Lent
February 20, 2018
Scripture Reading: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’ –Genesis 17:15-16
I grew up on a farm where everyone worked as soon as they were able. When I was three or four years old, I remember carrying kindling, small pieces of wood used to start a fire, in my arms next to my dad who was loaded down with large chunks of wood to burn in our wood burning stove for heat. I was placed in charge of chickens when I was five responsible for feeding them and gathering their eggs, eventually progressing to milking cows. Besides working our farm, my dad was a custom hay baler and pumped several oil wells. My mother was a deaconess in the Methodist church for several years before she married, taught school, and later became a case manager. Everyone in the family working and working hard was my life experience from birth. I envision Sarah’s life as not too different from my early life except she commanded some slaves to help and we had more modern tools. The interdependency of family life was complete.
I find it hard to identify with male chauvinist or feminists. By nature, I tend to lean toward the best person for any job doing the job. That said, I have experienced discrimination most likely due to my gender. I thus find it interesting that thousands of years ago God in making a covenant, usually referred to as the Abrahamic covenant, included both Abraham and Sarah.
The place of women in our society is much in the news because of incidents of sexual harassment coming to light. Perhaps it is time we re-learn the interdependence of all God’s children and work together to assure that all flourish in whatever capacities God enables them to serve.
Prayer: Lord, help us first to see your image in each person with whom we meet along our life’s journey and respect them for the person you created them to be. Amen.