dancing goddess

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that read:

“the goddess is dancing”

The car probably belongs to an adherent of one kind or other of ‘new-age’ spirituality.  But I caught myself and stopped short of easy dismissal-ism.  I asked myself, “Hey, cannot a Christian in a sense say the same thing?”

After all, the Bible does include feminine descriptions of God:

• God is like a birthing mother in Job 38:29, Deut. 32:18
• Israel ‘nurses’ at God’s breasts in Isaiah 66:12-13
• God is compared to a mother in Hosea 11:4 & Psalm 131:2
• Jesus speaks of wanting to protect Jerusalem as a mother hen covers her young in Luke 13:34

And… the Bible also includes pictures of a celebrating (& thus dancing) God:

• “He happily rejoices over you, renews you with his love, and celebrates (“dances” in some translations?) over you with shouts of joy.” – Zeph. 3:17b
• “And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So your God will rejoice over you.” – Isaiah 62:5b
• Jesus, God-with-us, went to – and if he was Jewish, he danced at – weddings (and likened the Kingdom of God to them) – John 2:2 & Matthew 22:2

So maybe the bumper-sticker is more biblical than most Christians (and new-agers!) realise?