Day 9: Softly
Jael took a
tent peg, a hammer, and went softly to him…
[Judges 4.21]
Despite a
vocation that requires one to be ‘outgoing,’ for those who know me, you know
that I am everything but an extrovert.
I am in fact,
an introvert.
Growing up I
was often called “the shy kid.”
In college I
kept to myself.
And as an
adult, I value my solitude and I really enjoy the silence.
I can be an
extrovert when called upon but I am completely comfortable with flying under
the radar and keeping to myself.
While my
parents always encouraged the expression of my feelings, I remember in
elementary school being told by older kids that needed to harden up. That if I
walk into high school too softly that I wouldn’t make it out alive.
That scared me.
But what scared me more was the idea of not being able to express how I was
feeling. While I did my fair share of bullying growing up [something I am not
proud of at all—but it is an honest admission] I remember being overwhelmed at
times with compassion for some of colleagues. Even today, if I have been around
too many people and if I have not had the time to settle into the silence, I
become quite observant of those who appear to be hurting, lonely, and sad.
In a way,
Advent is a time for all of introverts, extroverts, from the highly sensitive
people to the courageously confident members of the community, to look at all
the ways we are in need of saving.
I don’t mean
‘saving’ in some trite way.
But the
embracing of the call from God to be radical in our hospitality and serious in
the ways we stand in solidarity with those in our communities who have no voice
or advocates, who sit alone in the nursing home or hospital.
Advent is a
time amidst the clanging and clanking of the pre-Christmas celebration to
listen for those soft, still voices crying out from the sidelines. Like snow
falling softly onto the highly lit city streets, Advent’s waiting invites us to
slow down, to pay attention to what is happening around us, and to do what we
can to alleviate the stress, the chaos, the sadness of those in our lives.
Jael’s story is
not a soft one, whatever that means.
And as a highly sensitive person, the violence involved makes me a bit
uncomfortable. While I never condone violence or abuse of any kind, there is
something to be said about the poets of Judges 5 calling her the “most blessed
of women.” Their praise is presumably based on results rather than motivations.
The phrase “most blessed women” is used elsewhere in the Bible only of Mary,
Jesus’ mother. Granted, this story is not a ‘nice’ story. It isn’t one that
echoes the soft voice of God. But the times then were not nice, and Sisera, was
not a nice man.
If her story is
one of self-defense, there is nothing to denounce, nor is there a hero to
celebrate.[1]
However, if her motivation went beyond saving herself, this is a story many can
celebrate. In a world still filled with violence and chaos, we need to make the
necessary space to listen for that still, soft voice of God whispering
throughout the world that is still laying claim on all of us.
If Advent’s
message is the voice of Love speaking softly and tenderly to us in the child of
Jesus, how are we, Christ’s body, using this voice to uplift our communities?
[1] Alice Ogden Bellis. “Helpmates,
Harlots, and Heroes: Women’s Stories in
the Hebrew Bible.” [Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007,] 107.
[1] Alice Ogden Bellis. “Helpmates,
Harlots, and Heroes: Women’s Stories in
the Hebrew Bible.” [Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007,] 107.
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