In g/God(s) We Trust BROAD Voice, BROAD Communities Rev. Barbara Lund & Anne Basye
Call the midwives! Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality Call the midwives! Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality Shiprah and Puah were midwives. Exiles in Egypt, they went about their work under the shadow of a king who wanted to wipe out their people. In the first chapter of Exodus, the king calls the midwives. “Kill the male sons of Israel when you serve,” he commands them. They don’t, of course. Midwives serve life, not death. When the king summons them again to find out why baby boys are surviving, they are cagey. “The Hebrew women are vigorous and are delivered before the midwife comes to them.” It’s not us…it’s nature! This is the first story of nonviolent resistance in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Threatened by the most powerful figure of their time, these women changed the story. Instead of accepting the structure that sought to intimidate and disempower them, they called on their own resources—courage, ingenuity, and a commitment to bearing life. A story of oppression became a story of resistance.
Changing the story What story are we telling one another as we face challenges like global warming and global conflict? What do our faith traditions inspire and provoke in us? How, like the midwives, can we enlist our gifts and change the story for a greater common good? At Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality in St. Paul, Minnesota, we start by gathering people of all ages and faith traditions. Together, we explore what is dying, and what is being born. We listen. We reflect. We share. We sing, pray, and make art, and form ourselves into new people. We become midwives for one another, supporting one another across thresholds of change. What is coming on the other side of the threshold? Where will it take us? How can we prepare? Like a mother or a midwife, we enter the birth process not knowing the outcome. All we know is that we will be changed. As midwives, we are committed to the process, to seeing one another every step of the way.