Psalms 61, 62 * 68:1-20(21-23)24-36; Wisdom 10:1-4(5-12)13-21; Romans 12:1-21; Luke 8:1-15One of the things that drives me crazy about our society, our culture and (in places) our church is the rampant misogyny that imbues so much of all of those aspects of life. So much of our religious tradition is patriarchal. So many of our translations of the Bible feed the patriarchal understanding of God's work in the world and help to re-enforce the ugly misogyny that exists in society.
This morning's Wisdom reading is a welcome relief from that narrow view point. Let me preface this with the understanding that I have done no research or study of the book of Wisdom, so what I am saying here is from a surface reading of our text today. But to hear the arc of the story of God's work in the world from it's creation, through the wrongs and devastations caused by humans, and Wisdom's work, correcting those wrongs, being described in the feminine pronoun is a welcome voice that needs to be more widely heard and incorporated into our understanding of God and how the world works.
Luke today provides us with the names of three women who are traveling with Jesus and the twelve: Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna. These devout members of Jesus' adopted family (as well as Wisdom being a woman) need to be remembered when those frustrations about misogyny raise their head. This is helpful.
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Copyright 2009, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.
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