Mary, the serpent crusher
“Advent is the best liturgical season to amplify women’s voices,” I boldly assert. I think I wanted to offer an invitation to the men in the room to settle into the joy and beauty a woman’s God-reflecting perspective offers rather than the tropes that disguise women as caricatures of femininity only.
And that is when I said if I ever converted it would be for Mary. She astounds me. In the past few Advents, I’ve gravitated to the imagery of her strength on display more prominently than her culturally-praised serenity. Last year I meditated “Let it be to me”. This year I’m meditating “He lifts up the lowly.”
More than her submission and virginity, the icons capturing my imagination highlight the prophecies about her crushing the serpent’s head under her heel.
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GRIEF in Advent :: Five-Minute Friday
Oof. 2020 has been one for the books. I think one of the best gifts we can offer in response to this year is to keep telling our stories.
It's natural for humans to remember the details surrounding global-scale tragedies and to tell the stories over and over for the rest of their lives. It's the stuff of family histories as well as the plotlines for society's retelling of itself archived in books, documentaries, and movies.
Where were you when it happened?
Where were you when the president was shot, the bomb dropped, the towers fell?
So, friends, where were you when coronavirus hit? It's a bit tricky to piece together these details into a shareable story, right? Especially since we're like 9 months in and the tragedy is still unfolding. We're still in the part of the story where we're frantically trying to find out if our friends and family are safe and if they've heard the news yet.
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AHEAD :: Five-Minute Friday
Well, what do you know? 2020 could get weirder. I need to say that imagining the gazillions of ordinary people working behind the scenes to do the tedious work of counting ballots goes near the top of the list of "unexpected delights" about this year.
About mid-October this year I begin to feel the warm whisper of anticipation for Advent. It says "Good prayer time is ahead." in my ear. Every early summer I wait for Ordinary Time like the last day of school when I can throw off the structure of the liturgical calendar but by late autumn I'm so ready for the rhythms of prayer and worship Advent ushers in.
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