Reading: Psalm 135, verses 1 to 3
Song: Praise my soul the King of Heaven
Prayer:
God with a mother’s heart,
you gather us as your children.
You comfort and hold us in your warm embrace.
When we hurt your arms enfold us.
When we are afraid your wings protect us.
When we are hungry you feed us with the bread of life.
God with a mother’s heart,
your love surrounds and supports us,
in good times and tough,
in the midst of joy and pain,
always and everywhere.
You will never leave nor abandon us.
God eternal and loving one,
God with a mother’s heart,
we thank you this day
for being part of your family.
Amen
Christine Sine http://godspace-msa.com
Song: Now thank we all our God
Now Thank We All Our God (Grace Community Church) - YouTube
Reading: Luke’s gospel, chapter 7, verses 36 to 50
Song: My peace I give unto you
My Peace I give unto You - Lyrics - YouTube
In the modern western world, it is difficult to understand just how revolutionary certain aspects of Jesus’ ministry were. He talked to women. Nowadays, we in the west talk to women all the time, but in Jesus’s time it would be more or less unheard of.
However, there are places in the world where women still cannot make their voices heard.
God never intended this to be the situation. According to the book of Genesis, God created men and women to be equal in His sight. They have complementary skills.
For many years, in churches we have observed the Women’s World Day of Prayer, and the World Women’s day was started by the suffragettes in 1911. These are two examples of ways of working towards the goal of gender parity.
However, there is work to be done; we are familiar with then idea of the “glass ceiling” which places limits on promotion for women; there is a measurable pay disparity between men and women in similar jobs.
Action Aid has done research which shows that 1 woman in 3 has been beaten or sexually abused.
In our reading today, we hear that a woman walks into a gathering of men. We know little of her, other than that she is described as having led “a sinful life”. This description says something about the community of men present, and could be taken as an indictment of their thinking. The men were angry, but Jesus challenged them, and especially he challenged Simon, the host.
Jesus tells the story about the people being forgiven debts, and asks who would be most grateful. Jesus then says that he can forgive.
Do we ever fell that we are not good enough for the circumstances we find ourselves in? Are there family circumstances where we might say “He/she is better than me” or even “He/she is more favoured than me.”? This is what the Enemy wants us to believe. When we turn to Jesus, we know it is a lie. His Holy Spirit enables us to become amazing people. The amazing people that God created us to be, in His service. Just as Jesus pointed out to Simon, we all need forgiveness. Gender does not come into it. As Paul says in the letter to the Galatians, “In Him is neither male nor female, all are one in Christ Jesus.”
There are records of women anointing Jesus in other places in the gospel record. Both Matthew and John record these incidents, but it is not clear whether they are the same incident, or similar occurrences, However, the responses from Jesus are similar every time.
The important thing is that the woman had the means to anoint Jesus, and she was willing to do so. She has been recorded and talked about for 2000 years for her actions. What can we bring to Jesus in His service.
She made her mark; How are we going to make our mark?
Song: Take my life, and let it be
Take my life and let it be - YouTube
No comments:
Post a Comment