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| Image by Bill Liao |
Week 4: Sky and Clouds
International Women's Day
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A GREETING
Let my cry come before you, O God;
give me understanding according to your word.
(Psalm 119:169)
A READING
God gave birth to me at the beginning, before the first acts of creation. I have been from everlasting, in the beginning, before the world began. Before the deep seas, I was brought forth, before there were fountains or springs of water; before the mountains erupted up into place, before the hills, I was born— before God created the earth or its fields, or even the first clods of dirt. was there when the Almighty created the heavens, and set the horizon just above the ocean, set the clouds in the sky, and established the springs of the deep, gave the seas their boundaries and set their limits at the shoreline. When the foundation of the earth was laid out, I was the skilled artisan standing next to the Almighty. I was God’s delight day after day, rejoicing at being in God’s presence continually, rejoicing in the whole world and delighting in humankind.
(Proverbs 8:22-31 TIB)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Learn where there is wisdom, where there is strength, where there is understanding, so that you may at the same time discern where there is length of days, and life, where
there is light for the eyes, and peace.
(Baruch 3:14)
A THEMATIC VERSE
Search out and seek, and she will become known to you; and when you get hold of her,
do not let her go.
(Sirach 6:27)
A PRAYER
Holy God as you have touched us, may we
now touch others with your love:
the oppressed and the persecuted,
crying out for the liberating touch of justice.
Touch them with your justice in us ...
for you are the source of our life and love.
- by Kathy Galloway, found in
The Flowering of the Soul: A Book of Prayers by Women,
ed. by Lucinda Vardey
VERSES OF THE DAY
Therefore walk in the way of the good,
and keep to the paths of the just.
For the upright will abide in the land,
and the innocent will remain in it.
(Proverbs 2:20-21)
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| "Radiating My Sovereignty" by Calida Garcia Rawles (2019) |
This week we are exploring how the images of sky and clouds have become associated with God's power and wisdom and the ways in which God's presence is experienced on earth in the biblical story. Today’s reading from Proverbs captures the voice of Wisdom speaking about the creation of the world, how she was present even before "the Almighty created the heavens". Wisdom is gendered as female whenever she appears in the Old Testament and the Apocrypha books of the bible and is characterized as a divinely inspired agent of God’s creativity and righteousness: pursuing Wisdom is a way of being close to God. Today is International Women’s Day, when we share stories of how gender identity has been and continues to be implicitly involved in power struggles and dynamics affecting all of us. There are many biblical stories that speak to the power, ingenuity and creativity of women, even as there are many that also limit or confine women inside ideas about who they are or should be. In our own time, gender itself has become more complexly understood as having many dimensions and we know that God’s presence is in all of them, that human beings are made in the wondrous and undefinable image of God in a diversity of expression. Wisdom holds all of these tensions, and more. In other faiths and in other ways of holding traditional knowledge, we hear other ideas of who and what wisdom is, but it is often women who carry that knowledge forward. In today’s music, we hear the voices of Sweet Honey in the Rock, an African American vocal ensemble whose mandate has been to sing songs of the spirit that speak to justice. For decades, through their own compositions and through their unique covers of standards like Wade in the Water, they have breathed their own knowledge of African American history into song. In her painting “Radiating My Sovereignty” above, African American painter Calida Garcia Rawles retells the tradition of Lilith, a figure in Jewish mysticism who was believed to have been created at the same time as Adam (see Gen 1:27) and who left the garden after refusing to be subservient to him. In the middle ages, this figure became a demonic one. Rawles is commenting on how black women who are strong are sometimes demonized by the surrounding culture. Recasting the myth as an expression of independence, Rawles’ painting encourages young women to ‘radiate’ their own sense of wellbeing and claim their identity. What are the stories of women in scripture that you would like to retell in a new light of your own knowledge and experience? Who are the women in your life who have inspired and guided you?
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| Image by Sean Grisdale |
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LC† Retelling the Stories is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. Join us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help to support extended offerings throughout the year.
Thank you and peace be with you!
