Monday, February 26, 2018

DAY 13

Image by Mish Sukharev

Weavers and Sewers



A Greeting
For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in faithfulness to you.
(Psalm 26:3)

A Reading
At that time, also, my wife Anna earned money at women’s work.
She used to send what she made to the owners and they would pay
wages to her. One day, the seventh of Dystrus, when she cut off a
piece she had woven and sent it to the owners, they paid her full
wages and also gave her a kid for a meal. When she returned to me,
the kid began to bleat. So I called her and said, ‘Where did you get
this kid? It is surely not stolen, is it? Return it to the owners; for we
have no right to eat anything stolen.’ But she said to me, ‘It was
given to me as a gift in addition to my wages.’ But I did not believe
her, and told her to return it to the owners. I became flushed with
anger against her over this. Then she replied to me, ‘Where are your
acts of charity? Where are your righteous deeds?
These things are known about you!’
(Tobit 2:11-14) 


Music


Meditative Verse
She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
(Psalm 31:13)

A Poem
Seamstress sew me a line of word
Make it colourful,
Make it stand out
,
She did it, the words weaved in and out
One over the other,
They flowed vibrantly
,
She was a master at sewing word
Her pins were
Pencil
&
Pen

Woven with each, shades came out
Each told a story, a life of its own
- from "Seamstress of Word" by Poetic T

Verses for the Day
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works.
(Psalm 139:13-14)



"Tobit and Anna" by Abraham de Pape (1658)



In today’s story, Tobit — a good and righteous man — becomes accidentally blinded and struggles to keep his sense of dignity amid all that has changed. In his heightened anxiety, he wrongfully accuses his wife Anna of stealing and is worried that his already diminished status will be made worse by it. Anna is a weaver and seamstress who is supporting the family. Weaving and sewing were complex biblical vocations, and often undertaken by women. Leviticus outlines very strict terms for the seamstress and weavers of the time: tunics must be woven in one piece for instance, and wool and linen could not be woven together. Leviticus 13 uses an entire chapter to describe the delicate condition of providing and caring for cloth worn by those with leprosy. Weavers prepared vestments and canopies for worship too (See Exodus 35). When Tobit insists too much, Anna replies by reminding him of what it means to be charitable, that he himself used to be known for his charitable acts so why should he be surprised by the charity of others? Immediately humbled, what follows in the text is Tobit’s long prayer asking God’s mercy on his anger and arrogance. Sometimes it is hard to be on the receiving end of hands who want to give. Stubbornness and pride may prevent us from seeing how God is working in our lives through other people. In our resistance, the hands of others are stopped from creating and giving and the flow of God’s grace is interrupted. When has this been true for you? When have you refused assistance, believing it better to just manage things yourself? How can you challenge yourself to accept what is being offered you from the hands of others? How is God working in your life, 

in ways you have not seen?

LC† Being God's Hands is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto
Join us on Facebook. Follow us @LutConnect

Saturday, February 17, 2018

DAY 4

Image by Paxson Woelber

Tentmakers



A Greeting
I will offer in God's tent shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
(Psalm 27:6)

A Reading
Enlarge the site of your tent,
and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
do not hold back; lengthen your cords
and strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out to the right and to the left,
and your descendants will possess the nations
and will settle the desolate towns.
(Isaiah 54:2-3)


Soundscape



Meditative Verse
And they came, everyone whose heart was stirred,
and everyone whose spirit was willing, and brought God's
offering to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service.
(Exodus 35:21)

A Poem
For me, at work in my studio,
where I scratch and scrawl and loop
letters into shapes so I can enter the Tabernacle
of their bodies and hear each foot, each syllable
sending its roots to a depth as great as that tree’s,
which has been standing and rooting and swaying
long before I came to memorize its plain mystery,
its wide-bodied hull open to stars at night,
each a point that I lengthen into a letter
and each letter into a word, and with the words
build a Tabernacle for the ten most broken
and the ten most resonant words. I will place them
in an inner sanctum enclosed by hanging carpets,
and outside it, another space enclosed by carpets,
and outside it, another, so that those who wish
to read the words, to say them out loud,
must first pull one curtain back and step inside,
and then another, and another until they arrive
in a hushed space, a soundproofed, heavy quiet
where they come to know that which makes all things
day after day,
and out of which the earth was made.
- from "Tabernacle" by Emily Warn

Verse for the Day
Let me abide in your tent forever,
find refuge under the shelter of your wings.
(Psalm 61:4)



Image by Paxson Woelber



The art of making a tent is one of the most ancient practices of the biblical story. When the Israelites were on the move, they traveled with the Ark of the Covenant, the most holy of holies, and each place that they settled, they raised a tent around it - the Tent of Meeting. But tents were also places of dwelling. The skill of tent making involves continuously patching and extending an existing tent, repairing and adjusting for family sizes. Made of coarse goat hair, and strengthened and partitioned inside with curtains, carpets and canopies, tents were passed down from father to son, along with the skill of weaving new hair in patches to prolong use. When Isaiah encourages the Israelites to widen their tents — this is what he means. By expanding a tent, there is always room for more to gather, and more space also for God to dwell.
Poet Emily Warn uses some of these images in her poem. She compares the words of Scripture to a tree that sinks deep into the earth and upward to the stars, surrounded in her imagination with the Old Testament Tent of Meeting. While images of an expansive, worshipful tent are powerful, sometimes the sacred space of communion with God also occurred in Scripture in small tent spaces. In the book of Exodus, for instance, Moses had his own tent -- away from the Tent of Meeting or other tents, so that he could better hear God. Nowadays, we might find the same kind of closeness to God in a tent on a summer's night. As you listen to the fire and experience the sounds of outdoors, take a moment to rest in creation. How is God present with you in this place of rest? What feels sacred? When the Israelites were on the move again, they carried with them that sense of sacred space. How can you carry this time of sacred quiet forward in your day?

LC† Being God's Hands is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto
Join us on Facebook. Follow us @LutConnect