God and church

Question: is God a man or a woman?
I've had several instances lately where I've heard God referred to as a woman. I've just finished reading a book about the feminine face of God, and today one of my friends told me about a song that goes, "tell me all your thoughts on God... cause I really want to meet her...?" I also read another thing today in a book by anne Lamott... she also referred to God as Her. Something you'd never really realize until they refer to God in third person, she, her, ect. Explaining God or recalling mystical experiences about God doesn't really change his/her identity. But really, does it matter whether God is a he or a she? Or is He, (a reason I think we call him He worldwide, and all superior entitities are referred to is he is because we have become a world of patriarical socieities-thanks Holley-if we weren't a patriarical socieity would we call God he?) an entitiy that deserves/requires no gender? Would that be labeling God, lessening his power to an extent, referring to a philosophical ontological argument that say if we knew who God was, he wouldn't really be God? Just an interesting thought...

Also I've been thinking about churches lately, and what God really called us to do. What does disciple mean? What did he mean when he said go and disciple all nations? Stand on a street corner and yell? Probably not. Do we really know what a true church consists of? Community, yes, discipleship, yes, fellowships, probably... and a lot more things( I would not even try to say I knew all of them). The church has been getting such a bad rap lately. We need to open our eyes and see the church for what other see it as. Not get lost in some individualistic dogma and reject everything else. People look to the church for something good, something hopeful...and its sad that hope gets lost in so many political means and monitary endeavors. Remember the priest just this week who went to a soldier's funeral and said that he was glad he died because he's a homosexual???? sorry to be cliche, but would Jesus do that? I think not. When I think of how Jesus responded to everyone this comes to mind: a person that loved everyone for who they were, regardless if they were smart, dumb or whatever, a person who knew people's histories and factored that into how he spoke to them, a person who was wise, asked meaningful questions and who guided people in their journey towards him. That's what we should strive to be...