32

UNJUST LITURGICAL TRADITIONS AND WOMEN

Arvind P. Nirmal

Religion on the whole is sustained by women. In my of the churches we see more women than men present and attending the worship services. Against this background, it is sad to see that women have no liturgical rights. Their liturgical participation is limited to reading the scriptures, conducting Sunday school, etc. Nor does this happen in all the churches. If the meaning of the word liturgy; the work of the People of God, it is astonishing that this work goes on without more than half of God’s people participating in it.

Women have such insignificant work to do as preparing the wafers, the wine and the vestments for the male clergy. Our liturgy could be expressed in terms of a worship of an all male God by an all male cleric. This is an unhealthy state of affairs.

One needs to ask if the liturgy is not based on a feminine reality. The language of the liturgy betrays the underlying feminine metaphor. We speak in terms of the feeding of the believers on the body of Christ. Babies are fed on their mothers’ bodies and not on their fathers’. The language of the liturgy seems to affirm the motherlike qualities of Christ, although unconsciously. This underlying feminine metaphor needs to be thought of more consciously and its implications - liturgical implications - need to be faced.

It has been often said that both the creation accounts speak of the priority of man - even when it is granted that the P account tries to affirm the equality of both the sexes. If interpretations of this sort are permitted, then a legitimate interpretation of the Incarnation would be that it reverses the order of the old creation. Jesus Christ, the New Man, the Inaugurator of the New Creation, comes forth without any masculine agency being employed. The concept of the Virgin Birth is not to be interpreted biologically, but theologically it could be argued that the Virgin Birth reverses the said order and buries forever male chauvinism. If Eve, the old woman, came from a man, then Christ

33

the New Man comes from a woman.

When the men-dominated Christian Church does not see reason, it is legitimate for women to adopt more aggressive tactics and strategies. They could picket the churches and see that women do not attend worship services. They could tell the male clergy that they will not receive the sacraments of the church at the hands of the male priests. “Let this be a worship of an all-male God, presided over by an all-male clergy and participated in by an all-male congregation,” they should say. This could be an unpleasant, but effective way of bringing men to their senses!