. But if I was thinking of something else, and tangentially referred to myself by name, I'd naturally use my old last name. I knew that was over forever when I recently looked for myself in my college yearbook, and caught myself looking in the M section. So some of it is just not thinking. But I think there's more to it.
Maybe it has to do with the idea that only God is Lord. No person, no man, not my father, not my husband, not my president, is my Lord. I am a free and independent adult human being, endowed by God, my Creator, with certain inalienable rights, as they say.
One of the interesting things I've been learning about the Bible is that Jesus had all this stuff to say about the king-dom of God - as opposed to the very real human kingdom where he and the folks he was preaching to lived. He said that it was human kings and lords that caused oppression, and that when and where God was king, things would be different. And that God's kingdom starts here and now if we believe in it and follow it.
Maybe this also has to do with the Quaker sense of discerning and submitting to God's will - to the orders of my only Lord.
I'm still not really comfortable with it, but I think I'll have to live with it a while longer.
Labels: robinopedia
posted by Robin M. at 11:50 PM
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1 Comments:
I like Lord because I'm so inclined to make myself lord of my life. Using Lord for who should be lord of my life is a good reminder to me that I'll screw it up otherwise.
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