Welcome to Wading in the Waters of the Word™ with A Women’s Lectionary
Gentle Readers, Followers, Preachers, Pray-ers, Thinkers and Visitors, Welcome!
Welcome to this space where you can share your worship – liturgy and preaching – preparations – using A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church. We begin in Advent 2021 with Year W, a single, standalone Lectionary volume that includes readings from all four Gospels. (We will continue with Year A in Advent 2022 to align with the broader Church.) In advance of each week, I will start the conversation and set the space for you all. I will come through time to time, but this is your space. Welcome!
Media Resources
A Women’s Lectionary For The Whole Church
Session 1, October 16, 2021
Rev. Wil Gafney, PhD at Myers Park Baptist Church
Plenary 1 | Translating Women Back Into Scripture for A #WomensLectionary
This session introduces participants to frequently unexamined aspects of biblical translation in commonly available bibles and the intentional choices made in “A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church.”
A Women’s Lectionary For The Whole Church
Session 2, October 16, 2021
Rev. Wil Gafney, PhD at Myers Park Baptist Church
Plenary 2 | Reading Women in Scripture for Preaching, Study, and Devotion
This session provides an overview of “A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church,” its genesis, production, and content. There is also an in-depth exploration of specific passages appointed for specific days including time for public and private reading and discussion.
Lectionary Lectio
Click the Comment links to add to the conversation
Feast of the Presentation 2 Feb
The Feast of the Presentation is a reminder of the Jewishness of Jesus and, the Jewishness of his mother Mary and her husband Joseph. It is important for Christians to take seriously that they are Jews raising their child as a Jew. This is especially important as the feast comes on the heels of Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January. Though not a Principal Feast with the highest expectation of observance, the presentation or the Sunday closest, provide, an opportunity for Christians to address anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism in the history of the church and, in the history of biblical interpretation which includes that found in the New Testament itself from the pulpit. The specifics of the ritual and its vocabulary are unfamiliar and for many readers uncomfortable and alienating. They are part of a religious and cultural world that Christians do not share and one that has evolved significantly in Judaism. Respecting the integrity of first century Judaism and its ancient Israelite antecedent is the first step in nurturing a healthy respect for the integrity of contemporary Judaism.
Epiphany 3 corrected
The proclamation that God is in the midst of Daughter Zion invites a double hearing: God is present with her people and for Christians reading with and through the New Testament, that one daughter of Zion could say that God was incarnate in her, in the midst of the flesh and blood of her body. For the Psalmist, God is in the midst of her dreams, granting her comfort and assurance when she wakes to a hostile world. The elder writing to Timothy finds God made manifest in the goodness of every creative thing. Jesus reveals that he is God may manifest when he heals Simon’s mother-in-law. And though society forced and regulated women into service roles, it is possible for two things to be true at once meaning that Peter’s mother-in-law also revealed God in her ministry to Jesus and the disciples.