And the messenger
said, “Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, from where have you come and where are you
going?” And she said, “From my mistress Sarai am I fleeing.” The messenger of the
Inscrutable God said to her,
“Return to your mistress and subject yourself to her.” The messenger of the Wellspring of Life said to Hagar,
“Greatly will I multiply your seed so they cannot be counted for multitude.” [Genesis 16:8-10]
Great is the Ageless God and greatly praised…Like
your Name, God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. [Psalm 48:1a, 10]
For, “Everyone who
calls on the name of the Sovereign shall be saved.” [Romans 10:13]
…there was in their
synagogue [at Capernaum] a person with an unclean spirit, who cried out, “What
have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know
who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked the spirit, saying, “Be
silent, and come out!” Then the unclean spirit, convulsing the person and
crying with a loud voice, came out. [Mark 1:23-26]
Welcome to Advent, a season of hopeful
waiting, anticipation, and the beginning of a new Liturgical Year, Year B, in
the three year cycle of Sunday readings. Think of it as a time to see and hear
the same readings differently; or, in this space this Season, to different
readings in new translations, newly. As with the immediately prior 7 weeks of
The Season of Creation in my parish, in this new Season of Advent, I’ll use the
usual Revised Common Lectionary on one blog space offering my sense of the readings
and form of the prayers of the people, and, in this blog space each week, I am
using The Women’s Common Lectionary for
the Whole Church aka, WCL, by The Rev. Dr.
Wilda [Wil] Gafney’s translations. I will post her translations for the current
week below with a very brief bio and her website link.* Dr.
Gafney’s text notes are informing me of new ways to understand an historical/cultural
aspect of her translations, as well as theological. Dr. Gafney’s opening
questions of the WCL Yr B ask, in part, What does it look like to tell
the Good News through the stories of women who are often on the margins of
Scripture and often set up to represent bad news…when women’s brutalization and
marginalization are moved from the margins of canon…held in tension with the
stories of biblical heroines and heroes…I do believe that my questions and
perceptions invite women, men, and nonbinary readers to engage the scriptures
in new ways [to] find themselves and their questions
represented. Dr. Gafney uses gender-expansive translations and
explicit feminine God language.
The Advent season, as does every Liturgical
season of the Christian Church, brings a variety of symbols and rituals that
aid our intentional prayer and reflection. The use of the Advent wreath was
begun in the time of Martin Luther, the prime initiator of the Protestant
Reformation in the 16th century. How it is used differs among
the many traditions that employ it. For most, now, there are at least four
candles on a wreath of evergreen that is shaped in a perfect circle to
symbolize the eternity of God. The lighting of the candles represents the
coming of Christ with a different theme each week highlighting the four virtues
Jesus brings to us: Hope,
Love, Joy, and Peace. The Christ candle, in the center of the wreath, is
lighted on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to remind Christians that Jesus is
the light of the world.
Last week Hope was the focus and this week it is Love and
both candles will be lighted. Keeping Hope in and Love of Christ is
a way to prepare ourselves and keep our own paths uncluttered in these
unsettled, uncertain times.
A
sense of love, is at first difficult to discern in the passage from Genesis
when God’s own messenger is telling the fearful fleeing Hagar, slave-girl of
Sarai, to return and subject yourself to her. In other words, go
back to be further abused. Surely this is hard to hear by those in domestic violence
situations in any translation. And, I’ve checked a few and some say submit, one
says be thou meeked under her hands, and one paraphrase says Put up
with her abuse. But finally we come to the heart of the matter. Dr. Gafney
refers to the next message from The Fount
of Life as an Annunciation, in fact, says Dr. Gafney, Hagar
is the first woman in scripture granted an annunciation. Further, Hagar and
Rebekah [Genesis 24:60] are the only women in the canon credited with their
own seed/offspring as the language is usually reserved for men. Hagar
is told her seed will produce offspring in numbers uncountable.
The Psalm’s translation, as all these
readings, continues to showcase new and gender-less translations of God as in
the opening verse Great is the Ageless God…and later the pronouns of herself,
her, and she throughout.
In Romans and in other texts using “a
woman or man” is such a simple yet notable change in the way we have heard
these passages in most readings our whole lives. It’s hard to imagine that it
was so hard to imagine doing this! But then, understanding oppression, however
indirect let alone absolutely direct, usually escapes those who are oppressive,
even those with better intentions.
And then we come to Mark’s Gospel after
the arrest of John. Jesus is in Galilee gathering disciples who instantly drop
everything and follow him ~ how hard is that to imagine?! Then after
teaching in the Synagogue, Jesus rebukes an unclean spirit, and that opens up an
awareness of him throughout the whole of the area around the Galilee who
suddenly hear of this man of power as unclean spirits…obey him.
From her Text Notes for this week’s
readings, Dr. Gafney points out several details of which we aren’t generally aware
and rarely, if ever, taught. The Annunciation piece and the crediting of seed
is one; and she speaks further and more explicitly about the abuse of Hagar. Further,
in her Preaching Prompts, she discusses the importance of names in
the ancient world in that to know a true name was to potentially have
power over a person, a deity, or other supernatural entity. So Hagar naming
God and having it accepted is extraordinary. Remember that “YHWH” was and still
is in Orthodox Judaism and similarly in Orthodox Christianity is not permitted
to be spoken as in what less orthodox denominations would express as “Yahweh.”
And, Paul tells us specifically that what is given to all who call upon the name
of Jesus is salvation. And, Dr. Gafney says, continuing the thread of power
in a name, that in Mark, …the unclean spirit knows that Jesus has a name, an
identity, beyond the one everyone knows so Jesus silences and expels it
before it has a chance to tell what it knows.
What really is in a name? We
inherit names, we choose others for ourselves, and often they are within a societal
or cultural expectation. There may be legal ramifications of names and
name-changing and outright rejection of those whose names and gender identification
aren’t within the bounds of societal, religious, ethnic, or cultural demands. Children
can be particularly, but far from exclusively, cruel in excluding others just
by mocking their names.
We are taught early and continually that God
knows us each by our name. What is now in the naming of God and others for you?
*Readings
for Advent
this year are from The Rev. Dr. Wilda [Wil] Gafney, Womanist biblical scholar, and is the Right
Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort
Worth, Texas. She is the author of A Women’s Lectionary for the
Whole Church and translator of its biblical selections. Learn more about her and
her work at her website: https://www.wilgafney.com/
For
Advent II, December 10, 2023:
Genesis
16:7-13:
Now the
messenger of the All-Seeing God
found Hagar by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to
Shur. 8. And the messenger said, “Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, from where have
you come and where are you going?” And she said, “From my mistress Sarai am I
fleeing.” 9. The messenger of the Inscrutable
God said to her, “Return to your mistress and subject yourself to her.”
10. The messenger of the Wellspring of
Life said to Hagar, “Greatly will I multiply your seed so they cannot be
counted for multitude.” 11. Then the messenger of the Fount of Life said to her, “Look! You are pregnant and shall
give birth to a son, and you shall call him Ishmael (meaning God hears), for
the Faithful One has heard of your
abuse. 12. He shall be a wild ass of a man, with his hand against everyone, and
everyone’s hand against him; and he shall live in the sight of all his kin.”
13. So Hagar named the Living God
who spoke to her: “You are El-ro’I”; for she said, “Have I really seen God and
remained alive after seeing God?”
Psalm
48:1-3, 9-14:
1. Great is the Ageless God and
greatly praised, in the city of our God is God’s holy mountain. 2. Beautiful in
elevation, the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, is the city
of the great Sovereign. 3. Within her citadels God has made herself known as a
bulwark. 9. We contemplate your faithful love God, in the midst of your temple. 10. Like your Name, God, your praise,
reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with Righteousness.
11. Let Mount Zion be glad, let the towns of Judah rejoice because of your
judgments. 12. Go about Zion, go all around her; count her towers. 13. Set your
hearts upon her ramparts; go through her citadels, that you may recount to the
next generation: 14. For this God is our God, our God forever and ever. She
will be our guide until we die.
Romans
10:9-13:
If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Sovereign and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10. For with the heart a
woman or man believes and is made righteous, and with the mouth a person
confesses and so is saved. 11 Indeed, the scripture says, “one who believes
in him will not be put to shame.” 12. For there is no distinction between
Jew and Greek because the same Sovereign is sovereign over all and is generous
to all who call on him. 13. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the
Sovereign shall be saved.”
Mark
1:14-28:
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of
God, 15. And saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the reign of God has come
near; repent, and believe in the Gospel.” 16. And as Jesus passed along the Sea
of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the sea,
for they were fisherfolk. 17. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will
make you fish for people.” 18. Then immediately they left their nets and
followed him. 19. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and
his brother John, who were in their boat mending their nets. 20. Then
immediately Jesus called them and they left their father Zebedee in the boat
with the laborers and followed him. 21. And they went to Capernaum and when the
sabbath came Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. 22. The women and men [in
the synagogue] were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having
power, and not as the scholars. 23. Immediately after [Jesus finished teaching]
there was in their synagogue [at Capernaum] a person with an unclean spirit,
24. who cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you
come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25. But Jesus
rebuked the spirit, saying, “Be silent, and come out!” 26. Then the unclean
spirit, convulsing the person and crying with a loud voice, came out. 27. And
the women and the men in the synagogue were all amazed, and they kept on asking
one another, “What is this? A new teaching – with power! He commands even the
unclean spirit, and they obey him.” 28. And his fame immediately spread
throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY
Leader: ~ All-Seeing God, so call our hearts that
we contemplate Your faithful love each and every day in our waking, in our rising,
and in our resting. May all that all we do be in service for and praise to Your
name.
O Living and Ageless God
RESPONSE: Our
Guide and our God forever and ever
~ All-Seeing
God, our tumultuous world is rife with conflict through the dismantling
of compassion and empathy by unbridled abuse of power and unrelenting greed. In
this sacred waiting time, make Your Truth spring up from this Earth and fill
all who govern across this Planet, with a fierce urge to comfort Your people by
a renewal of mercy, righteousness, and peace. We pray especially
for: add your own petitions
O Living and Ageless God
Our
Guide and our God forever and ever
~ All-Seeing
God, gather in Your arms all who suffer through illness, addiction, or
despair; and bestow special grace upon those who provide support. We now join
our hearts to pray for those in need… add your own petitions
O Living and Ageless God
Our
Guide and our God forever and ever
~ All-Seeing
God, calm the tears of all who grieve, as Heaven now celebrates each
soul that has entered eternal bliss, away from earthly woes, into a peace
beyond our understanding. We pray especially for… add your own petitions
O Living and Ageless God
Our
Guide and our God forever and ever
~ All-Seeing
God, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt
thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials…add your own
petitions
O Living and Ageless God
Our
Guide and our God forever and ever
~ All-Seeing
God, energize and excite all who lead us in Your Church, that together
in this Holy Season, we may re-ignite our faith-filled wonder and eager
anticipation, turning our hearts, minds, and lives back to You. We pray
especially for: add your own petitions
O Living and Ageless God
Our Guide and our God forever and
ever
The Celebrant adds: Sovereign
Jesus, fill us with such eagerness of faith that we are immediately willing to drop
our nets of earthly acquiring, worrying, and other unnecessary human-ing to
follow Your teaching, Your preaching, and Your path of and to Divine Loving. We
ask through the Holy Spirit, our Heavenly Advocate; and the Divine Architect of
all that is; who together with You reign as One God, forever and for always. Amen.
