"Girls Rule!"

Pastor Laura Guy

November 11, 2007

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We were surprised to discover that during a very tenuous time in Israel's history, a strong woman named Deborah was their judge (leader). We read her story in Judges 4:4-9. Her commander, Barak, refused to accept the mission God was giving to him unless Deborah went into battle with him. She agreed, but she told him that the final victory would not go to him, but to a woman instead.
We realized that, unlike enlightened men today, there was no greater insult for Barak than to hear that a woman would beat him out for a great honor! So Deborah and Barak went into battle, and God delivered the enemy army into their hands. But the leader of the enemy army, a tyrant named Sisera, fled.
We saw that Jael, a Kenite woman, invited Sisera into her tent to rest. Then when he was asleep, she killed him with a tent peg through the head. Just as Deborah had said, a woman would get the honor and victory of killing Sisera.
We thought about why there is so much violence in the Old Testament. It would take lots of in-depth Bible study to fully answer that question, but we did the two-minute version: the Old Testament was written by Israelites for Israelites. They were the oppressed minority, constantly in danger of being overtaken and wiped off the face of the earth. The death of their enemy meant a chance at life for themselves. They were God's chosen people, chosen to bless the rest of the world. Their extinction would mean the end of God's plan. They celebrated the death of their enemies as a reminder of all God had seen them through.
We wondered what this story could say to us today. Perhaps, like Barak, we want to put conditions on our acceptance of what God is asking us to do. And like Barak, perhaps we miss out on the full victory of all that God wanted to share with us.
We prayed for strength and courage to just say "yes!" to God.
We celebrated communion at the table of love and mercy.