Bottom line: What is your dream life telling you? What is your intuition telling you? Save your soul by speaking up. My goodness. Dreams in scripture are a big deal. They’re all over the place in the Old and New Testaments…twenty-one of them to be exact,* not including various visions…and only one is reported by a woman. The woman is Pontius Pilate’s...
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No human being in the New Testament -- besides Jesus -- listens better than Mary of Bethany. As we go deeper into Holy Week and come closer to the cross, consider the unmatched gift she gave him: the deep and profound gift of listening. And it’s not just a gift for him --for through her endeavor, we learn how profoundly active real listening...
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Bottom line: One thing, Martha. One thing. We’ve all got a lot on our minds this week. For clergy, a zillion services. For travelers, fatigue and worry about making it home. For those hosting Easter dinners: house cleaning, cooking, and trying to keep family from killing each other over politics. And into this week of frenzy come the women of Holy Week and Easter....
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Patrick Trying in vain to find a comfortable spot, Patrick leaned back against the sharp rocks for what seemed the thousandth time. Cold and jagged, they reminded him of how much he missed his bed at home, and how long it had been since he’d lain down without a care. He thought of how he’d come to Ireland six years before:...
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You don’t expect it to happen at “Gentle Yoga,” of all places. But the other day, as I was standing in line at the YMCA, mat in hand, a white-haired woman in sweatpants, built like a truck, walked up to me. “Get out of the way,” she said. “I always go in first.” She’d done the same thing before. I’d moved over...
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Bible women aren’t the only heroic women in our life of faith. Today, March 7, we celebrate Perpetua, a young mother who gave up her life rather than deny her love for Christ. Her story reminds me of brave women across the world who are making life and death decisions—often putting their very lives on the line—so that their children...
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This is a tough time for many in the country, me included. My heart and soul grieve deeply the change of both leadership and mood in this country. And part of my sadness comes from the deep divisions found not only in our nation but around our dining room tables as well. Don’t get me wrong. I have a political preference;...
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Throughout history, especially on dark nights, women have protected and nurtured their own: nursing, loving, comforting, or fighting off intruders. Deep in the pages of Exodus, a mysterious story picks up on that same theme, but is a narrative unlike any other in the Bible. There, a woman named Zipporah, Moses’ first wife, rises up like a Minnesota wolf on...
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Book Review, Common English Women's Bible by Lindsay Hardin Freeman Jewish tradition offers a dynamic tool for interpreting the Bible: black fire and white fire. The words themselves are black fire, handed down from generation to generation. White fire is the space between words, the place where readers use their intellect, creativity and personal experience to better understand and assimilate the text. In...
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Don’t know about you, but I’m tired of women being passed over, especially those who stand up and tell the truth, whether it be at the workplace, in our communities, or at home. And there’s many women in the Bible who have been overlooked—among them, Huldah, the prophet. That’s right. Huldah, the prophet (2 Kings 22:14-20 and 2 Chronicles 2 34:22-33)....
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