Mary was not only responsible for bearing Jesus, but for teaching him to be Jesus—merciful, kind, generous, just, nurturing. The traits that drew people to him to learn of God’s love were modeled by his mother. It’s the same throughout scripture. Moses became Moses because women acted in faith to save him so he could in turn become a deliverer. The stripling warriors were valiant because their mothers taught them to trust God. On close reading, our scriptures are imbued with a matriarchal power that is often overlooked because we focus on the men in the stories. As Latter-day Saint women, reclaiming these narratives might help us see more clearly the power and potential of our own faith.
Notes:
Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church, by Rachel Held Evans
Crossings: A Bald Asian American Latter-Day Saint Woman Scholar’s Ventures Through Life, Death, Cancer, and Motherhood (Not Necessarily in That Order), by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye
Deliverers, Bishop Rob Wright’s For Faith written devotional
Faithful Women, For People with Bishop Rob Wright, podcast ep. 8/21/20
Dialogue and the Experience, Kajsa Berlin-Kaufusi’s blog
Linda
“Claim your place on the edge” . “ It’s my church too and I’m not going anywhere.”
Those two ideas just so resonated with me today.
I’ve always been on the edge. Grew up out in the mission field ( Germany and England).
Lived in a home where family prayer, scripture study, family home evening were never done.
Had a mum back in the sixties who turned my skirts up short and had a very modern view about sex.
Married a lovely man who isn’t even religious.
Brought my children up so far on the edge that they were never really interested in religion at all.
I have spent a lifetime feeling bad about sitting on the fence, picking and choosing what I believe and practice. Finding a place in this church that works for me.
Through all the mess and guilt about how I’ve failed in every way to be what a Mormon woman should be I have had a relationship with Christ. There have been a handful of times in my life where He has shown up in a very miraculous way. How can that be?
But your words resonate – I am on the edge and maybe it’s ok. He is there. The woman at the well, the tax collector, the leper and me – the woman who hasn’t married in the Temple and hasn’t taught her children about the “true”church. Who doesn’t even know or really care whether the church is “true.”
Susan Hinckley
What a wonderful snapshot you’ve given of what it is to be a Latter-day Saint woman, Linda. Because no matter how tidy it looks on the outside, it’s always a bit less cut-and-dried on the inside, isn’t it? We all find ourselves on the edges in some way, or at some time in our lives. Accepting that about ourselves can be transformational to our relationship with our own faith, in my experience. Thanks so much for sharing.