Feisty women at the feast

As I take and tear bread

passing it around those who are gathered

Just then is the moment

Just there is the place

that I connect most deeply

with that great communion of saints

I see them in every corner

peering over the heads of the gathered worshippers

keeking through the spaces between couples

snuggled up beside those who are on their own

I see them gossiping in the aisles

nudging one another 

all crowding in to get a better look

And that’s when it hits me

My cloud of witnesses is comprised entirely of women

And these are the women I long to break bread with:

Shiphrah and Puah, the Hebrew midwives

who birthed a nation

Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tizzah, the daughters of Zelophehad

who changed the law

Jael, skilled with a tent peg and mallet

Bathsheba and Michal, inveigled by the same man

Photini, the woman at the well - who gave as good as she got

I’m sure you get the drift

I want to feast with the badass women

the ones who refused to conform 

who persisted

who made a difference

With that kind of line up leading the way

Why oh why do we still have to fight for a place at the table

Patriarchy is such a bitch!

 

Misinformed consent

 Luke 1:38

Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

The angel departed from her

But I wonder...

After he’d delivered his message

that would surely turn a life upside down

did he wish he could take it back?

Did he really believe that her grace would be a blessing?

When he saw the herald star over Bethlehem

did he remember that night

that the virgin said yes?

Was he part of the chorus

that sang peace on earth

as she gave birth to God?

How often did he ponder

what became of her?

Did he get to witness

how the courage she mustered for consent

would be tested time and again

as God grew up in human form?

Did he see her despair

as her firstborn’s life was extinguished,

 a pawn in political power games?

How apt it would be

if he were the one

who met her on the third day with the greeting

“He is not here. He is risen”

Completing the circle

of Annunciation

Hail Mary, full of grace

Blessed are you among women

One year on

 

Reflecting on a year of COVID restrictions in Scotland

Remembering 

the wave of disbelief

and the stunned silence

The grief 

and lament

The resignation

and helplessness

The shock of furlough

- surplus to requirement

in an institution

focused on survival

Remembering 

the mounting fear

as death tolls rose

The longing to be able to do more

than make a difference

by staying home

and the low grade anxiety

that began low in the belly on waking

and lodged in the throat on sleeping

Remembering 

the deniers

and the conspiracists

the pontificators

and the optimists

all of whom made the work of  scientists 

and out of their depth governments

all the more difficult

Remembering

the hope snatched away

by a second wave

crushing already beleaguered services

affecting a less compliant populous 

being rekindled

by the whisper

of vaccine potential 

into a hope reborn 

Oh to share the indictment of Maya Angelou

“When we know better, we do better”

Sadly, I wonder...

What have we learned?

And will our learning make any difference?

Will it make a difference 

to the marginalised

to those on the edges

to “the least of these” 

whom we are called to love and to serve?

Or, as is often the way,

Will those in power

tell the story

through rose tinted glasses

of a nation that fought

and won the fight

papering over the cracks

of dissension and division

of incompetence and pride

ignoring the long shadows that remain

trumpeting resilience 

and “building back better”

as the tools with which to move forward?

Remembering...

And sitting with the grief

so that the loss and sacrifice

of so many

and the ongoing trauma and suffering

is not swept aside

as we move forward

but is carefully woven 

into the fabric

of our communities

not only as dark threads

but also as bright and vivid streaks

startling reminders

held aloft

carried with us

into the compassionate future

that we craft together.

A woman’s laughter

 Genesis 18:9-12

They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?”

Why did Sarah laugh?

NOT - as some would have us believe

because she lacked faith

NOR out of the sheer joy at the prospect

of resurrecting her beloved’s sexual prowess

(she believed in miracles after all)

Not even at the absurdity of being 90 and pregnant!

Sarah laughed

because all through this patriarchal narrative

when she was moved from pillar to post

continually used and abused

her body touted as a guaranty and token

at the whim of men playing power games

it was hilarious that her body

should call their bluff

carrying within it

the seed of a nation

Sarah laughed as a warning:

Be careful what you wish for

A woman’s body

will not be diminished

will not succumb

to the flagrant disregard of men

and their games of submission

or dominion 

but will rise up

confounding scheming plans

returning with laughter

bone shaking laughter

Of course Sarah laughed!

Wilderness

 

Mark 1:11-13

And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

So, how is it going for you

in the wilderness today?

What are the wild beasts revealing

of the self you’d rather not see?

What are you being forced to confront

by the relentless, driving Spirit?

What distractions assail you,

what yearnings haunt you

and haul you away

from the hard work

you have to do?

Gruelling work

that unlocks a freedom

only discovered in the wilderness.

And, when you think you cannot stay there

a moment longer

who are the angels

who minister to you

whispering words from heaven

“You are my beloved”

Words that cannot be cancelled

not even by wilderness

How is it going for you

in the wilderness today?

Clearing the temple

 

A wee Scottish take on Sunday's gospel - Jesus cleansing the temple:

Eeh, Molly, did ye see the state o' they white doves when they bailed it oot o' the temple the day?
Aye, Jan, they're usually that stuck up and well turned oot - but yon Jinty looked as though she'd been dragged through a hedge, feathers a' awry, smudges on her breestie, she looked as if she got a richt fright!
Oh aye, Sadie's cousin's bidie -in telt shug's mate Erchie that it looked as if a cat had got in wi' a' the doos - feathers fleein' everywhere, and the racket o' a' the squawkin' - this mad lookin' rabbi evidently took a wee hissy fit, cowped a' the tables, opened a' the cages and chased men, women and beasts for their lives - mutterin' somethin' aboot his faither's hoose. Well let me tell ye Molly, I kent his faither!
Don't know whit got intae him or whit he wis up tae but in 10 minutes he managed to tear doon empires that huv been goin' on for years - Auld faither Cohen has had that wee corner stall since his faither left it tae him when that mule put paid tae his dancin' days.
Aye Jan, I wunner whit it wis a' aboot? Whit got intae him? I mean, I know it's like runnin' the gauntlet every time ye try and get tae the priest - no' that us wimmen are allowed that close anyway - an' ye always leave the temple wae an empty purse, but that's jist the way it is and has been fer years. Ye can like it or lump it.
Ay, Molly, but Erchie's big son's puttin' aboot this notion that it wisnae aboot the temple at a' - that the mad rabbi wis makin' a point aboot how fowk pit upon ane anither an' hiv loast sicht o' whits important - daein tae ithers whit ye'd want them tae dae to you. He says that we shouldnae be chargin' fowk tae get tae God - that God's fer everybody,withoot exception.
He says the rabbi was sae mad because the temple's jist goin' the way o' the world.
Aye Jan, anither conspiracy theory - never mind that - ye don't show yer emotions in the temple - ye put up and shut up - that rabbi's jist upset the apple cart big time.
Apple cart, Molly, Ah didnae know they were sellin' apples as well noo doon the temple.
Aw Jan, I dinnae mean apples apples - I mean the whole barrel - everythin's upended noo.
Aye, yer right there Molly - upended it is.
We might never get it back to how it wis.
But that widnae be a bad thing - Aye - no' a bad thing at a'.