21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Grit in the Girls and Strength in the Stories”

Murderous plots, burning bushes, plagues of all kinds, fights with the powerful, an exhilarating escape to freedom, the looking back over one's shoulder, wandering in the wilderness, and more... The story of the Exodus—the journey of the Israelite people from slavery in Egypt to freedom and re-settlement in the Promised Land—is one of the richest and most dramatic stories we find in our Bibles. It is also one of the most central, if not the most central. It is the part of the history of God's people that most clearly shaped their self-identity as a people and a nation. It is a part of the history to which God's people—long ago and present day—often turn for reflection, meaning-making, and inspiration when faced with challenges, threats, and injustice. It is even a part of the history that gave the Christian church many of the frameworks through which it understood how God was at work in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

We’ll be journeying through the beginnings of the Exodus story for the next 6 weeks. This Sunday, the foundation of the journey begins—the path of resistance and liberation is inaugurated—through the actions of five courageous women. Not the ones their society considered powerful or "in charge", these five women—three of whom we don't even get to know the names of—are the ones through whom God's work and power is channeled.