Beginning to Re-Story Wisdom as She Beckons...

I am grieving today…finding myself once again angry and despondent about how theology used to be a balm for me, but is no more; how women continue to be unseen and underserved in the ecclesial settings in which my beloved spends nearly all his energies; how I feel impotent to do anything ultimately healing of this raw place in me. This weekend also instigated an active lament--or a rant--given a sermon Brian preached for his congregation. (Timbre and tone of it can be glimpsed here ). So when a spirit-friend tendered some pretty specific questions that arose for her, with me in mind, it felt Invited, oxygenating, some salve for the situation I seem to be in at the moment. Thanks, Susan. Did you feel close to either of your grandmothers? I never felt close to either of my grandmothers, though I was quite proximate to one of them, Grandma Ruth. My father stayed close to her, both in geography and as a dutiful son, so we saw her regularly. Sunday afternoons after church, before school wou...

This was my husband’s “Zoom with the folks” summary of his sermon today, which he had asked me to read this week, alerting him to any overdose of melancholy or red flags for cultural-congregational consumption. He and I do this dance from time to time, which I am more than happy to offer when he asks it. I ask “what kind of feedback do you want?” He has gotten better at refining “what he’s looking for” from me. These are often our best conversations, with spiritual substance and sense of belonging with one another. I think my response to this week’s sermon surprised us both. He was spring-boarding from the Matthew 10 text of Jesus instructing the disciples how to travel, be welcomed (or not), and in all things, “Proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Brian had titled it “The Long Defeat,” an homage to his elder-teacher, J.R.R. Tolkien, whose entire narrative world(s) are rife with Christian sensibilities and complete expectation of failure. Just because history ...