This is a song our Teaching Elder, who is leading worship, has asked us to learn for this weekend’s gathering.
As I was listening to it, I felt that this is what I have experienced as the Holy Spirit.
I don’t know how to articulate it other than to say it feels like having peace and comfort rising from inside of me and covering me from the outside at the same time. I gain a sense of companionship and that even if I’m walking through a painful, scary, challenging time, I’m not doing it alone.
Image colored in “Mandala Coloring Book Adults” app in the Google Play Store. Edited in Pic Collage.
I started this post yesterday but didn’t complete it due to medical reasons. So, today is a catch-up day
“Strive to be at peace.”
Work towards being a peaceful person. Someone who actively chooses actions that bring peace to the people and the world around you.
Not saying be a doormat or act nice in all situations. Not saying to allow bullying, harassment, and injustice to go unanswered. Simply saying to measure words and actions before speaking and doing to determine if they’re meant to bring peace and kindness.
Easier said than done. So, how?
Examine your internal motivations, thoughts, and emotions. Are you coming from a place of fear, hate, or judgment? If so, work on healing that part of yourself.
Image colored in “Mandala Coloring Book Adults” app in the Google Play Store. Edited in Pic Collage.
“Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Aram,
Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered King David. Then David fathered Solomon by Uriah’s wife [Bathsheba],
and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah.”
There are five women listed in the history of Jesus’ lineage. Each of these women was, essentially powerless to survive or thrive without the influence and protection of men.
Tamar was widowed multiple times by brothers who were obligated to propagate the heir to the first brother she married and was widowed by. Her father-in-law, Judah, was scared his youngest son would die as well if he married her and reneged on the obligation. She took matters into her own hands and tricked Judah into fathering the heir(s) Perez and Zerah, twins.
In Rahab’s story, we learn she is a prostitute. It seems as if her profession is also her identity. Whether she was a temple prostitute or operated independently, it would seem that she was the provider for her family. Prostitutes are subject to the whims and desires of the men they serve and often “choose” that profession as a matter of survival, for one reason or another. It is common for those in the sex industry to be targets of verbal, emotional, and physical abusers.
Ruth was a foreigner, widowed by the son of an Israelite woman who was herself a widow. She opted to follow her mother-in-law from her own homeland to the homeland of her husband’s family, knowing that her status as a widow and that of a foreigner would cause her to, essentially live the rest of her life gleaning the fallen remnants of the harvests.
We don’t fully know her motivations, although we do know she was dedicated to Naomi. The depth of that kind of love and dedication she had toward Naomi, might suggest that her background had contained emotional, if not physical abuse. She chose not to return to the home of her youth and subject herself to the customary requirements of living there until remarriage was arranged.
When she went to glean grain, she was fortunate to wind up in the fields of a good man who placed her under his protection and warned her about going into the fields of others for her personal safety. Meaning, at the very least “street harassment” up to sexual assault.
Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, was coveted and summoned by the King himself. She had no authority or power to say, “No,” or resist his advances. But what about the fact she was bathing in his eyesight? Doesn’t she bear some personal responsibility for the affair? If one doesn’t have the power to say, “No,” and have that “No” have constructive effect, then one doesn’t have the power to consent.
Mary was a pregnant teenager in a disgraced state where her fiancé had the legal right to “divorce” her because the child wasn’t his. In that society, in that culture, in that period of time, a woman in her situation would surely be subject to taunts and disrespect if not a target for unwanted physical advances. Yes, she was chosen by God and acquiesced to his will, regardless of the consequences. But the consequences would still have been experienced.
These five women were faithful and strong in the midst of cultural norms that said they weren’t important, that they were possessions to be treated however the men in the world around them saw fit, including sexual and relational violence. They were survivors.
Their stories are our stories. Their stories are part of Jesus’ story. He brings our stories into his story as well. He cared for widows, discoursed with foreign women, defended a woman “caught in adultery,” put himself in the hands and care of “fallen” women, and honored his mother who birthed him risking her life and reputation. In these things, he welcomes us into his life.
Human In Recovery 