by guest writer Andii Bowsher,
When I was at school, we had an assistante come to help us to learn French. When it came time for her to leave, I recall having a brief conversation in a corridor in which she said, “Maybe I will come back to visit you.” Immediately, I said unreflectively, “Me?”. If my French at that time had been up to it, it would be less embarrassing to recall because I would have heard her say ‘vous’ rather ‘te’ and understood that she had the whole school in mind.
Many of us English-speakers tend to make a similar mistake in reading Scripture, reinforced by our culture which trains us in a relentless focus on the personal and individual; distracting us from the social and ecological dimensions of our existence.
This bias in our reception of scripture shows up reading the letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3. They each start with a singular you (‘thou/thee’, Greek su/soi) but end with the plural (Greek humeis/humas) and somewhere in the middle they transition from one to the other. The singular is the Angel addressed, the plural comes about because, for the Angel to respond and repent, the people who constitute that angel have to act in their own persons. This is one of the clearest places in scripture to illustrate the ancient way of thinking about social and political entities as having their own spiritual identity even while physically being constituted by people and artefacts. (Perhaps you’ll be familiar with this from Walter Wink’s Naming the Powers).
I keep coming back to a scene in Cronin’s The Citadel where two medics blow up a sewer to counteract typhus which the local authorities are reluctant to address adequately. I’m reminded also of the town of Flint, its water and its political entanglements. Sometimes to heal is to confront the Powers that be.
Now I find myself thinking about the pandemical situation we’re in. Amidst all the arguing about masks or social restrictions, we learn that dealing with a potentially dangerous virus cannot be just an individual thing. Here is a tiny entity that relies on our sociability, our un-aloneness, for its continuing existence. The words ‘public health’ really take on meaning: health or illness is not just ‘me and my physical condition’ but is also about how we organise things in society; how we support those who are vulnerable or who have to do things for the common good; how we each play -or refuse- our part.
So, in our culture, we Christ-followers must redouble our efforts to recall that we are dust (Gn.2:7), that we are “not alone” (Gn.2:18): we are dynamically interwoven materially, psychologically and indeed spiritually with matter, life, and other minds. Healing implicates all of these. Much of the corporate, psycho-social dimensionality concretises as “powers and principalities” -corporate beings made up of us (and other stuff) held in shape by the various forces of power running through emotions of love, fear, pleasure, pain, joy, despair, loyalty… Our healing as individuals is so often tied up with the health of environment, relationships and the bodies politic we belong to.
Responding to the issues rightly foregrounded after the murder of George Floyd, I convened a group for recovering from white privilege. We meet together to understand and unpick the ways that privilege and racist assumptions have become part of us. As we notice how our culture has formed our assumption and unconscious -unwanted- biases, as we re-learn the Christian virtues of humility, truthfulness, courage and neighbour-love, we disentangle ourselves from the baleful grip of the Powers.
To heal and be healed in a world of powers, we can start by asking ourselves questions. Perhaps these are for journalling?
What bodies am I part of? -That is, what bodies do I help to constitute through my presence (irl or virtual), my effort, my money?
How have I been influenced and formed by them and how have they co-opted me?
How far has my incorporation been willing and how far unconscious?
Where they bring ill, how does my involvement work and how can I best lean away and influence them for good? Do I need to ‘unincorporate’ myself?
Who are allies to change them or myself?
Bio for Andii Bowsher
I like to play: with my grandchildren, with language(s), with ideas, arts, liturgy and spirituality. Having bikes means that my spouse and I get to enjoy the great outdoors and exercise. When I’m not co-ordinating chaplaincy work at a university in the north-east of England, I help ministers-in-training to learn about mission and ministry. Involvement in spiritual accompaniment is increasingly turning towards questions of how to support people working through climate activism and environmental grief and spills over into liturgy and ritual. My own spirituality has the Lord’s prayer as its main touch-point and is suffused with greenery. Visit ourcommonprayer.org for examples of how some of these things come together.
Gift of Wonder, Breath, and Celtic prayer cards are all on sale as we look forward to St. Patrick’s Day next week!
Take advantage of this sale now through March 17th.
by guest writer Cathy Jarrell, photo also by Cathy Jarrell,
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ~~ Genesis 2:15 ESV
Today, during an unusually warm winter day, I glanced through the window and saw honey bees swarming the bird feeder. Curious about what I was seeing, I read that at the end of winter, before pollen is readily available, bees will use the dust from cracked corn as a protein source for the bee bread they produce to feed their larvae. How magnificent! I had just filled the feeder with a combination that includes cracked corn. I quickly filled a dish with more and left it on the ground near the feeder. Before I could even step away, the bees swarmed and filled the dish.
Was it my imagination, or did they expect and appreciate my help?
Okay, maybe that’s going too far. I do get carried away with nature sometimes. Still, my small involvement in the bees’ work of providing for their colony filled me with joy. More than that, I felt like I was acting in partnership with them. I began to imagine the consequences of helping them find food. What could happen? Possibly, the colony might raise more young honeybees, or healthier bees, which could mean more pollination, which would contribute to more plant diversity and abundant food sources essential for survival of many species on earth, including us.
During a time of pandemic, many of us have felt so helpless. Our problems seem so large, but our ability to act is so constrained. We seek healing for ourselves and for the troubles that loom over our daily reality. We look to God to help us heal our fractured existence. What would God’s help look like?
I keep thinking of how good it felt when the bees responded to my food contribution. Is that something like what God had in mind in choosing humans to tend and keep the earth’s first garden in the Genesis story? Our active participation in the mystical cycle of creation spirals out into all the world in ways that we cannot fully imagine. Of course, as we know too well, our actions can spiral out into the world for good or for evil done to God’s good creation. But there is more to it than that. Our actions also spiral inward, affecting the state of our own souls. My very small act of participation in helping the bees made me feel connected, whole, and joyful. It was a moment of healing that makes me crave more, and so I will do more. Each act of care for our world reaches far out into creation in ways I cannot imagine and, perhaps, helps heal in ways that only God can see.
This is certainly not a new idea, but I’ve begun to think of helping all of God’s creation as a kind of healing spiritual discipline. I already do many things to help the environment, but I’m changing my mindset to think of them as regular acts of devotion to God, just as I regularly pray, worship, and serve others. For that matter, perhaps my actions to help the environment really are acts of love and service to others. After all, when I pray, I trust that God will work some transformation. I don’t understand the transformation that occurs, I just know that it does occur and is multiplied. I also know that the act of praying itself is healing. It follows, then, that I can also trust that God will take my efforts to keep plastic out of the environment, to tend pollinator-friendly garden plants, and to use fewer resources and transform and multiply those efforts, all for the benefit of every living thing.
In a time of pandemic, when we must limit our exposure to one another, I have found that I can still do some good, and I can still be intimately involved in life around me. Even if my small actions do not seem evident right now, they will multiply, especially if everyone else does the same. The sum of many small things by many people, done in a disciplined manner over time, can heal the earth and heal us, too.
Did the bees really expect my help? Did they really appreciate my participation? The more I think about it, the more I think the answer is yes. After all, they, too, were in God’s garden and heard God’s instructions to us to tend and keep it.
Reference: Miller, J. (2021, February 27). Why are Honeybees at My Bird Feeder? Mother Earth News. Retrieved from https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/why-are-honeybees-at-my-birdfeeder-zbcz2004
Bio for Cathy Jarrell
Cathy Jarrell is a retired medical writer, editor, and publisher. She enjoys nature walks with her husband, Sam, at their home in Saint Charles, Missouri, USA. Cathy enjoys many artistic pursuits, including painting and photography, mostly centering on the beauty of the natural world. Her primary writing interest concerns the intersection of human life and the natural world.
Gift of Wonder, Breath, and Celtic prayer cards are all on sale as we look forward to St. Patrick’s Day next week!
Take advantage of this sale now through March 17th.
by Lisa DeRosa
Today, I needed to remember that God’s power is greater than the struggles and weariness in my life, the pain that I am processing, and the diseases that loved ones are battling.
Exodus 34:5-7 says:
5 Then the Lord came down in a cloud and stood there with him; and he called out his own name, Yahweh.[a] 6 The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out,
“Yahweh![b] The Lord!
The God of compassion and mercy!
I am slow to anger
and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
7 I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations.[c]
I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.
But I do not excuse the guilty.
I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren;
the entire family is affected—
even children in the third and fourth generations.”
I wrote the following prayer to remind me of who Yahweh is and knows, cares, and listens when I cry out.
Great Physician,
You have mighty healing hands,
gentle enough to comfort,
strong enough to hold the whole world.
You perform works of transformation
in humble, repentant hearts.
You take appointments at all times of the day and night.
You do not fear or tremble when a rare case arises,
and You do not leave when the diagnosis feels like too much to bear.
Almighty Healer,
You promise Yourself and saving grace,
not a cushy, trial-less life;
we grieve, we suffer, and we are weary.
But You are here in our sorrow, our pain, and our weakness.
You see our scars and know each detail behind them.
Merciful Comforter,
in our midst, in our unbelief,
reveal Yourself to each of us in a way that shows Your unfailing love.
Provide sweet moments of rest, peace, and refreshment for our souls, we pray.
All this we ask as Your children, fearfully and wonderfully made,
to the God of Salvation, Redeeming Love, and who is worthy of All Praise,
in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.
Take a few moments to reflect on the mightiness of God. As you understand Yahweh today, which characteristic stands out to you? Which one are you most in need of? Maybe you need comforting in your sorrow or rest for your weary heart. Ask God for this.
Give yourself permission to rest in God’s love, comfort, mighty hands, or whatever you need. Allow God’s healing to enter into the places that are torn, tattered, darkened, or hardened by the circumstances and hardships in this life. Nothing will surprise the All Knowing One. Nothing will offend the Divine One. Be where you are today. God welcomes you where you are today. You are on a journey and there is grace offered to you in this journey. Yahweh’s grace and love abound today.
Humbly ask God to be everything that you need. As the Great Provider, believe that God is willing and able to provide for what you need today. Despite how large or small the request, trust that it is not falling on deaf ears. Don’t allow pride to get in the way of God’s call on your life today. Release the need to fix yourself, others, or your situation. Surrender to the Holy One who hears you and can transform your heart.
This song by Tenth Avenue North has helped me through many journaling and processing times when I need to accept the healing that God is beginning in me. I hope it helps you as it has helped me.
Gift of Wonder, Breath, and Celtic prayer cards are all on sale as we look forward to St. Patrick’s Day next week!
Take advantage of this sale now through March 17th.
by Christine Sine
Today is International Womens Day, a day for celebrating the social, economic and political achievements of women. It was first celebrated in 1911 when women in most parts of the world still had few rights. As I reflect on this day, I am always reminded of my own challenges for equal acceptance within society and the church as well as the often overwhelming obstacles that other women have faced and still face in the battle for freedom.
One of those I always reflect on is Mary Magdalene. She has become one of my favourite New Testament figures. Because of that, I have decided to repost the article I wrote several years ago about her. I find as I reread it, it challenges me once more to consider this issue. It is another one of those places that we still need to find healing.
Mary Magdalene is one of the most misused and abused women in the Bible, a fitting symbol for women throughout the ages who are still misused, abused and blamed. Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus’ most dedicated followers. She was present at his crucifixion and the first to see Jesus after his resurrection. Yet what most of us believe when we think of Mary Magdalene is a “fact” for which there is no evidence. She is remembered as a prostitute rather than as the faithful first bearer of the Good News, whom some would elevate to the level of apostle.
Why do we so easily believe this? Part of it is because there are so many Marys mentioned in the New Testament that it is confusing. However, though her prominence in the story of Jesus probably began to deteriorate shortly after her death, the transformation to penitent prostitute was only sealed on Sept. 14, 1591, when Pope Gregory the Great gave a homily in Rome that pronounced that Mary Magdalene, Luke’s unnamed sinner, and Mary of Bethany were, indeed, the same person. And it is easier for a male dominated church to accept a prostitute than a female leader.
We easily forget or ignore the fact that other women, too, played a prominent part in the leadership of the early church. Sadly, as Christianity became more mainstream it also became more patriarchal and the roles of women as disciples, elders and leaders (some even say as apostles) was quickly overlooked or reinterpreted.
We Like to Keep Women In Their Place
We still like to think the worst of women and want them to “keep their place”. Like most women in leadership, I am quite familiar with this. As a young doctor, I was told it was wrong for me as a single woman to earn more than a married man, and I was, on several occasions, refused positions of leadership just because of my gender. Even now, I often feel that when I walk into a gathering of male leaders I may as well be a fly on the wall. I feel as though I have to shout to make myself heard.
The church is often at the forefront of abuse and discrimination towards women. When Sarah Bessey started a Twitter conversation using the hashtag, #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear in 2017, it took off in a way few expected and the conversation rippled round social media for months even before the #MeToo movement took root. Women shared stories of rape, abuse, and sexism in the church and how the bible was used to justify these things and keep them quiet. Men blamed women for not submitting to their husbands or leaders or just for wearing provocative clothing. “They deserved to be raped”, some said.
More recently, we all watched the furore in the Southern Baptist church as Beth Moore spoke out about sexism in the church, as well as the often very heated discussions about whether David raped Bathsheba. In his Christianity Today article: Why It Is Easier to Accept David as A Murderer Rather Than A Rapist, Kyle Worley states: “We don’t want David to be a rapist. We actually find it easier to stomach him being a murderer of a man than an abuser of a woman.” This kind of an attitude seems to pervade both the church and our society in so many ways.
Who Are the Women that have Impacted your Life?
Many women have impacted my life. There are those who lived in the past when it was not easy for women to speak out in society – like Elizabeth Fry, the English Quaker who in the early 1800s became well known as a prison reformer and social activist. Another was Daisy Mae Bates, a controversial Irish Australian journalist who made a name for herself in late 19th century Australia as a welfare worker and lifelong student of Australian Aboriginal culture and society. She was known among the native people as ‘Kabbarli’ (grandmother). Still another is Gladys Aylward who became a missionary to China in spite of being rejected by the China Mission Center in London. In October of 1930 she set out from London with her passport, her Bible, her tickets, and two pounds ninepence, to travel to China by the Trans-Siberian Railway, despite the fact that China and the Soviet Union were engaged in an undeclared war. She is best known for her trek across the mountains with 100 Chinese children during the war, a story immortalized in The Inn Of the Sixth Happiness.
Others are women I know today whose lives continue to inspire and encourage me. Like Wangari Maathai, an environmental and political activist who, in 2004, became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.” Another is Edith Yoder – Executive Director of Bridge of Hope an organization that works to end homelessness by surrounding single parent moms with a church support team.
There is the young woman whose name I don’t even remember who worked alongside me in the refugee camps on the Thai Cambodian border as a Khymer medic. She had little training but her dedication and compassion not only impressed me but saved the life of many of her country men and women. One day she confided in me: “Your being here gives me hope that one day my daughters will have the same kind of freedom that you have.” I have met many others like her around the world who struggle to survive in a world that often abuses, overlooks and discriminates against them. Fortunately, though I may not know their names, I am sure that God never forgets who they are or the good contributions they have made to our world.
Some think that singling out women and their achievements like this is outdated and even obsolete. I suspect they are unaware of how many women still struggle to be treated as equals. The commemoration of a day like this which has fostered massive change, not only for women, but for children, the underprivileged and victims of discrimination still gives hope to those who long for freedom. Its achievements cannot be forgotten or taken for granted. While 60 percent of the world’s poorest are female, 10 million more girls than boys do not attend primary school, and violence against women kills and injures as many women as cancer, International Women’s Day continues to be a relevant and vital encouragement toward liberation.
What Is Your Response?
As you can tell, this is an issue that is very upsetting for me and I pray that you will forgive me. However, I believe that Jesus brings the freedom of equality to all persons and where we see inequality we all need to speak out. As Galatians 3:28 says, There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Biblical scholars have told me that this was one of the creedal texts of the early church, so why do we not believe it? The gender gap is still very obvious not just in our world, but in God’s family.
Watch this video and consider these maternal images of God. (You will find the full text in this post) How do they make you feel? What is your response?
Now prayerfully consider your own response, firstly to Mary Magdalene and Bathsheba, then to women in your life. Are there misconceptions in your views of them? Are there ways in which you discriminate against women by not treating them as equals?
Note: As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn an amount on qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support for Godspace in this way.
Check out our newest Godspace Course called Time to Heal which features sessions with Christine Sine, Lilly Lewin, and Bethany Dearborn Hiser.
Another beautiful contemplative service from St Andrews for the Third Sunday of Lent. Enjoy!
A contemplative service with music in the style-of-Taize for the Third Sunday in Lent. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below:
“The Law of God is Love” – composed by Kester Limner shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY).
“This is My Father’s World” – public domain lyrics by Maltbie Davenport Babcock, 1901. Alternate arrangement by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)
“Atme in Uns” and “Kyrie” are from the Taize community in France. All rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé.
“Lay Me Low” is a musical setting of a Shaker text is by organist and composer Daniel Schwandt, Music That Makes Community, 2013. © 2013, admin Augsburg Fortress.
Thank you for praying with us!
It’s only a few weeks until Easter and we thought we would highlight some of the Holy Week resources and links that are available through Godspace.
Resource Lists: Updated for 2021
- Resources for Palm Sunday
- Resources for Maundy Thursday
- Resources for Good Friday
- Stations of the Cross Resource List
- Resources for Celebrating Holy Week With Kids
- Resources for Easter Sunday
- Kid Resources for Easter
Holy Week Posts
- Holy Week at Home: Praying with a Centerpiece by Lilly Lewin
- Celebrating Holy Week at Home
- Prepping for Holy Week at Home by Lilly Lewin
- Palm Sunday at Home
- A Resource List for Holy Week by Paul Neeley
- Holy Week with Jeff Johnson – Music
FREE DOWNLOADS!
Check out other resources available in our resource center.
This World Day of Prayer came this year at a time unlike any other most of us have ever known. Hardships of every kind are at our doorsteps and many experience a sense of general desperation and frustration. We cannot be blamed for feeling like a kitten dropped into a pen filled with legions of mice, wondering which we should tackle first.
This year’s theme of Build on a Strong Foundation has us examining our own foundations. Hate and divisiveness threaten to eat away at the bedrock of our families and communities. The plague of Corona Virus 19 and now its ever-expanding variants make us feel more like people of Moses’ time, than members of a modern, enlightened 21st century society.
We walk this pilgrimage with many others, as all countries struggle. Our communities of faith and prayer groups take on increased meaning for even the most devout. I cherish my beloved Pilgrim Walk, which hangs in my study space, by friend and artist, Stacy Wills Stall. The blank face reminds me of the personal pilgrimage I walk, within those groups, and of those who walk with me. She walks in darkness lit by the light of the moon. Her robe seems to absorb the sacred ground she trods, into her being. It represents to me the thinnest of spaces with my Lord.
Online prayers groups, gratitude sites and my writing group complete my worldwide tribe. We pray together, as we work. We pray together, over our families and friends and our countries. We pray for our governments even when we find ourselves on opposite sides of sensitive issues, because that is what we are called to do.
I study as a novitiate, with the monks of Saint Meinrad Archabbey, toward my Benedictine oblation. I chose this path to be schooled in the art of prayer and service to the God I adore.
In a lesson on Fidelity to the Spirit of the Monastic Life, Fr. Justin DuVall, OBS, Archabbot emeritus of Saint Meinrad Archabbey says, “for St. Benedict the word ‘school’ meant something more akin to a trade guild, where a young person began as an apprentice, learned the tools of the trade and practiced for life what was learned. Just as with the guild no one graduates from ‘the school of the Lord’s service.’ In lifelong learning, we practice what we’ve learned and learn what we need to practice.”
As a late starter, it would be so easy to feel so far behind but for the prayers and support I receive from my fellow pilgrims. The first World Day of Prayer theme in 1927, set by the US, was Pray Ye Therefore. Coupling this now with this current year’s theme, chosen by the South Seas people of Vanuatu: Build on a Strong Foundation, seems perfect, moving forward.
The people of Vanuatu, a tropical archipelago prone to earthquakes, cyclones, volcanic eruptions, and rising sea levels have first-hand knowledge of the importance of building a strong foundation both practically and in the faith walk the country was founded upon. The country has only been independent for 40 years. Its official motto is “in God we stand.” They collectively accept that without God they can do nothing. Oh, how I wonder how many of the world’s ills might improve if we only adopted and lived this same simple slogan both corporately and individually.
As we look to March 8th, International Women’s Day, with its theme, ‘Choose to Challenge,’ I wonder if we began by first challenging ourselves, to make every day a world day of prayer, joining with others to pray before standing not only against injustices, but for what is holy. How much it could change us? Perhaps we would turn to prayer first before we speak out, thereby asking that our words and actions be guided by divine leadership. Perhaps we would indeed seek to first understand rather than be understood in our missions, to better be able to answer the objections and arguments of those who would oppose others’ human rights.
Dear Father, as we move forward following this World Day of Prayer, may we each walk beside you. May we listen to your guidance, study your word, pray with our sisters and brothers around the world and around the corner. May we seek to aspire to what you would have us aspire to. May we trust as the people of Vanuatu do that without you, we can do nothing of good in this world. And may we have the faith of knowing that, as Nelson Mandela said, “we can in fact change the world and make it a better place.” Amen
As an Amazon Associate, I receive a small amount for purchases made through appropriate links.
Thank you for supporting Godspace in this way.
When referencing or quoting Godspace Light, please be sure to include the Author (Christine Sine unless otherwise noted), the Title of the article or resource, the Source link where appropriate, and ©Godspacelight.com. Thank you!