Birth pangs and chaos monsters - November 3
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 72; PM Psalm 119:73-96; Neh. 13:4-22; Rev. 12:1-12; Matt. 13:53-58
This morning, the reading from the Revelation to John is one that sends my imagination into overload. Visual images of a vivid drama jump off of the page. A sign appears in the sky: a woman clothed with the sun and the moon at her feet, adorned with a crown of twelve stars, pregnant and crying out in labor pains. Another sign appears in the sky: a huge red dragon with seven crowned heads and ten horns. Its tail swipes at the stars and takes down four of them. The chaos monster postures in front of the pregnant woman, as if to devour her child upon its birth. The boy-child is born, whisked away to God, and the woman is left to flee to a safe place hidden in the protection of the wilderness for 42 months…nearly 3 1/2 years. These are not verses we read aloud in Sunday services.
The motif of the pregnant woman being pursued by a dragon was akin to the Greek myth of Python the terrible monster hunting the Titan Leto while she was pregnant with Apollo (and Artemis). This oracle – this prophetic vision – in John’s revelation is grounded in a story familiar to people of the region. It means that this story resonated with the audience, triggering understanding and appealing to their senses on various levels.
While I studied mythology in middle school, this story had faded from my recollection – so what comes up for me when I read this scripture is memory of bearing my own two children. Labor and pain and upheaval. Those big breaths of release between contractions. The relief when all had subsided, and the gift of a tiny new person was laid upon my chest. Truth be told, there was no way I was fit to be fleeing from a dragon after those bundles of joy arrived. No way, no how.
The tale of the cosmic goddess and the Devil-dragon is a stirring one to wake us up on this Wednesday morning. The oracle serves in history and in today as a reminder of the battle we feel when the goodness of God feels threatened by the powers of evil around us. In talking with someone recently, they intimated something to this effect: Just when things start falling into place, something comes along and upsets the apple cart of healthy, joyful rhythms. That happens sometimes, doesn’t it? We work and pray for stillness and beauty in the garden, and storms come through littering the lawn with leaves and limbs. In the end of this piece of the oracle in Revelation, let us remember that the woman clothed in the sun was protected in the wilderness, for she found the place prepared for her by God – and in that space she was nourished.
-- Katherine+
Questions for Reflection
Who is someone who has nurtured and nourished you, following a traumatic time? What did that look like and feel like? Who around you needs nourishing today?
Daily Challenge
Richard Hooker, famed Anglican theologian, is remembered this day. He was instrumental in the birthing of the Episcopal Church, as it is today. Spend a little time reading about Hooker, to appreciate his influence in our Anglican practices.