More Christmas! We have a Christmas triduum! (And more to come after a short interlude.) For the First Sunday After Christmas, which falls on the day after Christmas this year, Year W focuses on the human estate, the flesh in which God was pleased to dwell, our very human flesh. In the first lesson we are crafted from the dust of the pristine magnum opus of God. The psalmist is astounded that God would ever consider such creatures, let alone reckon us as a little lower than the divine. In the epistle, this now weary and worn creation is made new. The gospel reading is a matrilineal genealogy of Jesus created by Patricia Ann Ware who elicited the names of the known missing mothers from the scriptures. This week will require some wrestling with the explicit binary nature of human being in these Iron Age scriptures and our current expanding understandings of gender.
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Sejana Yoo (Shines)
December 29, 2021 4:21 pmI’ve been hearing about your lectionary from Baptist Women in Ministry (BWIM). After a few posts, I checked out your site here and finally ordered the W Lectionary so I can see it for myself as your summaries don’t include the scripture readings.
I’m coming from a more conservative, masculine led background but have recently (over the past 2 years) have started wondering about my role as a woman in ministry (and the limitations that surrounded me due to my background, denomination, and understanding of the Bible). I’ve attended 1 year’s worth of Seminary and that also has greatly shaped my understanding to broaden my view and understanding of the Scriptures. I’m still learning. I say all of this to share a bit of where I am coming from when I read your work. I do appreciate the effort and was delighted to read how you did include help from so many others in this project.
But I started my reading of Year W with reading all the introduction and background (pages vii-xxiv) and then starting here with First Sunday After Christmas. I am familiar with the RCL as I am able to do pulpit supply and several churches use this. I have several questions that I want to ask but some were addressed in your Text notes. The other questions I have may be answered in time. But I also have questions from the Preaching Prompts too. My main question has to do with these phrases… could you (or someone) elaborate more on this? “Women are fully half of the people of God…” (p. 27) and “…the first human, a nonbinary person…” (p.27) which matched the translation (and question) I had from the Genesis texts. I just want to understand how one comes to this conclusion in order to start from there or do you start from this understanding and all that you read is then shaped by that perspective?
Finally, I intend to continue going through this text thoughtfully. I think it definitely brings up questions to discuss with others who are thoughtful about the Bible and about their understanding and belief towards God. I think I might put a majority of my thoughts on my own blog since I have lots of questions and thoughts and don’t want to cause any issues. I am known to ask a lot of questions in class, but I do try to balance it with hearing from my peers and of course my professors. Also, I don’t want to cause others harm from my questions either. I do hope we can learn from one another more though!
Thank you,
Sejana
Wil
December 29, 2021 4:37 pmWelcome Sejana. You and your questions and observations are most welcome though this might not be the best forum. In short, counting women as half the people of God is a generic though binary statement. The understanding of the first created human as non-binary is the fruit of biblical scholar ship that goes back more than 1000 years to the rabbinic period. I would encourage you to do some more theological reading and acquire some more theological education in the way that is best for you. My translations and commentary are based on long-standing biblical scholarship including my own. A good place for you to begin or continue is my book Womanist Midrash which does address creation narratives and their translation and interpretation.
Sejana Yoo (Shines)
December 29, 2021 5:24 pmThank you for your reply and responses. I have not yet taken any of the Theological courses (this is not my school’s recommended route but I chose to pursue the courses that were right for me as I began). I can now appreciate what I’ll be studying as I get into this part of my studies. I will check out your book recommendation. Thank you.