{"id":4530,"date":"2022-03-13T17:18:38","date_gmt":"2022-03-13T17:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/13\/mother-hen-based-on-psalm-1181-6-26-29-and\/"},"modified":"2022-03-13T17:18:38","modified_gmt":"2022-03-13T17:18:38","slug":"mother-hen-based-on-psalm-1181-6-26-29-and","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/13\/mother-hen-based-on-psalm-1181-6-26-29-and\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMother Hen\u201d based on\u00a0\tPsalm 118:1-6, 26-29 \u00a0and Luke 13:31-25"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image\"<\/figure>\n

\nThere are these contrasts in the Bible, these ways that
\nwhat is written is so shocking that we can’t even hear it most of the
\ntime. \u00a0Human brains are mostly set on autopilot, and we conflate what
\nwe hear with what we already believe to be true. \u00a0This can make it
\nhard to hear the Bible as it is, because we end up softening edges
\nthat are actually quite hard!<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nSpecifically, I think it could be easy to hear Jesus
\nsay, \u201cHow often have I desired to gather your children together as
\na hen gathers her brood under her wings\u201d and think, \u201caw, that’s
\nsweet, Jesus loves me and wants to protect me.\u201d \u00a0Which, I grant
\nyou, is a part of the meaning. \u00a0But, it overlooks the radicalness of
\nthat meaning.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nDebie Thomas starts to explain it this way:<\/p>\n

\nHere\u2019s what I find so startling about the image.\u00a0
\nIf maternal power, acumen, or success were the characteristics Jesus
\nwanted to emphasize in his choice of metaphor, he could have used any
\nnumber of more appropriate Old Testament images to make his point.\u00a0
\nGod as enraged she-bear (Hosea 13:8).\u00a0 God as soaring mother
\neagle (Deuteronomy 32:11-12).\u00a0 God as laboring woman (Isaiah
\n42:14).\u00a0 God as mom of a healthy, happy toddler (Psalm 131:2).\u00a0
\nGod as skilled midwife (Psalm 22:9-10).\u00a0 But those are not the
\nimages he chooses.\u00a0 Instead, on this second Sunday in Lent,
\nLuke\u2019s gospel invites us to contemplate Jesus as a mother hen whose
\nchicks don\u2019t want her. Though she stands with her wings wide open,
\noffering welcome, belonging, and shelter, her children refuse to come
\nhome to her.\u00a0 Her wings\u00a0\u2014 her arms\u00a0\u2014 are empty.\u00a0
\nThis, in other words, is a mother bereft.\u00a0 A mother in
\nmourning.\u00a0 A mother struggling with failure and futility.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nWhoa.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd, I think, since this is about Jerusalem which was
\nthe Jewish center of power and influence (and lack of power and lack
\nof influence), and because Luke’s gospel was written AFTER the
\ndestruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, I don’t think we’re supposed to
\nmiss the contrast between a mother hen reaching out empty wings and
\nwishing to protect her chicks with…the golden eagle that the Roman
\nEmpire used as a symbol of its imperial power.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThis is where we are dealing with God and Jesus upending
\nour expectations. \u00a0In a contrast between an eagle and a chicken, we’d
\nexpect God to be the eagle, RIGHT? \u00a0(We do have that imagery in
\nDeuteronomy, as Debie mentioned.) \u00a0But, no. \u00a0Here we have a contrast
\nbetween a strong predator and a vulnerable prey, and we’re told that
\nJesus is like the prey- and WORSE, like the prey trying with all her
\nmight to protect her even more vulnerable young and failing to do so.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThis sort of turns my stomach. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nI see in my head Ukrainian and Ethiopian mothers holding
\ntheir babies while bombs drop around them. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nBut, that also clarifies the image for me. \u00a0If bombs are
\ndropping on mothers hovering over their babies to try to keep them
\nalive, and the choice is to see God in the bombs or in the mothers,
\nthen the choice is easy \u2013 God is the one hovering trying to
\nprotect, even when God can’t protect.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nIt still turns my stomach though.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd I can see why people might prefer to think of God in
\nthe power of the bomb rather than the powerlessness of the mother. \u00a0I
\nthink we’d expect the eagle, not the mother hen. \u00a0But, that’s not the
\nGod we worship.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nI don’t think it can be ignored that Luke is using this
\npassage to foreshadow Jesus’s death and resurrection. \u00a0The Jesus
\nseminar believes this whole passage to be a creation of Luke, a way
\nhe was trying to make sense of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Pharisees are warning Jesus that if he doesn’t
\nchange his ministry, he’ll get killed. \u00a0This is true. \u00a0But Jesus
\nresponds that he isn’t done doing the work he needs to do. \u00a0They want
\nhim to be afraid, and have that fear change his path. \u00a0Jesus seems to
\nunderstand, but he holds strong in the face of the fear. \u00a0He knows
\nhis own vulnerability, he understands it, but he doesn’t let it
\nchange his path. \u00a0A mother hen is vulnerable, but she still stretches
\nout her wings for the MORE vulnerable chicks.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThe mother hen metaphor fits terrifyingly well with the
\nreality of Jesus’s impending death. \u00a0Debie Thomas writes, \u201cYes,
\nJesus mocks Herod by calling him a fox.\u00a0 But he never argues
\nthat the fox isn\u2019t dangerous. He never promises his children
\nimmunity from harm.\u00a0 I mean, let\u2019s face it \u2014 if a determined
\nfox wants to kill a brood of downy chicks, he will find a way to do
\nso.\u00a0 What Jesus the mother hen offers is not the absence of
\ndanger, but the fullness of his unguarded, open-hearted, wholly
\nvulnerable self in the face of all that threatens and scares us.\u201d2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThis, of course, suggests that the sort of strength God
\noffers, the sort of strength God asks for from us, isn’t the golden
\neagle or bomb kind. \u00a0It is the vulnerable kind.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat’s the world-turned-upside-down-by-faith bit. \u00a0What
\non earth is vulnerable strength? \u00a0(Except maybe everything?) \u00a0Isn’t
\nthat just strength in weakness? \u00a0Yeah. \u00a0It probably is. \u00a0That’s the
\nGod being unexpected thing. \u00a0Vulnerable strength is a mother hen,
\nwith wings open, ready to protect any chick willing to huddle under
\nthem, when even she herself may be swept away, but if she is, the
\nchicks may be able to live. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nTo get good at vulnerability as strength though,
\nprobably doesn’t require having to practice at the threat of life
\nlevel. \u00a0To be ready to do that sort of vulnerability requires
\npractice with the so-called easy stuff, to build up our vulnerability
\nmuscles. \u00a0Vulnerability is saying, \u201cI’m scared,\u201d or \u201cI’m sad,\u201d
\nrather than putting on a mask of impenetrability and pushing through.
\n Vulnerability is saying, \u201cI don’t know,\u201d and taking the risk
\nsomeone might think we’re ill-informed, or \u201cI can’t\u201d when someone
\nmight find you weak (or not trying hard enough.) \u00a0Vulnerability is
\nallowing ourselves to see other people’s pain without looking away or
\nrunning to a quick fix. \u00a0(This. \u00a0Is. \u00a0Hard.)<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nVulnerability is staying with our own pain, rather than
\npushing it away, or pushing it down, running to a quick fix, or
\ntrying to push it off on someone else. \u00a0(#blame).<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nFor many Christians, the \u201cincarnation\u201d is the
\nultimate example of vulnerability. \u00a0The idea is that God who is GOD,
\nthe creator of all that is, takes on human vulnerability, pain, and
\nmortality in the form of Jesus, and in doing so moves from
\ninvulnerable to vulnerable to be with us. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nTruth be told, I have never resonated with that even
\nwhen theologians I otherwise adore say so. \u00a0A friend of mine, for
\nwhom incarnation is one of the most important parts of his faith,
\nlaughed at me once about that and said, \u201cbut aren’t you a
\npanentheist?\u201d \u00a0(Translation: don’t you believe that God is
\nEVERYWHERE, in EVERYTHING, and all that is exists within the Divine?)
\n Well, yes, I am. \u00a0He said, so doesn’t that make the incarnation sort
\nof… redundant for you?<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat was a helpful ah ha moment, because, for me it is.
\n(If you are a person who derives great meaning from incarnation,
\nplease know that you are in the majority, and I’m the odd one out,
\nbut I’m going to keep talking because sometimes others are also \u201codd
\nones out\u201d and like to know they aren’t alone.)<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nI believe God already has all the vulnerability in the
\nworld \u2013 literally. \u00a0God is with ALL those who are struggling, in
\nEVERY way. \u00a0I believe in a vulnerable God.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nWhich is to say that I believe vulnerability is sacred.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd, because I try to practice it regularly, I believe
\nvulnerability is really, really hard work. \u00a0Especially when one is
\ntrying to practice vulnerability for the sake of honesty and
\nconnection, and modeling that none of us are impenetrable \u2013 but
\ntrying to do that without causing undo \u00a0 harm to others. \u00a0The balance
\nis not easy to find, and I am quite capable of having \u201cvulnerability
\nhangovers\u201d (a term I believe was coined by Brene Brown). \u00a0That is,
\nwhile I’m \u00a0 pushing vulnerability today, but I’m acknowledging that
\nit can also be wielded as a tool in some cases, and that’s not what
\nwe’re going for here. \u00a0We’re dealing with weakness and vulnerability,
\nnot to use them as tools to manipulate others, or gain power over
\nothers.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nRather, if God is vulnerable, then we are not excused
\nfrom our own vulnerability, nor asked to pretend it away. \u00a0I think
\nthis is why Ash Wednesday starts Lent by asking us to remember that
\nwe are mortal, so that we can remember to live our lives with
\nintention. \u00a0When we are vulnerable, we remember how tender we are,
\nhow easily hurt, how close things that could harm us are, and we open
\nourselves to those who are hurt, or harmed, or displaced, or
\nattacked. \u00a0And when our hearts break open to allow others in, we are
\nmoved \u2013 once again \u2013 to create a world that is more just and
\nequitable so that the MOST vulnerable are no longer forced take the
\npain the most powerful avoid.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat, I think, is the power of vulnerability: the power
\nto break our hearts open which moves us to create a better world. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nMay God help us, all.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAmen\n<\/p>\n

1<\/a>Debie
\n\tThomas, \u201cI Have Longed\u201d Lectionary Essay for March 13, 2022,
\n\thttps:\/\/www.journeywithjesus.net\/essays\/3341-i-have-longed<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/a>Ibid.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Rev. Sara E. Baron
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she\/her\/hers
http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a>
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FUMCSchenectady<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

March 13, 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are these contrasts in the Bible, these ways that what is written is so shocking that we can’t even … Continue reading \u201cMother Hen\u201d based on\u00a0\tPsalm 118:1-6, 26-29 \u00a0and Luke 13:31-25<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[34,28,39,33,1667,1668,1669,1562,1670,1484,337,56,57,1666],"class_list":["post-4530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fumc-schenectady","tag-rev-sara-e-baron","tag-thinking-church","tag-umc","tag-brene-brown","tag-debie-thomas","tag-god-is-vulnerable","tag-journey-with-jesus","tag-lent-2022","tag-pandemic-preaching","tag-progressive-chrisitanity","tag-schenectady","tag-sorry-about-the-umc","tag-vulnerability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4530\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}