to all my grandmothers, mothers, sisters, aunts, and friends

Your face is a treasure map of good times and sweet dreams.
Do not change it except through continued smiles
and your occasional, concerned furrowed brow.
Your lines are amazing.
Teach me to age.
Lovely.
Beautiful.
S

Maternal Health for All Seasons

Our God, it is the season of Advent and we anticipate your birth. With new beginnings on the horizon may we usher in a time of awareness that educates your people about the need for international family planning. May we herald this hope for women everywhere as we celebrate an epoch of love.

Our God, it is Epiphany and you come to us in a forward motion of revelation. Reveal to us how we can increase maternal health globally. Inspire us to train midwives. Inspire us to be midwives.

Our God, it is the season of Lent and we wait with you in quiet reflection and midnight gardens. May we watch and pray for the women of the world who do not have access to reproductive freedom. May we fast for those who find themselves at the mercy of biology in a world where every 60 seconds a woman dies from a pregnancy related cause.

Our God, it is Easter and your Sunday morning greatness is too much to comprehend. Overwhelm us with hope for those who are engulfed by death. Bring to life a movement of education, economic development, and healthcare for women and girls around the world. You are the God of resurrection. May it be so for those in their ninth month of pregnancy.

Our God, it is the season of Ordinary Time and we sit with you in calm thanksgiving. Deep breath in and deep breath out. Ten fingers and ten toes. May we reflect on the possibilities of a world where babies are planned and mothers are healthy.
S

layers

It's been one of those weeks. A week that starts with a dreaded late night call and continues with daily questions so personal that there are times when I think there is no more ministry left in my body. But amazingly, there is. It is like the oil that fueled the Hanukkah miracle . . it keeps coming, unexplained.

I work with teenaged girls and there is always drama, but this week is exceptional. Our layers of selfness are deep. Teenaged girls are no different from their older sister counterparts and like us, they cover who they really are with superficial overlay as a kind of foil. Sometimes I forget and their sighing, eye rolling, and seemingly uncaring attitudes cause me to bristle. But underneath those layers are amazing girls waiting for a word - waiting for me, you, us to be in their corner even when they act like they don't want us to be - especially when they act that way.

This post is a lot of everything and nothing because I am bound by confidentiality and friendship laws, but my bottom line is - this week my mother muscles have been exercised. This week I've thought about maternal health contextually as sometimes maternal health means going to bed early or watching a movie. Tomorrow, my phone will ring again and there will be more conversations and airport rides and God forbid, hospital visits.

I'm amazed, once again, by Body Theology - mine and theirs. All of it is nothing short of miraculous.
S

Body Theology

Imago Dei.
Love metabolized.

I Do Not Understand

A Somali woman was stoned to death today. She was 20 and recently gave birth. Her baby was stillborn. I do not understand.

I do not understand why she had to die. I do not understand why the father of her baby was given 100 lashes, and she was murdered. I do not understand why we don't know her name.

Every minute of every day a woman dies somewhere in the world because of a pregnancy related cause. Causes can include sepsis, hemorrhaging, obstructed labor, and eclampsia. I do not understand why I have to add stoning to the list of pregnancy related deaths.

I know how to gather supplies for birthing kits and work with local villages to arrange skilled birthing attendant training. I know how to encourage people of faith to learn more about what they can do to increase maternal health globally. How do we increase maternal health by decreasing stoning?
S

photo courtesy of Gavatron's flikr photo stream

Sisters

Eloquent, waxy words for the academy are what I need to be writing. I have explanations regarding Plato's influence on Christianity and the importance of losing dualistic thinking. But all I want to say is this,
In the beginning, God said, "Let us make humankind in our image."

The reasons to increase maternal health are plentiful. Even still, I continue to herald one. The woman giving birth in Tanzania is my sister.
S

Conceive

Lately I've been studying mothers in the Bible. There are examples of women who were unable to conceive, but eventually all of them gave birth. Where are the stories of the women who never had children? Is Anna from the temple one of those women? What about the woman with the issue of blood? So often fertility is used as a spiritual marker in the Old and New Testaments. Surely there were faithful women of God who desperately wanted to give birth, but did not.

I wonder, if their stories were a part of the Bible, would infertility be less stigmatized? If pastors could stand in their pulpits on Sunday morning and share the words of childless couples who parted oceans and led their people to safety, would those unable to give birth feel comforted? Does what we say (or don't say) in sermons have the power to affect the way those who are infertile view their state?

Yes, yes it does. Pulpits can encourage and de-stigmatize. The church can increase maternal health. Positive Body Theology is of utmost importance and Sunday morning sermons are exactly where it needs to be discussed.
S

photo courtesy of MassDistraction's flickr photostream.