by Lynn Hartman and Kathy Brown
Lent coincides with the month of March, which is Women’s History Month. Working with the Liturgy Committee, the Faith Formation Commission and our clergy, we have developed a special series of sermons that will feature women of history who have helped to move humankind from darkness to light. This series is called “Revealing the Divine Feminine.”
What is the “Divine Feminine”? Another name is “Wisdom”. Here is a description from the Book of Job:
Where is Wisdom found?
Where is the source of understanding?
You cannot set a price on Her;
She is not bought, sold, or bartered for.
The deep says, “She is not in me”;
The sea says, “I do not possess Her.”She cannot be traded for gold,
Nor swapped for silver.
The purest gold cannot secure Her.
Neither can precious onyx or sapphire . . .A pouch of Wisdom is better than a sack of rubies. (Job 28:12-19)
A Hebrew scholar, Rabbi Rami Shapiro, explains this text: “Wisdom isn’t anywhere. She is everywhere. She cannot be found because She cannot be lost. She is not one thing, but the Way of all things. Just as you cannot separate the ocean from its current . . . the wood from its grain, so you cannot separate Wisdom from the world.
Wisdom is not a thing to be found, but a Way to be lived. . . . Wisdom is free. She is with you already. There is no one to be and nowhere to go other than who you are and where you are right at this very moment. Simply silence the noise of self and hear Her calling to you.” 1
We need this healing energy, this Wisdom, right now – as individuals, as a society. We should clarify that the term “Divine Feminine” does not convey that this wisdom is limited to women. Quoting Rabbi Shapiro again, “I do not believe that God is literally male or that [Wisdom] is literally female. We are not dealing with biologic facts but with theological archetypes residing within each of us. What is needed is the marriage of the two within the individual.”
In this upcoming series on the Sundays from February 22 – March 22, we will hear sermons from five women about five holy women who changed the world. Shelley Byrnes, our Director of Children, Youth and Family Ministry, will teach us about Ruby Bridges, the first African American child to integrate an all-white public elementary school in the South. Our Evangelist for Spiritual Healing, Marjorie D. Grevious, will teach us about the prophet Miriam. The Rev. Cynthia Bronson Sweigert will preach on St. Brigid of Kildare; Mary E. Johnson will preach on Dorothy Day; and we will close the series with the Rev. Jia Starr Brown preaching about Harriet Tubman.
Through these five sermons, we will witness divine feminine energy, Wisdom, showing the way through times of darkness to The Light.
- The Divine Feminine in Biblical Wisdom Literature, Rabbi Rami Shapiro, p 56 ↩︎