Gethsemane

Matthew 26:36-41
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Lord, when you were troubled

you took your friends

to keep watch with you.

You needed them close

Not for their scintillating conversation

Not even for their innate wisdom

You wanted them

for basic human companionship

So, even though they slept

Even though they couldn’t comprehend

the depth of your suffering,

their nearness was enough.

Today, when our lives are disrupted,

when we cannot be physically present

with those we need and love

show us how to support one another

Awaken in us

a new spirit of connection

that drills deep

that goes beyond what we can see

to the agony that lies beneath

And in this season,

when we linger with you

in the garden

may our Gethsemane

our place of refuge

forge in us the resolve

to deepen and sustain

the connections that we need

to see us through

this time of trial.

Solidarity

Luke 22:14-20
When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Bread of life

Broken, torn, shared 

Equipping

Nourishing

Sustaining

Cup of salvation

Poured, supped, ingested 

Flowing

Quenching

Freeing

Bread and cup 

Filling

Releasing

Making new

Replenishing the body 

Infusing all of life

with sacred meaning

and connectedness 

Blurring the lines

Uniting heaven and earth

Past, present and eternity

in a great cloud of witnesses

Overflowing

out of our sanctuaries

onto the streets

marking time

until all can be fed again

with the life of the world.

Maranatha!

Coming out

John 11:38-44

Jesus Raises Lazarus to Life

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Coming out

Not an end -

there is still a great unravelling

to be encountered

Unravelling that can only be completed

in stages

alone

and

in community

Nor is it a beginning -

All that has gone before remains

craving attention

imploring sifting

demanding confrontation

Neither an ending

nor a beginning

but a stage

on the road to healing

And the miracle in healing

is the capacity

the temerity

and the resilience

to examine the past

to greet the future

and to stay well in the present.

Coming out

one stage

on the road to wholeness.

In the right place

I have prepared a place for you

says the Lord, a place that is for you,

and only you to fill.

Approach my table,

asking first that you might serve.

Look even for the lowest tasks.

Then, the work of service done,

you may look for your own place at the table.

But do not seek the most important seat

which may be reserved for someone else.

In the place of My appointing will be

your joy.

Lord, show me the right seat;

find me the fitting task;

give me the willing heart.

(Words from the Hild Liturgy from the Northumbria Community)

God, as I wrestle with your call

in this time and place

give me humility

Humility to lay aside

all that I think I know 

and have learned

in years of service

Humility to see what it is

that you are revealing 

in this season

Humility to take up my place

as a novice

willing to learn new things.

God, as I wrestle with your call

in this day and hour

give me grace

Grace to listen to wisdom

that comes from unlikely sources

Grace to acknowledge

and amplify others

Grace to grow

in reliance on you.

God, as I wrestle with your call

in this wilderness season

give me courage

Courage to be reshaped by you

Courage to be redirected

Courage simply to be

God, as I wrestle with your call

in darkness 

and in light

may humility, grace and courage

be travelling companions

that lead me

to your healing presence

and the gift

of a seat 

at your table.

where your joy awaits.

Pandemic Easter

John 20:1
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.

That first Easter

came without fanfare

in the midst of brutal occupation

in the midst of recession and oppression 

It snuck in

And the first to observe it

were those who were up and about early

The women
who kept vigil
The news was whispered
from graveyard to village
from village to town
picking up speed
gathering momentum
until
in all its gobsmacking glory
the reality of resurrection
was realised.
And light dawned
not in one stupendous burst
but slowly
and gently
dispelling darkness nonetheless.

This Easter
Resurrection will still come
Heralded by angels:

Key workers on their way to early shifts

Or heading home after a night shift
And the good news will be gossiped  
by those who keep vigil today
We do not need to gather in person
Even in the distancing
we can bear witness
to the light of Christ 
that shines in the darkness
and is not overcome
Love is not defeated.
We may leave the Alleluias
buried for now
and stay by the empty tomb
for a bit longer
But this we believe
Christ will still rise
The darkness will not last forever 
Light will surely dawn.

Signs of love

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

This is what love looks like...

Empty streets

Empty beaches

Notes pushed through letter boxes

offering  help

Staying home

so that key workers

can travel to work

and shop for food

(or we can shop for them)
Making phone calls
Putting lights
and teddy bears
and rainbows in our windows
expressions of connection
and of hope.
Maintaining 
and strengthening 
relationships virtually
Meeting online
finding new ways
to be creative
new ways to notice
and draw attention to
the love of God
manifest
in myriad acts of love.
Love is also
noticing the signs of spring
that refuse to be shushed
even through pandemic
Welcoming the progress
of the seasons,
the buds that are awakening
the blossom bursting forth
the birdsong that heralds the morning
the growth that continues regardless
promising something beyond,
that awaits our emergence
from the storm
and mirrors the growth of love
worked out in practices 
that transform communities 
as, together, we face our fears
and weather them in love.
This is what love looks like.

Be not afraid... The Annunciation

Luke 1:38
Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” 

In the midst of fear

Swamped by powerful emotions

Mary,

who became mother of God

took courage in both hands

and offered:

Here I am

Mary acceded

not out of meekness

or naïveté 

but in boldness

and the fierceness

of love

On this day when we observe

the Annunciation

in the midst of pandemic

with fear all around

and emotions overwhelming

how can we offer our:

Here I am

Offering

not by repressing our fear

or denying our emotion

but, in the midst of those

dredging up a vestige

of faith

Faith that acknowledges

wherever we are

whoever we are

God’s invitation to us

is generous

and grace filled:

to be midwives of God 

for this day

In the midst of the trauma

in which we live

may we muster 

Courage

Boldness

Grace 

and

Fierce love

offering to God:

Here I am

A question of identity

For clergy and church workers:

Ecclesiastes 3:9-11

The God-Given Task

What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Who are we?

Without our buildings

Without the paraphernalia

and trappings

of our role,

Who are we?

Without the ceaseless round 

of meetings

and admin,

of services

and visits

Who are we?

Without the busyness

and the status

we are often conferred?

Who are we? 

When we have to stay home.

When we are not in control

When everything is being done remotely

or not at all?

Who are we?

Without touch

With relationships maintained

at a distance

Maybe... just maybe

we are simply 

who God created us to be

Beloved

Fearfully and wonderfully made

Vulnerable beings

with whom God craves intimacy

Such knowledge

might save us the agony

of trying to fill the space

with work created

out of fear and uncertainty

and enable us

to be enfolded in God

Who are we?

Beloved of God

created, loved and called

for such a time as this.

A bigger God

Psalms 22:1-5

Psalm 22
Plea for Deliverance from Suffering and Hostility
To the leader: according to The Deer of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest.
Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved;
in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

Sometimes we need permission 

Permission to put aside

our Sunday School faith

and our stoic acceptance that 

“All shall be well

and all manner of things shall be well”

Some times we need permission

to stop downplaying 

our personal grief

to stop 

“putting things in perspective”

to refrain from

“seeing the bigger picture”

For our losses are cumulative
The missed events
of joy and celebration
or of sorrow and commiseration
The missed hugs
and company 
the physical distancing
We know they are vital

Nonetheless, they hurt

They matter
They do not deserve to be shaken off
as unimportant
or as insignificant
Loss is loss.

Our fears are real

We may believe 

that love will triumph

but only when we face our fears

only when we acknowledge our loss

To cry

“My God, my God

why have you forsaken me”

is not betraying faith

it is embracing honest humanity 
And until we acknowledge that
for ourselves
we withhold permission
from those we love
and care for
to be real and honest
in their journey of faith.
The God to whom we cry
stands with us in our complaint
for however long it takes
to express our 
anger, grief and sorrow.
And then the same God
sits with us
as we glimpse 
the smallest vestige
of hope and trust 
crouching beside us
as we rekindle the embers
of a tender flame
and the same God
walks with us
as we learn how to be,
in our woundedness,
people of faith 
for today.
We have permission
to be real.

Pursued by the God of love

Psalms 23:4-6

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

I fear no evil;

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff—

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

my whole life long.

The God who walks alongside us

in the darkness

is the same God

who anoints our head with oil 

The God present with us

in the valley

prepares a table

and fills our cup to overflowing

The God who was before us

and is with us

pursues us 

all the days of life

As we mourn our familiar

rhythms of worship

may we embrace the opportunity

to experience something new

and in our stripped back liturgy

may we encounter the presence of God

in new and vibrant ways

May we know ourselves pursued

by the God

who meets us in our living rooms

or in our kitchens

or in the places we set aside for prayer

bringing comfort in our fear

hope in our despair

and calm in all our striving

until we know

the abundance 

of the shepherd

whose name is Love.

Restoring souls

Psalms 23:1-3

Psalm 23

The Divine Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside still waters;

he restores my soul.

He leads me in right paths

for his name’s sake.

It’s early days

and there’s much to do

Who would have imagined

the sheer scale 

of havoc wreaked 

in every area of life?
And this is just the beginning.

It’s right that we’re busy

trying to ensure

not just the safety

but the care
and the spiritual support

of others.

But, when that work is done,

what then?

When the brave new world

becomes the norm,

what then?

What then to distract us

from our own fears

from our own insecurities

from our own lost hopes

from our suspended dreams

from our own vulnerability?

When we’ve done all we can

for others?

What about us?

Who will sit with us

as we grieve

the world we knew

and embrace

a world we never imagined?

Who will lend a virtual hug

when we face the uncertainty

of not being able to fix things?

To whom will we

be open

and honest

as we come

with empty hands

and full hearts

to start again

learning new ways

to be 

without all the trappings 

of our role

without those defences

we’ve built around ourselves.
Who will lead us
by the still waters
so that we might confront
our souls
that need restored?

Laughing and weeping

Ezra 3:10-13

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments were stationed to praise the Lord with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, according to the directions of King David of Israel;

and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,

“For he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.”

And all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away.

This I know:

The steadfast love of the Lord

endures forever

For those laughing

and for those weeping

The steadfast love of the Lord

endures forever

For those who revel in a new challenge

And for those who need time to ponder

The steadfast love of the Lord

endures forever

For those who are busy working out

how to do online

what we’d normally do in person

And for those who see potential

to do a new thing

The steadfast love of the Lord

endures forever

For those who are paralysed by fear

And for those whose creativity is stirred

The steadfast love of the Lord

endures forever

For those who have been this way before

And for those who are charting new territory

The steadfast love of the Lord

endures forever

For those who are comfortable in isolation

and for those who crave community

The steadfast love of the Lord

endures forever

For those equipping  and enabling others

And for those struggling to do it all themselves 

The steadfast love of the Lord

endures forever

For those drinking deep from the well

And for those who have no thirst 

The steadfast love of the Lord

endures forever

For those who crouch by the empty tomb

And for those who have already found 

the folded grave clothes

The steadfast love of the Lord

endures forever

May we hold one another

reverently

in that steadfast love

Stepping into the unknown

Ecclesiastes 11:1
Send out your bread upon the waters,
for after many days you will get it back.

There’s a bunch of teenagers

gathered at the corner of our street

“fannying about” 

I think is the phrase

In high spirits 

the night before their lives change 

perhaps blissfully ignorant

of the implications

perhaps in denial.

While other young people

sit at home

already yearning

for those rites of passage

that they are being denied

The P7 dance

The residential

The leavers hoodies

The school prom

The final year group performances

and farewells

And even

the exams

That chance to show

that they’ve improved a lot

since the prelims ...

And there are staff

who have journeyed alongside

who have come to know

and grown to love them

warts and all

who are mourning

the loss of opportunity

to finish a task begun - 

to send them on

to the next part of their journey

empowered

and equipped

And there are some (though not many)

who look on

and remember similar disruption

and have tales to tell

of how they persevered

and came through the other side

with strength 

and resilience 

And some might argue

that it’s a small price to pay

for staying alive

for that’s what it’s about

But it’s too early to focus on that

or to focus on anything much

when loss has the upper hand 

All we can do

is listen

and be kind

and recognise

that we’re all in this together.

The year of Covid-19...

Extended Lent

Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”

Who could have imagined

that these words:

Remember that you are dust

and to dust you shall return

spoken, as ashes 

in the shape of a cross

were etched on our foreheads

would become

a stark, lived reality

Of course we accepted them

in good faith

and with the best of intentions 

But, to live into them

and to live out of them

so drastically 

was hardly what we imagined.

And so we need time O God

Time to get our heads around

what it is you ask of us

in this wilderness

in this uncharted season

for which there is no manual.

We need time 

to flap around

doing all the things

Or time to sit and wail

because we’re paralysed by fear

We need time

And, O Lord, you’ve given us

plenty of that.

So may we take the time

to bring our focus back

to you

Creator

Redeemer

Sustainer 

who created us out of dust

who breathed life into us

who calls us beloved

May we take time to listen

to what it is 

you whisper to us

of who you want us to be

when we’ve been stripped

of all the things

that give us purpose

and importance

Draw us near, O God

to discern once more

what matters

to discover once again 

how to be a neighbour 

to find new ways

of being salt and light

and dust!

And in naked vulnerability

may we arise

with the dust still on us

still defining us

to be

all you call us 

and empower us 

to be.

Proper order

Mark 9:2-7

The Transfiguration

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”

God, when things get weird

we want to rein it in

When we’re dragged beyond our ken

we scrabble to restore order

But you just keep on wreaking havoc

in the order we try to maintain 

until we encounter something

that’s simply beyond us.

We’ll still have a go

at shoe horning anomalies

into our ready made moulds

And we’ll exhaust 

and frustrate ourselves 

in the process

And you stand back

not because you don’t care

but because you care deeply

and you know us so well

You know that the only way

we’ll turn to you

is when we have exhausted

all of our resources

And even then,

we’ll have a go at you

railing at injustice

questioning your omnipotence

And still you wait

to gather us up

and soothe us

You sit with us

as we grieve our loss of control

You support us

as we seek to centre ourselves

You strengthen us

as we discover new ways

to be disciples 

who listen

to your beloved Som

God may we be fast learners

so that we can lead others

into your light and love this day.

Words that change lives

2 Samuel 11:2-5

It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

I am pregnant

The words that Bathsheba

had cause to send to David

No instant text messaging

No surprise scan photo

No gender reveal shenanigans

Simply the starkness of the message

I am pregnant

Words that, for David,

changed the trajectory of his life

as he tried to cover his tracks

but was held accountable for his actions

by Nathan the prophet

and by God.

Words that, for Bathsheba,

brought great suffering

and loss
A woman in no position 
to refuse her king
or prevent her husband’s death
A woman who looked loss in the eyes
and was not defeated
but found the strength
to fight back
Those words 

I am pregnant 
wrought in her

fierce love

and determination

Courage

and empowerment

as she mourned the loss of one son

and fought for the rights of another

Bathsheba

abused by one king

and mother to another.
Refusing to carry bitterness
but only love
to see her through.

Squandered love

1 Samuel 19:11-17

Saul sent messengers to David’s house to keep watch over him, planning to kill him in the morning. David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” So Michal let David down through the window; he fled away and escaped. Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed; she put a net of goats’ hair on its head, and covered it with the clothes. When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” Then Saul sent the messengers to see David for themselves. He said, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” When the messengers came in, the idol was in the bed, with the covering of goats’ hair on its head. Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this, and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go; why should I kill you?’ ”

Michal

Just another woman

placed in an impossible position

for the love of her man

Caught between

her father

and her husband 

her loyalty stretched beyond

what anyone should experience

Fiercely loving

Often saving his skin

Yet David

in his freedom

casts her off

until, when it suits him

he reclaims her

as a trophy wife.

Just another woman

with so much to give

who squanders her love

on an undeserving man

and is dragged into the pit

forced to witness his depravity

Forced to pay the price

of loving the wrong man,

Michal 

fathered by Saul

married to David

Caught in the middle 

of love unrequited.

Feistiness at the well

John 4:5-11
So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?

The Woman at the Well

A woman prepared to be seen

A woman who risked being known

A woman unabashed

in the presence of a rabbi

A woman who gave 

as good as she got

countering engagement

with challenge
willing to be vulnerable
and invite encounter
And, by her courage
she experienced transformation
Not just for herself
But for her community 
A woman 
who became
a prophet
and evangelist
A woman
who used her instinct
and her feistiness
to drink deeply
at the well of wisdom

Women at the well

1 Samuel 9:11-17
As they went up the hill to the town, they met some girls coming out to draw water, and said to them, “Is the seer here?” They answered, “Yes, there he is just ahead of you. Hurry; he has come just now to the town, because the people have a sacrifice today at the shrine. As soon as you enter the town, you will find him, before he goes up to the shrine to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those eat who are invited. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately.” So they went up to the town. As they were entering the town, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the shrine.
Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel: “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have seen the suffering of my people, because their outcry has come to me.” When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you. He it is who shall rule over my people.”

In every age 

in every place 

women gather

collecting water

sharing wisdom

greeting friends

and strangers

building community 

Unnamed women

gathered around a well

directed a future king

to the prophet who would anoint him

participating in changing the covenant

of God with the people.

And still today

wherever women gather

stories are shared

friends and strangers are welcomed

and the threads of a community

are woven

into a common strand 

that forges connection

and growth

as a new chapter is written

by the women at the well.

A vocation less celebrated

Ruth 1:7-16
So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. They said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.” Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
So she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
But Ruth said,
“Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.

There are three women in the story

Three who set out

when the famine becomes too much

A famine of food

A famine of men.

They set out

for a land where there is promise

A land where there is food

A land where their emptiness

might be filled

Naomi

Ruth

and

Orpah

But at the moment Orpah

chooses another way

her story ends.

Naomi’s kiss

might just as well

be the kiss of death

For somehow Orpah’s choice

is considered less noble

than her sister Ruth’s

Somehow the path Orpah takes

is deemed unworthy

of narration

and her character is written out

of the story.

Or, worse,

conjecture and condemnation

are woven around the silence.

And so Orpah’s  exit

becomes another opportunity

for patriarchal norms 

to be established

and for she who dares

to choose another way

to be obliterated

lest others should follow.

And a legitimate choice,

a vocation every bit as compelling

as her sister’s

is vilified by silence.

Three women 

in the story.

Only two

remain 

a part

of the plot

when the redactor

is done.

So here’s to Orpah

who dared to follow

another way

and to the women today

who do not live up to

expectations imposed

and whose stories

are still not told.

May our curiosity enable us

to see beyond the words we read

and beneath the stories that we hear

to wonder at what is missing

and to facilitate

freedom of choice.

Trail of Destruction

Judges 19:22-24
Gibeah’s Crime
While they were enjoying themselves, the men of the city, a perverse lot, surrounded the house, and started pounding on the door. They said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may have intercourse with him.” And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Since this man is my guest, do not do this vile thing. Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine; let me bring them out now. Ravish them and do whatever you want to them; but against this man do not do such a vile thing.”

And there’s more...

Rape became murder...

And, even in death,

the concubine’s body was brutalised 

to send a warning to the tribes of Israel.

A tale too brutal to tell

that echoes patterns repeated

generation after generation

of crimes perpetrated against woman

crimes of violence

that are “normalised”

in cultures where women

are treated as chattel and goods

at the disposal of their male guardians 

When reputations

are valued more highly

than relationships

that’s when women

become collateral 

All that was requested

and required by the culture

to satisfy custom

was a simple act of hospitality,

welcoming the stranger,

providing food and lodging

Instead, the stranger was demonised

and his concubine savaged.

It would be easy

to write this off

as a story

from a different age and culture.

Sadly, it has echoes

in our treatment

of strangers today

and in our scapegoating

of all who are different.

Lord, have mercy...

Woman of means

Judges 16:15-22

Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me three times now and have not told me what makes your strength so great.” Finally, after she had nagged him with her words day after day, and pestered him, he was tired to death. So he told her his whole secret, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head; for I have been a nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be like anyone else.”

When Delilah realized that he had told her his whole secret, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “This time come up, for he has told his whole secret to me.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hands. She let him fall asleep on her lap; and she called a man, and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. He began to weaken, and his strength left him. Then she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” When he awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. So the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles; and he ground at the mill in the prison. But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

Delilah

A woman of means

A woman of mystery

A woman loved

A woman who persisted

until she found the way

to undermine the power

of the man who loved her

A woman who disappeared

as stealthily as she entered

with her haul of silver

and a challenge completed.

We may want to condemn her

for her betrayal

for her duplicity 

and deceit

Yet we do not know her story

We cannot grasp the context

in which she operated

or the motives

that drove her actions

We can only marvel

at her resourcefulness

her persistence

and her strength

in the midst of a culture 

whose decline into depravity

is manifest in the treatment

and status of its women

a culture in which women

are usually the victims of violence

rather than the perpetrators.

Delilah - 

A woman who escaped the bondage

of her place in society 

and modelled strength

every bit as powerful

as her lover’s.