In a bizarre sermon which went viral on social media, a United Methodist Minister claimed that praying to God as “Our Father” can be painful, damaging, and traumatic for some. The preacher, who spoke at Grandville Church in Lancaster, PA, advocated that the congregation refer to God as a “grandmother, our coach, [or] mentor.”
For context, this video highlights a deep theological divide within Christianity over gender, which has raged hotly for decades. While conservative Christians adhere to a traditional view of gender and believe that the Bible sets strict guidelines for sexuality, liberals seek to bring woke identity politics into the church by recasting God as female or non-gendered.
Beginning her bizarre rant, the Methodist minister began to deconstruct her faith. She said, “To our father. Today, we shift ever so subtly from our to father. What does it mean that we address God in this way? What does that tell us about God, about our relationship to God, and about our relationship to each other, whether you pray Our Father in heaven or our mother in heaven or our parent in heaven?”
Building on that point, she argued that changing prayer is essential to tolerance. She claimed, “It makes no difference in terms of the prayer itself. However, it can make a tremendous difference in the life of the one who is praying for those with strained or nonexistent relationships with the parent, feeling forced to pray to God in a way that brings up that painful familial relationship can have harmful consequences.”
Still not done, the female preacher explained her reasoning. The minister declared, “Where one’s parent or caregiver has been unloving or abusive, it can be damaging to pray to God and think of God as a parent, especially if doing so projects abusive qualities onto God. So in that situation, I might counsel a person to consider shaping their prayer around a different metaphor, perhaps our creator or our good shepherd.”
Finally concluding her woke rant, the minister provided a solution. She stated, “If these metaphors have positive associations, but it could even be something like our Sunday school teacher, our grandmother, our coach, our mentor, whatever will elicit from you this sense of belovedness and.”
Unsurprisingly, Grandville Church’s website proves that it is deeply involved in progressive politics. Under a picture of the rainbow flag, a post reads, “Jesus Christ calls Grandview Church to be a fully inclusive church, recognizing the sacred worth of all people, including those of every race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity. We embrace those who are marginalized for any reason. Grandview cultivates respectful discussion of differences among all who seek to love their neighbors.”
Watch the woke rant here:
Offering more context, the Church states that they split off from the Methodist line to focus on woke values. The website states, “As a result of the continued punitive and exclusionary actions of the United Methodist Church against LGBTQ+ people and clergy allies, and accepting that there was no viable future for genuine LGBTQ+ affirmation within the denomination, we sought to stop the harm that Queer people in our communities experienced as a result of our continued relationship with this institution.”
Concluding their statement, the church said, “While the matter of LGBTQ+ inclusion served as the catalyst for our departure, our discernment process made us even more aware of other institutional practices that fail to reflect God’s love and justice. We felt compelled by the Spirit to create something new that offered a just, loving, grace-filled alternative.”
Featured image from embedded video