The ’95 Illuminations
“Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?” (Proverbs 8:1)
Presented by
Voices of Sophia
At the 207th Meeting of the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
July 16, 1995
Voices of Sophia, to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the larger Christian community: Grace and peace to all.
We are your sisters and brothers, being reformed by God through the Spirit of the living Christ and bearing witness to the need for love and justice in the church.
“Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light” (Luther), we present our ’95 (1995) theses as Illuminations, a term used by the 12th century Christian mystic, Hildegaard of Bingen.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Wisdom of God, Sophia, we call the church to repentance and transformation, to its truest self, to the work of justice and compassion.
Recognizing that these Illuminations reflect too few voices of people of color, people who are economically disadvantaged, other marginalized persons, and people from other traditions, we leave space to symbolize the voices that are missing…
We invite conversation on these Illuminations with all who affirm the full and equal humanity of women and men.
Illuminations on our Faith and Vision
“Write the vision, make it plain on tablets so that a runner may read it.”
(Habakkuk 2:2)
We call the church to reclaim the long-silenced Sophia language of our ancient biblical and theological tradition.
We affirm God-Sophia, chokmah in Hebrew, Woman Wisdom present at the dawning of creation (Prov. 8), who fashioned us in the image of the divine as women and men.
We affirm Jesus-Sophia, wisdom incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth (Matt. 11:18, Lk. 7:35, Lk. 11:49, I Cor. 1:21-31), who liberates us for the work of love and justice.
We affirm Spirit-Sophia, God’s interpretive wisdom, indwelling, sustaining, and enlivening us for community and relationship (I Cor. 2:1-13).
With wild abandonment, God-Sophia has opened within us and the church deep wells of creativity and wholeness that promise healing, challenge, and hope for the church and the world.
Convinced that Christ-Sophia is “making all things new” (Rev. 21:5), we call our faith community to abandon its dependence on hierarchy, to confess the sinfulness of patriarchy, and to embrace a fresh understanding of the church as the discipleship community of equals initiated by Jesus.
We call the church to embody and embrace Spirit-Sophia’s transforming love by sharing power and decision-making, by valuing each person’s experience in the community, and by developing worship and theology that express the wonder, mystery and fullness of God.
Inspired and guided by Christ-Sophia, we call the church to let go of patriarchy and to work toward the elimination of the attendant evils that it brings: poverty, hunger, oppression, exploitation, domination, and violence.
Illuminations on the Inclusive Church
“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)
In the radically inclusive spirit of Christ-Sophia, we call the church to a new reformation, to practice equality of all people, to reject dominating power, and to affirm equal opportunity for the expression of diverse gifts within the discipleship community of equals.
We call the church to welcome and celebrate the gifts of all people: women, men, children, persons of all classes, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, abilities and families.
We call the church to continue to explore ecumenical and interfaith partnerships as a sign of our interdependence and to join with all people of faith who are engaged in the work of peace and justice.
We join our voices and lives in the joy of Womenspirit rising around the world, cherishing our future of worship and work together.
Illuminations on Scripture
“Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” (Mark 14:9)
We affirm that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are, by the Holy Spirit, the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ in the church universal, and God’s word to us (Form of Government, G.14.0405). We call the church to reclaim the centrality and vitality of Scripture.
We call the church to acknowledge that Scripture speaks to and through the diverse contexts and experiences of its readers.
We call the church to celebrate the voices of feminist, womanist, and mujerista scholars who are interpreting Scripture in fresh, challenging and life-giving ways.
We call the church to acknowledge that standardizing any one world view in the interpretation of Scripture distorts the gospel and does violence to women and men.
We call the church to acknowledge and confess that for too long the female imagery for God in Scripture has been suppressed and marginalized in favor of male imagery which serves to legitimate patriarchy.
We call for truth-telling in the interpretation of Scripture, including remembrance of the many named and unnamed women of the Bible.
Illuminations on Language
“Wisdom has built her house…You that are simple, turn in here! To those without sense she says, ‘Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.” (Proverbs 9:1,4-5)
We affirm the power of language to reflect and shape our understanding of God, of people, and of the world.
We affirm the policy of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) advocating the use of inclusive language: “the church is committed to using language in such a way that all members of the community of faith may recognize themselves to be included, addressed, and equally cherished before God” (Directory of Worship, W.12005).
We call the church to acknowledge and confess that exclusively male-centered concepts, and language in worship, sacrament, music, art, theology, preaching, and polity have kept the church captive to patriarchy.
Since females and males are created in the image of God, we call the church to confess that it has further confined our limited understanding of God by using only one of these reflections of the glory of God in worship.
We call the church to acknowledge and confess that it participates in idolatry when it adheres to exclusively male images of God.
We affirm the freedom of all people in the discipleship community of equals, including women, to be innovative and creative as they name God in their own forms of speech and actions.
Illuminations on Ministry
“So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members of one another.” (Romans 12:5)
In baptism, we put on Christ. We call the church to value equally the gifts of all baptized persons, making none higher than any other within the discipleship community of equals.
We call the church to acknowledge and confess the fragmentation and pain caused when only a few people hold power and exercise gifts.
We call the church to depend on the diverse gifts of all Sophia’s children, to seek and to be a non-hierarchical, egalitarian community of equals.
We call the church not to exclude any group of baptized persons from ordination and from full participation in the life and ministry of the church.
We call the church to re-imagine the entire model of ordination so that creative gifts for service may be loosed rather than bound. Under wisdom’s influence, leadership means the empowerment of the entire community, seeking out and attending to the voices of the marginalized.
Illuminations on Sexuality and Spirituality
“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your art; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave.” (Song of Solomon 8:6)
Woe to you who perpetuate the dualism of mind and spirit over body, who denigrate the body, who see sexuality solely as genital behavior, and who fail to affirm the connections between sexuality and spirituality.
Woe to you who fear diversity of gender and sexual orientation and who turn your fear into abuse of the saints of God.
Woe to you who denigrate women’s bodies and seek to control their actions, who deny women the freedom to make reproductive decisions, particularly regarding abortion, and who fail to understand the complexities of pregnancy.
Blessed are you who celebrate sexuality as a good gift of God and who affirm the integrity of body and spirit.
Blessed are you who affirm the diversity of gender and sexual orientation and who welcome diversity as enriching the human community.
Blessed are you who recognize women as fully human, who respect the moral agency of women to make decisions about their reproductive lives, and who comfort and sustain them in this process.
Blessed are you who celebrate justice-loving relationships of mutuality and commitment, who honor the substance rather than the form of relationships, and who affirm the calls to ministry and justice-loving relationships of persons of all sexual orientations.
Blessed are you who are humble before the mystery of human sexuality.
Illuminations on the Fabric of Injustice
“For a long time I have held my peace, I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor, I will gasp and pant.” (Isaiah 42:14)
We demand that the church hear the pained and long-silenced voices of women around the world.
We call the church to understand the connections between all forms of injustice and to eliminate all burdens of oppression.
We call the church to confess and to put and end to the ways in which we perpetuate alienation from God and from one another by granting privilege and status to some over others on the basis of gender, race class, age, sexual orientation, ability, religion, or other category.
We call the church to be outraged at racism in the church and in the world, to confess the sin of racism which pervades our lives and institutions, and to work toward creating authentic community where persons of every color can speak from the particularity of their experience and enjoy the fullness of human life.
We call the church to secure economic justice for women and their dependents, for economically powerless persons, and for persons with physical, mental or emotional disabilities through policies that guarantee quality health care, child care, educational and employment opportunities.
We call the church to work to eliminate the imbalances and injustices that produce poverty, famine, war, and the destruction of creation.
We call the church to provide education and models for living toward and equitable sharing of the world’s economic and natural resources now and for generations to come.
We call the church to condemn all violence against women including rape, harassment, mutilation, domestic assault, economic injustice, and physical and psychological torture.
We call the church to demand an end to the abuse of women’s spirit through demonizing, stereotyping, victimizing, and scapegoating.
We call the church to be outraged over all forms of violence and to confess that fear and hatred corrupt our lives, dismember the church, and spoil the created world.
We call the church to advocate vigorously for an end to violence as a method of resolving conflict between individuals families, groups, and nations.
We call the church to be outraged wherever human beings or the earth is violated, and to be a non-violent community working for justice, inclusiveness, and healing, so that the world might become a safe place for all people of creation.
“Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” (Luke 7:35)
As daughters of Sophia we prophesy, as sons of Sophia we dream dreams, and in our vision we call for all people to share in the dance of liberation,
Celebrating our particularities and our oneness,
Promoting peace and well-being among the global family,
Sustaining hope, providing hospitality to all people,
Delighting in the joy of play, promoting harmony with all creation,
And embodying love and justice in passionate living.
May Sophia bless and give wisdom and voices to all.
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