Anna: A Prophet and Woman of Prayer

Prayer as vocation Some people find it hard to pray. Others see it as a tiring task, a mandatory and muscular endeavor, to gain God’s blessings. For Anna, however prayer is a joy, and continually deepens her relationship with the One whom she loves above all others. She also knows what many don’t — that prayer involves all the senses and...

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The Daughters of Zelophehad: United We Stand

Political divisions. Strife. Grief. Unfortunately, all seem common these days. On this election day, I hope our country begins to heal. Sadly, it will take time. But there’s much to be said for the theme, “United we stand, divided we fall.” Thousands of years ago, five girls faced similar grief and division that would have taken down most of their peers....

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The Woman Who Ate Her Son

Last in the series: “Women and War” Sometimes there are stories in your mind and heart that will not go away—and this is one. The biblical narrative of the woman who ate her son turned the stomachs of our research group when we came upon it, deep in 2 Kings. Here, amidst the horrors of war (8th century BCE), in a terrible bargain,...

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Women and war in King David’s backyard

Women and War 4 War: it can happen anywhere, sneaking across what seem like safe borders, often on a moment’s notice. Whether domestic or international, its effects shock us. We are never the same, for women often bear terrible side effects of war, bruises that last a lifetime. Some 2000 years ago, such pain and suffering came to ten women in Jerusalem....

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Lent Three: Loving Leonard

My mother-in-law always grieved Leonard, her tall and handsome father. She was three when he died; he was twenty-eight. He was a millworker in the woolen mills of Lawrence:  young and healthy one week and gone the next. Family history says that he went into Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston in 1918, thirty long miles away, and "didn’t come out." Best...

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Tamar: Brilliant, Scandalous, and Determined

Chances are you didn't hear the story of Tamar (Genesis 38) in Sunday School or at summer camp. Boldness in the face of adversity is the name of the game for many women in the Bible, and Tamar is right on the top of that list. One of Jesus' awesome female ancestors, she is brave, determined, clever--and a bit scandalous. A woman...

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