God's Immanence

Of old it has been emphasized that the One (Judeo-)Christian God is Transcendent. That was certainly necessary to make a clear distinction with paganism, which is often pantheistic (i.e. seeing nature as divine). Worshipping 'Mother Earth' as a goddess is a prime example. This (feminine) picture of earth as a mother seems very 'natural' as both have associations with the familiar, with sensing, having a connection, with something/someone close by. The (masculine) view of the Abrahamic God certainly contrasts strongly: a (more) distant, rational, fatherly figure, in short Someone Transcendent.

Nevertheless, heresies like the five solo's of Martin Luther, are precisely wrong because in stressing this 'only,' they put limits on the God who is Almighty, Unconditional, Omnipresent, in short Unlimited. In the same way, it cannot be said that God is 'only' trancendent; 'He' is immanent as well. 

So let's present a more balanced picture here!

It seems that at least since the nineteenth-century, the words transcendent and immanent are often seen together in theological language; that it has become pretty common to state that God is both transcendent over and immanent in, His world. Psalm 113 also puts both contrasting characteristics right next to each other: 
The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens! Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? (verses 4-6)
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord! (verses 7-9)

With Transcendence is meant that God is distinct from His world as its creator and does not need it, that He is outside of humanity’s (full) experience, perception or grasp.

As Isaiah 55:8-9 says: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” 
Somewhat counterintuitively, this is the approach that the "Via Negativa" uses, a theological method focusing on what cannot be said about God directly in words, on what He is not, rather than what He is precisely in order to get closer to Him.  

With Immanence, on the other hand, is meant that God permeates (is present in) the world in sustaining creative power (what Augustinus called "creatio continua"), shaping and steering it in a way that keeps it on its planned course. This view contrasts with pagan pantheism because our God is One and Trustworthy and so we can speak of Laws of Nature that man can discover. Through creation, we can even know, perceive or grasp God Himself (to a certain extend of course); and this precisely corresponds to the theological approach of the "Via Affirmativa." This way has been especially fruitfull in all kinds of artistic expression, although the Via Negativa has its great artistic expressions as well e.g. st. John of the Cross' poetry The Dark Night of the Soul.

Both Via's are important, and they complement each other. A great illustration of this are the so called "transcendentals" Goodness, Truth and Beauty, essencial qualities of God. These qualities are immanently perceivable (in and through creation), but our perception, possession and knowledge of them is limited - what earns them the name transcendentals.

Some examples of God's Goodness from the Bible: Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! (Psalm 34:8) and perhaps the most famous verse: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16-17) Very interesting as well is: God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (Gen 1:31) Note that in Latin to bless is Benedicere, literally "to say good."  And so it seems to me that God not just passively observed "all that he had made" but actively blessed it, infused (something of) Himself into it; in other words expressing His Immanence too.

God as masculine / feminine

Above a natural connection was indicated between the trancendent and masculine views of God on one hand and the immanent and feminine views of 'Him' on the other hand. It then follows that the complementarity of Gods Trancendence and Immanence, is reflected in a complementarity of a masculine and a feminine view of God as well.

Indeed, following Gregory of Nazianzus (already from the fourth century), the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "Father" and "Son" in reference to the Persons of the Trinity are not to be understood as expressing essences or energies of God but as metaphors. In other words the terms have (only) a symbolic value exactly as has been shown for God's Trancendence.

God's Immanence is then most naturally linked to the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who lives in our hearts, but is present in creation as well: 
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (Gen 1:2);
can be identified with the Breath of Life that Adam received (Gen 2:7),

with the Breath of the Almighty (Job 33:4),

with the Power of the Highest, (Luke 1:35),

and is called the Lord and Giver of Life (Nicene Creed).

And interestingly, the Hebrew word for Spirit (Ruach) is feminine (N.B. it is neuteral in Greek, Pneûma, and masculine in Latin, Spiritus), just as Shekhinah is female (and the "Wisdom of God"), other prefigurations of the Holy Spirit in the Jewish tradition. 

And thus the Holy Spirit can without problems be referred to as 'She' (metaphorically, of course). In at least one medieval fresco, in the St. Jakobus church in Urschalling, Germany, the Holy Spirit is indeed depicted as a female, see illustration.{:-)

And shall we then perhaps refer to the One God as "sHe"?!