“God is the Supreme Spirit” are the words of the catechism. If God is spirit, he is neither male or female but can be described with the characteristics of both. He is certainly not an old man with a beard in the sky. Many people, both now and in the past, imagine him to be more like the Greek god Zeus, whose weapon was the thunderbolt and who punished people who offended him. In Genesis it is related that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone (Genesis 19:24). In reality it was probably a natural event. In recent excavations, archaeologists think that they have found the site of the two cities. They have discovered remains of melted pottery, mud bricks and metal which indicate a very high temperature. Most likely there was an airburst, caused by a meteorite or asteroid, which resulted in an explosion destroying everything in that area.
Jesus did his best to present his Father as one who loved deeply. He would have grown up under the guidance of Joseph, and perhaps some of the images he depicted came from his relationship with him. When he taught the prayer Our Father, it was addressed to the father of the Prodigal son, who was eagerly waiting to forgive and shower his erring child with good things (Luke 15:11-32). It was praying to a father who listens to those who come to him. Lavinia Byrne, a former nun, presents this image: “What if God was concerned to set up a tent in our midst and dwell among us? God the homemaker lays a different type of table, one around which people come to talk and share, to taste and see that the Lord is good. God the homemaker puts on the kettle and draws up chairs. God the homemaker wants to hear about the real problems and questions that exercise us, about the people we love and the people we fear.” (Lavinia Byrne, Women before God)