Jesus said, "All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Today and tomorrow the Episcopal Church will commemorate six incredible women Saints. We begin with St. Macrina the sister of St. Gregory of Nyssa. St. Macrina lived between 340 and 379. According to the book Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, St. Macrina was encouraged by her own mother to renounce the families wealthy lifestyle. She established a monastery on her families estate and took very good care of the poor, especially young women many of whom joined her order. She was often a counselor to St. Peter of Sebaste and Naucratios. She counseled St. Basil to renounce material possessions so that both St. Basil and St. Peter crafted their Rule for their monastic communities. When St. Benedict wrote his Rule between 540 and his death in 547, he most likely borrowed much of his material from St. Basil.
St. Macrina shows us the strength and faith of a humble, but assertive woman in an age of severe misogyny. The Church and the world of today may allow women to be ordained as Bishops, Priests and Deacons, however, we cannot ignore that we still live in a Church and even a society where there is still a great fear of women. In the movie For the Bible Tells Me So, Bishop Gene Robinson makes the point that what frightens many men about homosexuality is the idea of a "privileged man" becoming like a woman within the context of sexual intimacy. Over the last few weeks we have heard in one form or another about the earth shattering controversy over women Bishops in the Church of England.
While modern society has made great strides towards a greater acceptance of women, there still remains within society and the Church a misnomer that women are somehow the "weaker" of the human species. The stereotypes that are used to belittle women in the Church and the broader society remain very cruel. The media continues to place women in the most vulnerable of roles as if women can only be the most vulnerable of society.
St. Macrina shows that women can dedicate themselves to God in such a way as to show forth the wisdom of God in ways that men by ourselves cannot do. The "wisdom" of God in the Bible is often written about in the feminine, not the masculine. The first reading for St. Macrina's Commemoration from Sirach 51:13-22 talks about delighting in the wisdom of God and that: "Before the temple I asked for her, and I will search for her until the end." (51:14). The wisdom of God is something that one can search for until the day we die and we can find such delight in God if we are only willing to search for her with everything that is in us. St. Macrina gave up everything, including her wealth so that she could spend her life searching for God in the poor and in helping others find God. Those who often needed St. Marcina to help them find God were men. It was because of her influence that some of the greatest writings of the early Christian Church are now available to us. Yet, much of the history of the Church has been made masculine at the expense of the work of countless women throughout the ages.
I would agree with Bishop Robinson and many others who would assert that the reason why the Church remains very hostile to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning/queer people is because of the fear of women. Our society and Church of misogyny loves the idea of a male dominated world. For many men, to place ourselves at the service of women is to "lower ourselves." Yet it is interesting how many men will stoop lower than a leach to show ourselves better than women. There are many women who do not even do that.
However, the Gospel from today tells us that it is the lowly, the weary and the heavy laden who are invited to come to Jesus so that he may give us rest, and learn from Jesus' gentle yoke. It takes a tremendous strength for us to realize that we cannot find peace within ourselves or our own salvation in this world and the next unless we place our complete trust in God and God's perfect revelation in Jesus Christ. So many women like St. Macrina show us total and complete trust in God through the most difficult times. Even when all of the odds of the world are against us being acknowledged for who we are, and even allowing us to have the dignity that only God can truly give us, it is the women who show LGBTQ and all people to turn to God and allow the Holy Spirit to use us where we are. God the Holy Spirit who represents the feminine nature of God and most likely is the Wisdom that we should seek all of our life, shows us that when the going is tough and even the Church is not on our side, that God most certainly is. The most important thing is to know for ourselves who God is, and to keep our faith and our hope in the Holy Spirit who will show us her way of love, grace, and truth. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would lead us in the way of truth, that is why Jesus left us and gave the Holy Spirit to us. (See John 16: 12-15).
Merciful God, you called your servant Macrina to reveal in her life and her teaching the riches of your grace and truth: May we, following her example, seek after your wisdom and live according to her way; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for St. Macrina, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, Page 471)
Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 11, Book of Common Prayer, Page 231).
O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Unity of the Church, Book of Common Prayer, Page 818).
No comments:
Post a Comment