"Not like that....!"

     Lately, I have been sitting with the fact of how often people (often the religious leaders of the time) didn't like how Jesus did things. In other words, they would basically tell him...."Not like that...!" which really took a lot of nerve given that He is God and all.

    What has particularly spurred on my reflection is a passage from the lectionary from several weeks ago--the story about a crippled woman who was healed by Jesus on the Sabbath (see Luke 15:10-17). Jesus was teaching in the local synagogue--and he noticed a woman in the audience who was "bent over and could not straighten up at all." She had been like that for 18 years. From a somatic perspective, can you imagine, in early Palestine, what being bent over for 18 years would do to your psyche as a woman? I think the woman should be given credit for even showing up for synagogue! She must have been very devout. (I know I have stayed in bed on a given sabbath for lesser reasons. I digress). She was there. Maybe even to see Jesus...we don't know. But we do know, that even though she did not draw attention to herself by crying out to him for healing--HE SAW HER...and called her forward and said, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." Then he put his hands on her (gotta love it--that was another "no-no" in that culture!) and it says she "immediately straightened up and praised God."

     Isn't that beautiful? Can you imagine being a witness to this healing? It says earlier in the passage that she had been "crippled by a spirit"--so that she had experienced not only limitations on herself physically--but perhaps spiritually she had been bound as well. And as soon as she was healed--her response? TO PRAISE GOD!

     Now, the very next verse sets up quite a contrast...the synagogue ruler got all bent out of shape (hmmm, wonder where the crippling spirit had come from...) and told the people in essence, "Come get healed on the other six days--not the sabbath." In the vernacular, he was protesting, 'The Kingdom of God is "Not like that!"...it should look like THIS (insert our beliefs and rules about how God 'should' work)...

JESUS WAS FURIOUS! And called the leader out--saying, very politely (-not-):
     "YOU HYPOCRITES!!! You are willing to untie your animals on the sabbath to lead them to water--why in heaven's name would you not let me "untie" this woman who has been bound for 18 years?????"
    Jesus was really steamed. These people had their "spiritual priorities" all wrong! He brings wholeness to a woman who had been suffering for 18 YEARS--and they are all upset how He did it. Yeah. If we want God to do a "new thing" by definition it can't be done in the old way.

      In this passage, Jesus also calls this woman "a daughter of Abraham"...such a tender phrase, really. She is recognized as being included in the covenant when women had so few "places" in that day and age. One of the regular prayers prayed by devout Jewish men of the day in essence, thanked God that they had not been created as women. In another passage (John 8) Jesus has a discussion with the leaders about who are the true children of Abraham...those who live by faith, and do the will of the Father. Back to the synagogue, it says that "His opponents (religious leaders) were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing." I don't think it takes a degree in theology to recognize which response brought joy to God's heart.

So--in what areas of your life is God moving in unconventional ways? It may ruffle some feathers--oh well. What would we rather have? The commendation of God or the praise of other people? We know what they did to Jesus--they persecuted him and crucified him. But that is not the end of the story--He triumphantly rose up from the dead--He invites us to do the same with Him by the power of the Spirit. Thanks be to God.

September 17, 2013 --Feast Day of Hildegard von Bingen  (12 century German Christian mystic).

Born Again...Does God have a Womb?

Well, my journey continues: trying to understand how we as women uniquely reflect the image of God. Yesterday, as I was praying and reading, the thought came to me, The phrase "born again" is a reference to a feminine experience!This hit me like a ton of bricks! Having grown up as a conservative Evangelical, the term "born again" was used constantly (almost to the point of losing meaning) as a description of having had an "experience" of becoming aware of relating to God in a new and close way. BUT IT NEVER DAWNED ON ME that only WOMEN GIVE BIRTH so that this phrase is pregnant with meaning (sorry, couldn't resist!) for women.

So, what do we do? If we are "born of God" and "born again" and "born of the Spirit...." these are feminine references about God's action, addressing the fundamental process of being initiated into the family of God. How can there not be a feminine dimension to God? How I never made this connection until I was 45 years old is beyond me...how did THAT happen??? I will have to get back to you on that...but it continues to reinforce in my mind, the fact that NOT using all the images for God provided in Scripture is actually a HUGE issue.

Dr. Kristina Lacelle-Peterson (Chair of the Department of Religion at Houghton College) writes:

Since God is, in fact, referred to with female imagery in various biblical texts, the question is not whether using female images for God will draw us away from orthodox Christianity, but whether using exclusively male metaphors will so distort our view of God as to render our concept of God unbiblical. Put simply: If we reject an entire class of biblical metaphors do we still have a biblical [orthodox] understanding of God?

Why is this all coming up now? Not fully sure. But psychologists know (yeah, I'm one of them) that when we hit midlife, we often reevaluate the first half of life, take stock, and determine what was missing and what we want to make sure we address in the second half of life. Well--what has been missing for me is how I opened this brief post: I am wanting to gain a fuller understanding of what it means for myself as a woman to reflect the image of God.

Woo Hoo! What a ride this second half is going to be!!!!!!

Prayer

Gracious Heavenly Father,
How thankful we are to not be "left as orphans.”

We acknowledge with grateful hearts that we are not “Fatherless”

But hear our cry, O Father,
Are we in this day, nonetheless, left to be “Motherless?”

Hear us, in your Mercy, O God:
We have voiced our plight to our brothers,
       Courageous among them have responded and affirmed,
       And some of them have also been ridiculed.
       Yet unlike Zelophedad's daughters
       Many continue to deny us our inheritance in Your Kingdom.

To whom now shall we turn?
There is no where else to go but to You,
    Creator of our own souls, made also in Your image.
    When justice is denied,
     And the oppressed are powerless in their plight,
We turn to You.
We cast ourselves on Your mercy,
Seek you with ashes on our hearts,
And rend our souls.
Fasting from seeking power and positions,
We seek You, God of all,
And long to hear You speak.

What have we lost,
By not knowing all of who You are?
We would never want to presume,
But seek the Truth of all Your Fullness.

We seek not only for ourselves,
But for the sake of Your Church.
She is often powerless in our day,
     Defrocked due to disobedience and abuses.
Hear us O God,
Not only for ourselves,
But for a world that needs You desperately,
And as Women,
We wonder if our time in You is now.     -Pamela Trice  7/25/2013