LIBERATION LECTIONARY - WOMXN’S HISTORY MONTH

Healing Ableism

”Every person is born with a creative mind. Everyone has ability” - Mary Davidson

We live in a diverse world where people have different abilities. Ableism is when someone is left out, mistreated, or seen as less valuable because of their different ability. Ableism can look like laughing at someone with hearing aids, not letting someone with crutches play kickball, or a building having no ramps for wheelchairs. In our devotional “We Are Healed”, we learn about fighting ableism in history through the story of Mildred and Mary Davidson, sister imaginators and inventors whose partnership made improvements for the lives of people with different abilities. We learn about ableism and healing in the bible through the story of Joanna, a disciple of Jesus who was said to have many afflictions, but experienced belonging in the ministry that welcomed many different people and called everyone special and powerful. 

Download the full Lent Devotional here.

Daily Readings from Isaiah 53 and John 14

During the Season of Lent, the daily readings focus on the final teachings of Jesus (as recorded in the Gospel of John) juxtaposed with the Suffering Servant prophetic prose from Isaiah’s second scroll. This week we remember Jesus promising the disciples a comfort and a guide in the Holy Spirit. Jesus also says they will do greater things as a group than he performed as an individual in his time with them. As the chapter closes, notice that Jesus is aware of something that requires them to be on the move. He is being pursued by people who want to take his life and he must find ways to finish his teachings before he is taken away.

Sunday: Isaiah 53:3-4 He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.

Monday: John 14.1-7 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Tuesday: John 14. 8-14 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Wednesday: John 14.15-20  “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

Thursday: John 14. 21- 24 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

Friday: John 14.25-27  “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Saturday: John 14.28-31 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me; but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us be on our way.

Music: Healing Playlists for Lent x Women’s History Month

Apple Music

YouTube Music (plays as a video!)

Reflection: Freedom in Frailty

When God created the world, God fashioned it with a stunning array of diversity, purpose, and function. God created countless possibilities of color, countless arrays of beauty, and possibility. God created a plethora of being and humanity being the smallest sliver in the great creativity of God are no exception. In our own arena of being called the human experience, God has provided a wealth of ways to be fully human. We can be human with our frailties, we can be human with our impediments, we can be human even though our abilities and capacities differ.  In our finiteness, we often try to narrow God’s imagination. We yield the expansive view of God’s abundant creation for what we believe serves our interests and our comfort. We worship in buildings that are inaccessible to others. We speak in ways that serve the privileges of our existence rather than what’s common amongst all of us.  

For our exclusion, intentional or unintentional, of all those we deem different, we must seek forgiveness. Diversity is blessed by God. When the world sought uniformity in the Tower of Babel, God disrupted the mechanics of assimilation and invited diversity. When the Holy Spirit fell on Pentecost, the Spirit of God infused the faithful with differing gifts and languages to realize the gospel. The vision of these sacred stories is clear. The vision encourages us to not discriminate against each other based on our differing abilities. The vision compels us to create tables in the world big enough to include the broad range of gifts that God has placed in creation. We celebrate with God that all that God has created is filled with purpose and joy. We must join God in crafting a world that is open and accessible to everyone. 

Rev. Aaron Rogers

Breath Prayers & Memory Verse

Inhale, fill your whole self with breath. Then say: We are fearfully and wonderfully made

Then exhale slowly and say: In God’s eyes we are all whole.

 Inhale: We are fearfully and wonderfully made ~ Exhale: In God’s eyes, we are complete

 Inhale: We are fearfully and wonderfully made ~ Exhale: In God’s eyes, we are good.

Theme verse for this week: “Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.” Isaiah 54.11-12