Rev Michelle's Message September 9, 2021

I hope you all enjoyed the Labor Day weekend and have been able to get out to partake of the nice late summer weather we’ve been having (finally!).

In preparation for my sermon this Sunday on the women mystics, I’ve been reading a wonderful book called, Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics. The author, Mirabai Starr, is a prolific writer who has translated many of the classic mystical writings. She is also a leading voice in the interspiritual movement and writes about the wisdom that can be gleaned from all the world’s religions and faith practices. In Wild Mercy, Ms. Starr explores the range of feminine wisdom of the women mystics throughout history and across cultural and religious boundaries. It is a wealth of spiritual gems that is also hopeful about the possibilities for the future of humanity should we choose to excavate and reintegrate the lost feminine wisdom of the ages.

Just as reading about the women of Afghanistan last week helped me feel like I was doing something, no matter how small, in the face of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, reading about the women mystics this week is helping me to feel that I am combatting, again in some small way, the huge blow that women’s bodily autonomy has suffered this week. In this context, it is more important than ever that we resuscitate and celebrate the ancient yet timeless wisdom of the women mystics, and heed their call to create a more compassionate, cooperative, socially just, and love-centered existence on this planet.

This week I have also been getting ready for our annual banquet next Friday, our theme this year being the Roaring 20s. I know many folks will be donning flapper-style clothing, which prompted me to want to read a little bit about what flapper culture was and what it meant to the women of the 1920s. According to history.com, “Flappers of the 1920s were young women known for their energetic freedom, embracing a lifestyle viewed by many at the time as outrageous, immoral or downright dangerous. Now considered the first generation of independent American women, flappers pushed barriers in economic, political and sexual freedom for women.”

Let us also recall that the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote was passed in August of 1920, and it was in the early 1920s that Margaret Sanger started a campaign to educate women about birth control and began fighting for women’s access to contraception. These seem like timely things for us to celebrate. I hope you’re planning to attend our banquet on September 17 at the Bayonet & Black Horse Golf Club. It is always a wonderful time of fun and food and friendship…oh yeah, and the Macarena

Many blessings to you this week ~Rev. Michelle

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