Nameless Women…The New Testament

Woman with the Hemorrhage                                               A Woman Caught in Adultery
Lk 8:43-48                                                                           Jn 8:1-11

Kneader of Dough                                                                   Canaanite Woman
Mt 13:13                                                                               Mt 15:21-28

A Woman with a Bent Back                                                        Persistent Widow
Lk 13:10-17                                                                                Lk 18:1-8

                                                    Woman at the Well/ John 4

Nameless Women…The New Testament

Come Out
Come Out
wherever you are…

The tornado had lifted—
You’re NO longer in the
shadows of Kansas.
You’ve ARRIVED in OZ.

Even though you have NO NAME,
your story is FRESH and in
color…

Brilliant blues
and indigo
Shades of green
and orange
light up like the sunrise.

Pinks and red
yes red—
the blood flow of
YOU daughter with the
hemorrhage.

You had the courage
to cross the lines separating you—
casting you from the community
who labeled you ‘Unclean.’

You dared touch
the hem of his garment.

You Adulterous Sister—
you rose
like those before you
ready to cast their stones…

Each of your NAMELESS lives
CHANGED by a
simple unspoken act…
A line drawn in the sand.

You kneader of dough…
ONLY a woman allowed to
touch the leaven for a man
considered unclean.

He acknowledged YOU…
your hands
a woman’s hands ‘kneading’
bread for life AND you ROSE.

Canaanite Woman…
you knew it was your
last effort to save
your child.
You dared to speak,
“Even the dogs get the scraps
that fall from the master’s table.”

At first he wished to send
you away…
but YOU, you
showed him that love
never ceases—

Your child healed.

The Woman with the ‘bent’ back—
ONLY you knew what
broke you…
NO ONE should be able
to CHOOSE what was
done to your body—

You were healed.

Persistent Widow
again and again
you went to the judge.

Your request granted.

AND, Woman at the Well
you were Chosen.
You were called to GO
AND TELL.
You were told to proclaim
a message…

A new spirit
A new truth

A well flowing
with living water.

Nameless Women—
YOUR voices
Run in our rivers—
Swing in our branches—
Stand on Mountain Tops—
Part the dry deserts.

You, Nameless Women
ARE birthers of the Gospel.“I pray every single second of my life; not on my knees but with my work.
My prayer is to lift women to equality with men.  Work and worship are one with me.”
                                                                                                       —Susan B. Anthony