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!
I like that. I have also always liked the fact that when the book of the Law is discovered in 2 Kings 22, all the religious bigwigs head off to Huldah the prophetess. I often wonder what else she said that didn't get recorded [by men].
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