 |
| Image by Chuck Burgess |
†
A GREETING
It is you who light my lamp;
the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
(Psalm 18:28)
A READING
Then down to the gates marched the people of the Lord.
‘Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song!
(Judges 5:11b-12)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind!
Blow upon my garden that its fragrance may be wafted abroad.‘
(Songs 4:16)
A REFLECTION
Some people only ask others to do something. I believe that, why should I wait for someone else?
Why don’t I take a step and move forward? When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.
- from a speech given by Malala Yousafzai at Harvard University in 2013
VERSE OF THE DAY
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
(Psalm 119:105)
†
 |
| Image by N.Karim |
In the biblical story, a prophet is someone who has a special capacity for listening to God and whom God uses as a way of reaching the people. This week we will start to explore some of the biblical prophets whose capacity for listening and for waking up others played a profound role in the story of their people.
Deborah is one of the few women prophets and judges in the Hebrew Bible. A judge was not a legal representative or authority; instead Deborah's job was to help the people survive, through military strategies, and by carrying the wisdom and history of the people in her storytelling. Judges rose out of the people, and being a judge could not be passed on to another generation. Deborah sat under a date palm to listen to people and to share her wisdom.
In addition, according to rabbinical tradition, she had the vocation of preparing the wicks for the Tabernacle in the temple. The wicks helped to keep the lamps burning throughout the day and night amid the temple practices. Her husband was the one who conveyed the wicks to where they would be used. Although Lappidoth is one of the names attributed to her husband, the meaning of that word is actually 'torch', and so scholars believe it is a name for Deborah herself. Deborah was a torch bearer to her people.
In Judges 4 and 5, she sings a song to mark the liberation of the Hebrew people's oppression by the Canaanites. In the biblical story, the history of this land over centuries and millenia is one of continual exchange of powers, in which peoples occupy and oppress back and forth and back and forth. In this particular moment of the story, the Jewish people have been freed from twenty years of oppression, largely from Deborah's strategizing with other leaders.
Both Miriam, Moses's sister, and Deborah, are given songs in moments of success and survival. In Deborah's song we hear God say “Awake, Awake.” It is God's way of reminding Deborah of her job to be always listening and always conveying the will of God to the people. “Awake, awake,” is a call to consciousness, to awareness of God's constant presence and capacity to speak to her and through her to others.
In today's music, we hear the African-American spiritual "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning," a song of resistance among enslaved people in the United States during the time of the American Civil War. Some believe that it also held words that were signals to those working on the underground railroad, that couriers were nearby to help bring those leaving to freedom.
Who are the people in your community whose voice helps to lift the needs of those on the margins? What are the ways in which you can help support what they do?
* * * * * * * *
A STORY OF ENDURANCE
In the heart of a suburb of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Alla Olkhovska oversees two gardens that help keep her family alive. Since the war began, she has dedicated herself to harvesting seeds, both common and rare, that she then markets and sells to people online. She began the gardens before the war hoping to have a rare plant business, but now the seeds have become her sole means of survival, in mind, body and spirit. During the first year of the war, one of her online customers was a woman in Washington state who herself runs a flower and seed company, and has written books and published artciles. Impressed by Olkhovska's photography of her flowers as much as the seeds themselves, she developed a connection and friendship with Alla that led to the making of the documentary below. Ms. Olkhovska was unable to leave Ukraine because she is supporting two elderly in-laws and a chronically ill husband. Now she is supporting everyone with her garden, against all odds. In the documentary, she frequently comments on the beauty of the flowers and the seeds, despite that we can hear artillery and explosions in the background. Air raid alerts are part of her landscape, but do not keep her from her passion. "When you have the opportunity to make something beautiful and good, there is always hope." (Read a non-paywall New York times article about her here. Alla Olkhovsa's Instagram page can be found here. The documentary is a half hour long. Even a few minutes will inspire prayer.
†
LC† Awakened by the Spirit is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!