Together, we celebrate 50 years of Lutheran women being ordained in the United States, 40 years of women of color being ordained, and 10 years of LGBTQIA+ individuals being able to serve freely. For our DIY Quiet Day on July 2nd, our prayers, scripture, and reflection honor this anniversary.
Opening Prayer:
Most high God, you know our whole truth, and you give us refuge in the shadow of your wings. Continue to raise up girls and women to serve Christ’s church and strengthen all in the vocations to which you call us. And at the last, gather us with Miriam and the saints to dance on the safe side of the sea, through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Scripture Reading: Psalm 131:1-2
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
My eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
Too great and marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with its mother;
My soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
Contemplative Reflection:
The mystic, Julian of Norwich, was born in 1342 or 1343 in or near Norwich in the northeastern portion of England. She had several visions of Jesus Christ that shaped her life and inspired her to write her seminal work, Showings. She had these visions at age 30 1⁄2 when she was deathly ill and had already been given last rites by her priest. The sixteen visions or ‘showings’ of Christ that she experienced during her illness can be summarized in two key promises the Lord gave her, “See how I love you!” and “All will be well.” These divine promises of love and hope transformed her life, her understanding of God, and her understanding of reality itself. Unexpectedly, she recovered from her illness and lived at least 40 more years contemplating and writing about her transformative experience. Through her writing, she leaves the church a rich
legacy of Christian contemplative spirituality. In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Women’s Ordination in the Lutheran Church on June 29th, 2020, we read from her blessed writing on the Trinity. (edited from 40 Day Journey with Julian of Norwich, ed. Lisa E. Dahill)
From Julian of Norwich’s Showings:
I contemplated the work of all the Blessed Trinity, in which contemplation I saw and understood these three properties: the property of the fatherhood, the property of the motherhood, and the property of the Lordship in one God . . . As to the first, I saw and understood that the high might of the Trinity is our Father, and the deep wisdom of the Trinity is our Mother, and the great love of the Trinity is our Lord; and all these we have in nature and in our substantial creation . . . . As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother, and God revealed that in everything . . . I understand three ways of contemplating motherhood in God. The first is the foundation of our nature’s creation; the second is God’s taking of our nature, where the motherhood of grace begins; the third is the motherhood at work. And in that, by the same grace, everything is penetrated, in length and in breadth, in height and in depth without end; and it is all one love. (from 40 Day Journey with Julian of Norwich, ed. Lisa Dahill)
Closing Prayers:
Take a slow, deep breath. As you inhale, realize you are receiving God’s Divine Breath as total gift. Exhale slowly. The Spirit of God, she dwells in us all that we may live. Amen.
OR
Dear God, thank you, thank you, thank you. Amen
OR
In a world hobbled by pain and distress, loving Lord, help me experience the joy of your unconditional love. Amen.
OR
Dear God, we walk in the company of the women who have gone before, mothers of the faith both named and unnamed, testifying with ferocity and faith to the Spirit of wisdom and healing. They are the judges, the prophets, the martyrs, the warriors, poets, lovers and saints who are near to us in the shadow of awareness, in the crevices of memory, in the landscape of our dreams. We walk in the company of you mothers of the faith, who teach us to resist evil with boldness, to lead with wisdom, and to heal. Amen. (from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, pgs. 562-3)
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