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Milcah’s Inheritance
Milcah sang a lullaby to her granddaughter Rebekah, born to Bethuel,
You are a queen,
gifted and beautiful,
a sovereign over kings.
You are the gladness
of ancestors, and
the celebration
of the future.
And Rebekah believed her grandmother Milcah, owned the inheritance that was sung to her. So when a nomadic king sent for her from afar, Rebekah declared to her brother and father that she would go.
I am a queen,
a song’s inspiration,
a vine to bless the earth.
To my daughters, I am
freedom; and to
my mothers
I am hope.
And from the vine of Rebekah, thousands of seeds were planted — generations that bloomed, generations that held fast to the knot of faith, generations that upended kings with their songs in the palaces and the streets.
We are queens
with joyful flutes
and liberating tears.
Though kings condemn
our dancing and grieving,
rise up, granddaughters:
this crown is light.
Preachers and teachers, as you prepare for this coming Sunday’s sermon, who can ignore the truth & determination of womxn across the Revised Common Lectionary texts? The matrilineal line traced from Milcah to Rebekah (Gen 24:47). The dowry paid to Rebekah’s mother and to Milcah’s son (Gen 24:53). The authority Rebekah has to choose the timing of the return trip (Gen 24:58). The joy and favor a princess/queen brings to her community (Ps 45:12-15). The love she inspires (SoS 2:9). The victory that she proclaims with joy (Zech 9:9). Her children’s public demonstrations of joy and grief to shame the people’s cynicism.
(Meanwhile Paul offers a pathetic discourse on male fragility in Rom 7:15-24).
What good news of Milcah’s inheritance will share your sermon this week? How will your sermon believe womxn, dance with womxn, weep with womxn, uphold the witness of womxn, notice their burdens and create space for rest?
Cross-posted at RevGalBlogPals where you can share sermon ideas,
worship tools, technology challenges, and more thoughts
with preaching colleagues in the comments.
Confession
We have listened to the wrong gods, O Holy Life,
to the ones that say “Pull yourself up
by your own bootstraps” and the ones
that say “Your help is in the rat race.”
Hear your people protest: “How long?”
Hear your people confess: “No more!”
We have said our prayers to the wrong gods, O Holy Life,
to the ones that prophesy “Sinners deserve
condemnation” and the ones that guilt-trip
“No sacrifice is good enough to know love.”
Hear your people protest: “How long?”
Hear your people confess: “No more!”
We have been disciples of the wrong gods, O Holy Life,
of the ones that subjugate saying “You need
to be controlled” and the ones that betray
saying “Build the fire for your own sacrifice.”
Hear your people protest: “How long?”
Hear your people confess: “No more!”
No more, O Life, no more
and never again shall we
serve gods that demand
death before they grant
life, gods that baptize us
in our own blood saying
“This is holy,” gods that
value heaven’s gold over
one breath and gods that
value earth’s gold more
than heaven’s solidarity.
Hear your people protest: “How long?”
Hear your people confess: “No more!”
And let it be so.
Amen.
on the Revised Common Lectionary texts,
cross-posted at RevGalBlogPals
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