LORD?

“Lord” is fading at some churches.” (Headline, Arizona Daily Star, April 22, 2007)

Perhaps some of you saw this article and agree or disagree with the churches cited that no longer use the word, “Lord,” because it is too “hierarchical,” “non inclusive,” or “patriarchal.” First Congregational United Church of Christ states they are “suspicious” of the word.

I don’t understand their “suspicion” since it is clearly used (according to the Dictionary of the Bible, John L. McKenzie, S.J.) as a Hebrew word (‘adôn) in the Old Testament meaning “an honorific title of a king, a god, or a husband,” and also “an owner of a slave, and especially as a polite form of address, or applied to any person of superior rank.” To be suspicious according to the dictionary is to: 3. b) tending habitually to suspect, esp. to suspect evil. If we look up the word, suspicion, it refers to the act or an instance of suspecting guilt, a wrong, harmfulness, etc. with little or no supporting evidence.

Since the Bible Dictionary describes the word in the Old Testament as above, I have no problem with the word, “Lord.” After all, we call God “King,” he is God, and his relationship with Israel was often described as intimate, like the marriage in Hosea where Israel was unfaithful and the “Lord” (God) referred to himself as “her husband.” In the New Testament we find “Lord” used frequently by Paul in his letters and, in the gospels, “Lord” is a post-resurrection term referring to the Risen Jesus.

Jesus describes himself as a bridegroom (Luke 5:35; Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19), and Paul echoes this in 2 Corinthians 11:2. The church is the bride in Revelation 19:7-9, 21:2, 22:17. If believers (the Church) are the “bride” does this mean we are all female? This thought is just as absurd as their reasons for not using the word, “Lord!”

In my personal opinion, I think the ones who object to the word, “Lord,” must be ego challenged if they can’t think of Jesus as Lord of their lives. He is God, describes himself as “husband,” we are his servants (slaves as Paul states), and he is a person of superior rank. He qualifies for that title and I do not feel diminished in the least when I refer to him this way.

I agree that God the Father and the Holy Spirit are not male or female. They are spirit and unseen but knowable because we carry their image within us, as Genesis 1:26, 27 tells us. Jesus definitely was male. Are these people so insecure in their own sexuality that they can’t see that the whole Bible is catholic, which means that it includes everyone, male and female? Catholic means “as a whole,” even universal, and God loves us all.

As for The Lord’s Prayer being renamed as “The Prayer of Our Creator,” the prayer was spoken by Jesus, so if they want to change “Lord” they should rename it “The Prayer of Jesus, the Son of God.”

I think what these people object to is the “patriarchy” or the hierarchy in the Church. They resent the male dominance of leadership. They forget that these “patriarchs” and “hierarchy” are servants of the people according to the example Jesus gave us in John 13:1-16. As Master, he was also Servant in his relationship to his disciples and states that a “slave” is not greater than his master. Since these churches already have women priests, they have no reason to complain about the hierarchy since they themselves are part of it.

I could go on with all the objections they have to the word, “Lord,” but for me, “Lord” encompasses all that the Trinity stands for: King, Creator, Father, Mother, Servant, Slave, Master, Teacher, Rabbi, and Bridegroom. Even these words are not enough to describe the faith and love I have for Yahweh God, Lord Sabaoth, Adonai; Jesus, Son of God, Second Person of the Trinity, Savior, Redeemer, Kyrios; Holy Spirit, Love, Counselor, Advocate, and Consoler.

We must never forget we are “the Temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God and that you are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). If we are not our own, then we belong to God, the Lord and giver of life.

The Dictionary of the Bible sums it up this way: “Therefore he is to be universally confessed as Lord.” And, the Presbyterian pastor, Mark Roessler, stated in the article, “If we continue to water down and make ourselves politically correct, there won’t be anything left. God is the king of the universe. We are to bow before him. He is king, savior, Lord and master…God is the great patriarch of heaven and Earth.”

AMEN!

Alma Maish