For our YAV retreat this month, we have been reading a lot about poverty. Our two books ("Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger" and "Unexpected News: Reading the Bible with Third World Eyes") have been really good... I totally recommend them.
It's been a really powerful thing to study because I am learning about how much influence First World theologians and "Bible Experts" have had on my perceptions of the Bible, and how much I miss the hope that is in scripture for those around me. They are reading scripture in a whole new way that I could never see... For example, take John 1, talking about the true light. It says:
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
As I'm surrounded by stories of rape, stories of children being abandoned because they were "mistakes", or people who don't feel as though the world cares about them, this says so much... "children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, or a husband's will..."
Although Mary certainly wasn't raped... she was incredibly blessed... she did go through many of the same emotional and social repercussions women in those situations endure. And her song that we sing so much during Christmas also shows her understanding for these women.
There's one story in Unexpected News that I just have to share. It's totally challenging me to rethink how I look at Christmas. I'm copying it here... for copyright information, it's on page 85 and the book is by Robert McAfee Brown published in 1984 (that was a sign that I have gone to school for too many years...)
Okay, here goes:
In a South American country where there has been a great deal of persecution of church leaders, a number of priests have cast their lot with the poor, living in the slum area of a large city, working at whatever jobs (street sweeping, housepainting) will pay for food and rent, and conducting informal Sunday "liturgies"at which the people comment on events of the week, and the priests relate those events to appropriate biblical passages. One such exchange went like this:
PRIEST: Today is September 12. Does that date mean anything special to you?
RESPONSE: Three years ago yesterday, Allende was killed in Chile and the Chileans lost their leader. Now they are suffering repression.
R: Allende's death makes me think of the death of Martin Luther King.
P: Why do you think of the deaths of those two together?
R: Because both of them were concerned about oppressed peoples.
P: Doesn't the day mean anything but death to you?
R: Well, today is also the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary. So this day also makes me thinkof her.
P: Is there any connection between Allende and MLK and Mary?
R: I guess that would depend on whether Mary was concerned about oppressed peoples too.
P: Let me read part of Mary's song, the Magnificat, in the beginning of Luke's Gospel: "God has scattered the proud from the imagination of their hearts, put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich has sent empty away."
R: Bravo! But, Father, that doesn't sound at all like the Mary we hear about in the cathedral. And the Mary in the "holy pictures" certainly doesn't look like a person who would talk that way.
P: Tell us about the Mary in the holy pictures.
R: displaying a picture. Here she is. She is standing on a crescent moon. She is wearing a crown. She has rings on her fingers. She has a blue robe embroidered with gold.
P: That does sound like a different Mary from the Mary of the song! Do you think the picture has betrayed the Mary of the song?
R: The Mary who said that God "has exalted those of low degree" would not have left all her friends so she could stand on the moon.
Corporate Response: Take her off the moon!
R: The Mary who said that God "has put down the mighty from their thrones" would not be wearing a crown.
CR: Take off her crown!
R: The Mary who said that God "has sent the rich away empty" would not be wearing rings on her fingers.
CR: Take off her rings!
R: The Mary who said that God has "filled the hungry with good things" would not have left people who were still hungry to wear a silk robe embroidered with gold.
CR: Take off her robe!
Anguished Response: But Father, this is not right... we're doing a striptease of the Virgin.
P: Very well. If you don't like the way Mary looks in this picture, what do you think the Mary of the song would look like?
R: The Mary of the song would not be standing on the moon. She would be standing in the dirt and dust where we stand.
R: The Mary of the song would not be wearing a crown. She would have on an old hat like the rest of us, to keep the sun from causing her to faint.
R: The Mary of the song would not be wearing jeweled rings on her fingers. She would have rough hands like the rest of us.
R: The Mary of the song would not be wearing a silk robe embroidered with gold. She would be wearing old clothes like the rest of us.
Embarrassed Response: Father, it may be awful to say this, but it sounds as though Mary would look just like me. My feet are dirty, my hat is old, my hands are rough, and my clothes are torn.
P: No, I don't think it's awful to say that. I think the Mary you have all described is more like the Mary of the Bible than the Mary we hear about in the cathedral and see in the holy pictures.
R: I think she'd be more at home here in the slum with us than in the cathedral or the General's Mansion.
R: I think her message is more hopeful for us than for them. They are mighty and rich, but she tells them that God puts down the mighty from their thrones and sends the rich away empty.
R: And we are at the bottom of the heap and very hungry, but she tells us that God exalts those of low degree and fills the hungry with good things.
P: Now let's see, how could we begin to help God bring those things to pass?
Just some Christmas thoughts to share...
It's been a really powerful thing to study because I am learning about how much influence First World theologians and "Bible Experts" have had on my perceptions of the Bible, and how much I miss the hope that is in scripture for those around me. They are reading scripture in a whole new way that I could never see... For example, take John 1, talking about the true light. It says:
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
As I'm surrounded by stories of rape, stories of children being abandoned because they were "mistakes", or people who don't feel as though the world cares about them, this says so much... "children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, or a husband's will..."
Although Mary certainly wasn't raped... she was incredibly blessed... she did go through many of the same emotional and social repercussions women in those situations endure. And her song that we sing so much during Christmas also shows her understanding for these women.
There's one story in Unexpected News that I just have to share. It's totally challenging me to rethink how I look at Christmas. I'm copying it here... for copyright information, it's on page 85 and the book is by Robert McAfee Brown published in 1984 (that was a sign that I have gone to school for too many years...)
Okay, here goes:
In a South American country where there has been a great deal of persecution of church leaders, a number of priests have cast their lot with the poor, living in the slum area of a large city, working at whatever jobs (street sweeping, housepainting) will pay for food and rent, and conducting informal Sunday "liturgies"at which the people comment on events of the week, and the priests relate those events to appropriate biblical passages. One such exchange went like this:
PRIEST: Today is September 12. Does that date mean anything special to you?
RESPONSE: Three years ago yesterday, Allende was killed in Chile and the Chileans lost their leader. Now they are suffering repression.
R: Allende's death makes me think of the death of Martin Luther King.
P: Why do you think of the deaths of those two together?
R: Because both of them were concerned about oppressed peoples.
P: Doesn't the day mean anything but death to you?
R: Well, today is also the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary. So this day also makes me thinkof her.
P: Is there any connection between Allende and MLK and Mary?
R: I guess that would depend on whether Mary was concerned about oppressed peoples too.
P: Let me read part of Mary's song, the Magnificat, in the beginning of Luke's Gospel: "God has scattered the proud from the imagination of their hearts, put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich has sent empty away."
R: Bravo! But, Father, that doesn't sound at all like the Mary we hear about in the cathedral. And the Mary in the "holy pictures" certainly doesn't look like a person who would talk that way.
P: Tell us about the Mary in the holy pictures.
R: displaying a picture. Here she is. She is standing on a crescent moon. She is wearing a crown. She has rings on her fingers. She has a blue robe embroidered with gold.
P: That does sound like a different Mary from the Mary of the song! Do you think the picture has betrayed the Mary of the song?
R: The Mary who said that God "has exalted those of low degree" would not have left all her friends so she could stand on the moon.
Corporate Response: Take her off the moon!
R: The Mary who said that God "has put down the mighty from their thrones" would not be wearing a crown.
CR: Take off her crown!
R: The Mary who said that God "has sent the rich away empty" would not be wearing rings on her fingers.
CR: Take off her rings!
R: The Mary who said that God has "filled the hungry with good things" would not have left people who were still hungry to wear a silk robe embroidered with gold.
CR: Take off her robe!
Anguished Response: But Father, this is not right... we're doing a striptease of the Virgin.
P: Very well. If you don't like the way Mary looks in this picture, what do you think the Mary of the song would look like?
R: The Mary of the song would not be standing on the moon. She would be standing in the dirt and dust where we stand.
R: The Mary of the song would not be wearing a crown. She would have on an old hat like the rest of us, to keep the sun from causing her to faint.
R: The Mary of the song would not be wearing jeweled rings on her fingers. She would have rough hands like the rest of us.
R: The Mary of the song would not be wearing a silk robe embroidered with gold. She would be wearing old clothes like the rest of us.
Embarrassed Response: Father, it may be awful to say this, but it sounds as though Mary would look just like me. My feet are dirty, my hat is old, my hands are rough, and my clothes are torn.
P: No, I don't think it's awful to say that. I think the Mary you have all described is more like the Mary of the Bible than the Mary we hear about in the cathedral and see in the holy pictures.
R: I think she'd be more at home here in the slum with us than in the cathedral or the General's Mansion.
R: I think her message is more hopeful for us than for them. They are mighty and rich, but she tells them that God puts down the mighty from their thrones and sends the rich away empty.
R: And we are at the bottom of the heap and very hungry, but she tells us that God exalts those of low degree and fills the hungry with good things.
P: Now let's see, how could we begin to help God bring those things to pass?
Just some Christmas thoughts to share...
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