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Eve, Sarah, and Hagar

And so it begins – our 7-month book study of Bible Women. We begin today with a look at Eve, Sarah, and Hagar. Imagine you are sitting with a group made up of people who are reading the book along with you. Some opening thoughts are shared and questions are raised. You may be ready to jump in with a comment, or you may want to hear from others first. The comments may take us down one path, but you can always say, “I’d like to go back to what Mary had to say”, or “I’d like to turn the focus to what peaked my interest in the readings.” Feel free to come in and out of the study group because we all have events in our lives that will keep us away from the internet.

And so it begins. I wonder if God said that when Eve ate the forbidden fruit? I came to understand Eve better when I read her account in Lindsay Hardin Freeman’s earlier book, The Scarlet Cord. God and Adam took long walks around the garden, leaving Eve alone to become lonelier and lonelier. Have you ever experienced that kind of loneliness? You’ve moved to a new city and your spouse has gone off to work leaving you home alone to handle the housekeeping or perhaps to attempt to meet the needs of little children. Or, your spouse has been placed in an assisted living arrangement and all of a sudden your companion for life has left you alone. So Eve accepted the invitation of the serpent. Well, that got God’s attention, didn’t it? “Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent tricked me, and I ate.’”

Sarah seems to be a woman who is never alone. Extended family is always around, and guests are promptly welcomed and cared for. The wealthy household includes slaves and eventually children whom Sarah can call her own. God doesn’t ignore Sarah as he had Eve; he blesses her and gives her a new name for an abundant life. And the Lord promises a son for Abraham and Sarah. “The Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh? … Sarah shall have a son.’ Sarah denied, saying, ‘I did not laugh’; for she was afraid. He said, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.’”

What I find interesting about these two women is that when they are able to have a conversation with God, they both get quite defensive. If God spoke to you, would that be your reaction? Has that ever been your relationship with God?

Finally, there is Hagar. She is the least known of the three women, I think. She does not have the pop culture status of Eve, known to churchgoers and non-churchgoers alike. She doesn’t have the familiarity of being named aloud as Sarah is so often named now in the Great Thanksgiving Eucharistic Prayer C of the Book of Common Prayer. Hagar is a slave out of Egypt, perhaps lonely like Eve, or perhaps like Sarah, surrounded by family members who travel with her, though also slaves. She can’t say that anything is her own, not the father of her son, Abraham, not even her son, Ishmael. Life is harder for a slave and abuse is common. She finds herself banished, with her son in mortal danger. (Here is an example of the challenge and richness of reading Genesis. This story comes from Chapter 16 before Ishmael is born and also from Chapter 21 after Ishmael is born. We often find the same challenge with the Gospels.) God hears Hagar weeping and comes to Hagar in the form of an angel. God promises her that He will make a great nation of her son, Ishmael. And her response is not defensive. She makes no excuses for herself, but rather names God, “You are El-roi”, which means, “the God who sees me.” How open she is to God’s care for her.

How have these 3 women impressed you, both individually and collectively?

What other “For reflection” questions from these Chapter 3 Genesis women jump out for you?

What would you add to the “What might we learn from” lists for Eve, Sarah, and Hagar?

Which of these women do you see portrayed in the illustration above by Clare Elam?

++++ Coming November 15^th ++++

Tamar and Tamar’s Midwife

Content provided by Author Lindsay Hardin Freeman

Illustration: Claire Elam

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-22T18:07:52+00:00October 13th, 2014|

Meet the Illustrator – Claire Elam

Claire Elam is a talented young artist who is a recent graduate of Bennington College, Vermont. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Arts with a concentration in painting and ceramics. Claire has published work in the college’s The Silo, editions 69 and 70, and in 2014 she took part in “Things Have Changed Between Us”, an Usdan Gallery show. Claire held a personal showing of her work at South Street Café, Bennington, titled “Domesticity and Other Things”. She has electronically curated for Visual AIDS, a contemporary arts organization fully committed to HIV prevention and AIDS awareness; she continues to work with ideas of feminism, gender, and home. She is a member of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Eugene, Oregon and has designed and painted several whimsical murals for the church’s Sunday school wing. Claire has been commissioned to provide an illustration with each blog entry to help us better connect with the women who speak in the Bible.

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-22T18:44:32+00:00October 5th, 2014|

Meet the Author – Lindsay Hardin Freeman

Lindsay Hardin Freeman is an Episcopal priest and an award-winning author who is passionate about sharing the stories of Bible women. Along with Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter, she is the author of The Scarlet Cord: Conversations with God’s Chosen Women and The Spy on Noah’s Ark and Other Bible Stories from the Inside Out. She is also the editor of Wisdom Found: Stories of Women Transfigured by Faith. Lindsay lives in Orono, Minnesota with her husband, Len, an Episcopal priest, poet, and teacher. They are the parents of two sons, Jeffrey and David. Lindsay was the keynote speaker and a workshop presenter at the 2012 ECW Triennial Meeting in Indianapolis. Her friendship with ECW has continued with contributions to the Commuiqué magazine, with speaking engagements at ECW gatherings in various provinces, and in the development of Bible Women, thanks in part to the support and prayers from the Episcopal Church Women National Board. Delegates and visitors to the 2015 Triennial Meeting in Salt Lake City will have an opportunity to have “Breakfast with Lindsay Hardin Freeman”, to attend her workshops, and to visit her at the ECW exhibit hall booth for a book signing.

To learn more about Lindsay, read her blog, and/or contact her about her travel schedule and the possibility of a speaking engagement at your event, go to www.lindsayhardinfreeman.com.

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-22T14:22:11+00:00October 5th, 2014|

A Retelling of the Good Samaritan for Battered Women

From Jerusalem to Jericho: A Retelling of the Good Samaritan for Battered Women “A woman who was much abused by her wealthy husband left Jerusalem and headed toward Jericho to seek shelter among kinswoman,” Jesus told the crowd. “And as she was going, her wounds caused such pain that she sat down beside the road and wept.

“Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and noting her fine garments, he stopped to ask the cause of her distress. When she told him that her husband had beaten her near to death, the priest drew back and counseled her to return to her husband and be a better wife. Then he crossed the road and continued on his journey.

“So likewise a judge, when he came to the place, stopped to question the woman, and learning the cause of her agony he, too, counseled that her duty was to her husband and that she should return at once to Jerusalem. When she refused, he, too, crossed the road and continued on his journey.

“But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where the woman lay beside the road, and when he heard her story, he had compassion, and he bound up her wounds and set her on his own beast and brought her to an inn where he found women to care for her, saying, “There are those who seek her life to destroy it, and no one must know that she is here. When she is well enough to travel, see that she has safe passage to Jericho. And whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.”

“Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the woman?”

And the lawyer said, “Should not the woman have returned to her husband? You preach words of forgiveness. Should she not have forgiven her husband, obeyed the law, and returned home? Weren’t the priest and judge the better neighbors? The Samaritan assisted the woman in her disobedience.”

And Jesus said, “Woe to you who pervert justice and allow injury to the innocent! You fools! Did not God make woman and man both in the Divine image? Is not a woman’s body a temple of God? I say to you, whoever injures anyone, woman, man, or child, injures the Divine image and is held accountable before God.”

And the women in the crowd spoke to one another, “Here is one who understands; truly this must be the Holy One of God.”

-Mrs. Mary Lee Wile

Women’s Uncommon Prayers

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-27T15:49:07+00:00November 27th, 2012|

Violencia Contra la Mujer

demás de representar a la provincia 9 en la junta directiva nacional de la ECW, Rvda. Digna Suyapa Rodríguez es miembro del Comité de Justicia Social. Ella ha escrito este artículo para los 16 Días de Activismo contra la Violencia de Género.Además de representar a la provincia 9 en la junta directiva nacional de la ECW, Rvda. Digna Suyapa Rodríguez es miembro del Comité de Justicia Social. Ella ha escrito este artículo para los 16 Días de Activismo contra laViolencia de Género. La historian del trato a las mujeres a lo largo de las épocas, no es una historian ilustre. Tiene algunos mementos buenos sin duda, pero si la miramos como un todo, las mujeres hemos soportado lo que parece ser un odio especial desde que Eva salió del jardín del Edén.

Es de su conocimiento que a lo largo de miles de años de historian Judía registrada en el A.T. las mujeres judías eran consideradas una propiedad sin ningún derecho legal. (Y esto aun ocurre en algunas culturas) a la mujer no se le permitía estudiar la ley, ni tampoco educar formalmente a sus hijos, la mujer tenía un lugar separado en la sinagoga y era una práctica común que los varones judíos añadieran a sus oraciones matinales: gracias Dios, por no haberme hecho un gentil una mujer o un esclavo.

Entre otras cosas hay:

Un proverbio chino que dice: que la mujer debe ser como el agua, no debe tener forma ni voz.
Un proverbio indio dice: que educar a una mujer es como regar el jardín del vecino. (Educar a una mujer es una tontería y una perdida de tiempo.)
En el hinduismo la mujer tiene menos valor que una vaca.
En el islamismo una mujer necesita que tres varones corroboren su testimonio en corte para que este tenga validez.
Y que podemos decir de América Latina donde el machismo esta a la orden del día y no solo en los varones si no también en las mujeres. Triste verdad.

Pero la discriminación y violencia contra la mujer no termina aquí. La historian va más allá que la prohibición de educación y derechos legales.

Tenemos por ejemplo:

La clitoridoctomania que es la extirpación o circuncisión del clítoris, una practica horrible y dolorosa que se practica en niñas cuando llegan aproximadamente a los cinco años. Se practica principalmente en África en la selva y se usa una piedra afilada. Las infecciones son frecuentes, algunas veces la niña muere.
Más de un millón de niñas son vendidas cada año en el negocio de tráfico sexual.
LA VIOLENCIA CONTRA LA MUJER ES ALGO REAL. Y es algo a nivel mundial (pandemia) que se da en todas las esferas sociales, culturales y también religiosas.

La pregunta que surge quizá en nuestra mente es: ¿por que?

Se que están pensando que la culpa es de los varones y que ellos son nuestros enemigos, no vamos a negar que ellos han tenido que ver en todo esto y no vamos a guitarles su responsabilidad en el maltrato y discriminación contra la mujer. Pero si leemos las escrituras en Efesios 6: 12 dice: porque nuestra lucha no es contra seres humanos, sino contra poderes, contra autoridades, contra potestades que dominan este mundo de tinieblas, contra fuerzas espirituales malignas, en las regiones celestes.

Como cristianas y cristianos no podemos odiar esta gran verdad, tenemos mujeres y varones un enemigo en común que a querido destruirnos desde el inicio de la creación y que fijo sus ojos especialmente en la mujer, ese enemigo se llama Satanás y no podemos decir que no existe porque la biblia dice que si existe desafortunadamente la peor parte le a tocado a la mujer.

Les repito nuevamente, que el varón ah tenido que ver en todo esto, pero no es nuestro principal enemigo, nuestro principal enemigo es Satanás. Así lo dijo el mismo Jesucristo.

Veamos un poco de lo que ocurrió en el jardín del Edén. ¿A quien busca Satanás? ¿A quien escoge para su maniobra contra la raza humana? Bien pudo haber elegido a Adán y estoy segura que el hubiera caído como Eva, pero no lo hizo, Satanás fue tras Eva, puso sus ojos en ella. Se han preguntado alguna vez. ¿Por qué?

Debes estar pensando que Eva era mas débil, no la mujer no es débil, fuimos hechas de carne por lo tanto somos mas frágiles mas sentimentales porque fuimos hechas de materia viva y el varón fue echo de materia muerta por eso es menos sentimental y menos frágil y Dios lo hizo así para que nos protegieran no para que nos maltrataran.

Satanás es despiadadamente cruel y se complace en hacer daño Jesús dijo que era un mentiroso y un asesino. Ahora vas a saber por que Satanás no se dirigió a Eva para su maniobra maquiavélica?

Sabias que el primer nombre dado a Satanás fue Lucifer que significa hijo de la mañana y en sus Días de Gloria fue nombrado ángel guardián. Muchos creen que era El Capitán de las huestes de Ángeles de Dios. Su nombre significa Gloria y llego a creer que esa Gloria le pertenecía ah el.

Lee Ezequiel 28:12-19 que dice: acabado de hermosura Satanás era un ser bellísimo cuando estaba con Dios y precisamente esa fue su ruina. Su belleza hizo que el orgullo entrara en su Corazón y empezó ha anhelar para el la Gloria y adoración que eran de DIOS.

Si Satanás era bello y eso lo hizo caer es lógico que odie la belleza y ¿quien creen que representa la belleza de Dios aquí en la tierra? La mujer por eso Satanás en el jardín del edén se dirigió a Eva.

Eva representa la encarnación de la belleza de Dios mas que cualquier otra creación de Dios y por eso también el odio contra todas las mujeres, otra de la causas que provoca el odio de Satanás contra la mujer es: la mujer trae vida el mundo dando a luz, no los hombres, las mujeres sustentamos vida.

Satanás solo trae muerte, todo lo que toca lo destruye, porque el es un asesino desde el principio. Su reino es reino de muerte por lo tanto Eva o la mujer son una amenaza para el.

Eva significante vida o protectora de vida (G.N. 3:20 ella fue la madre de todos los viven).

Piensa en estas dos cosas. La mujer encarna la belleza de Dios, la mujer trae vida al mundo, así que el orgullo de Satanás no puede soportar esto por eso a través de la historia a manifestado su odio en contra de la mujer. Y el odio de Satanás aumenta en contra de la mujer, cuando Dios en el castigo por su pecado le dice: Gen 3:15 are que tu y la mujer sean enemigas, lo mismo que tu descendencia y su descendencia. Su descendencia te aplastara la cabeza, y tu le morderás el talón.

El poder de destruir a la serpiente le fue dado a la mujer y esa es la razón por la que Satanás nos odia y quiere destruirnos, mantenernos cautivas, mantenernos en silencio, oprimidas, haciéndonos creer que no valemos nada, nos ase creer que es normal que nos maltraten, quiere que agachemos la cabeza y nos volvamos invisibles. ( se fregó verdad).

Los varones en aprovechado la situación y se a dejado utilizar por Satanás y a aprovechado las armas de Satanás para hacernos daño, armas como: la violencia Domestica, violencia intrafamiliar, mala interpretación de las escrituras, etc.

Yo se que hay casos hoy en día donde algunas mujeres comenten violencia domestica o intrafamiliar contra su pareja pero en comparación con lo que a sufrido la mujer a través de la historia son pocos y creo también que es una reacción lógica pues ya estamos predispuestas contra tanto maltrato, contra tanta violencia y se como hija de Dios que en ningún caso Dios esta de acuerdo con esto ni del varón hacia la mujer, ni de la mujer hacia el varón, pues somos hijos e hijas de el, somos su pueblo un pueblo de sacerdotes adquirido con precio de sangre, la sangre del cordero JESUCRISTO nuestro señor y Salvador.

OREMOS PARA QUE TODO TIPO DE VIOLENCIA SE TERMINE Y PODAMOS VIVIR EN PAZ

BUSCA LA PAZ Y SIGUELA Rvda. Digna Suyapa Rodríguez Diócesis misionera de Honduras

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-26T13:41:14+00:00May 11th, 2011|

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