Exodus 1:13-22 NRSV
Midwives of Justice: Let the Children Live
Several weeks ago I sat with Prudence Allen, one of our church members, in her kitchen. One of the joys of being a minister is getting to visit people in their homes where I hear amazing stories.
As a feisty, eighty something, Pru has much wisdom to share. Sitting in her wheelchair, she mesmerized me with her accounts of being on the front lines of protest during the late 60’s.
It was the height of the civil rights movement in the south. Inspired by Rosa Parks, James Meredith, Fannie Lou Hamer and MLK, Pru signed up with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. At 22, she was trained with her fellow college students in nonviolent action and flew to Mississippi. Pru joined the throes of marchers, was tear gassed in Canton, Mississippi and rushed out of a small town in Georgia under cover of night to avoid arrest.
You may also have heard that Pru was Coretta Scott King’s secretary for a year, helping Mrs. King with her papers. On the night of Martin Luther King’s assassination, Pru flew to the King family home and spent nights on their living room couch assisting the family. She saw Bobby and Ethel Kennedy come to the house and offer their condolences along Harry Belafonte. Pru was in the room!
The 20th century writer Anais Nin, wrote,
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
Pru is a midwife for justice and equality.
Senator John Lewis, the great civil rights activist explained,
“What we were communicating through nonviolent protest (in the 60’s), what we were demonstrating by being willing to put our bodies on the line, was that love had already overcome hate…so every expression of evil, including segregation, could never stand.” [1](Cross That Bridge, )
Sixty years later, when I asked Pru about how she dealt with the fear, how she mustered the courage. “Yes it’s scary”, she said, “ but the consolation was that no matter what happened I’ve stood for something worthwhile.”
I’d imagine the ancient Hebrew midwives from our scripture passage today might have said the same thing if asked.
In this folkloric tale from the book of Exodus, the midwives,Shiphrah and Puah, stand up to the Egyptian empire, to Pharaoh himself, the “new king” who enslaved the Israelites in Egypt and now, threatened terror. He told the Hebrew midwives to kill all the boys that are delivered.
“When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” (v.16)
The midwives “feared God and refused”. They spoke truth to power in the smart art of resistance. Throwing Pharoah off his game, the pair tell him they arrive too late for “Hebrew women are more vigorous…they give birth before we arrive” (v. 17a)
Perhaps they were trembling with fear
Maybe they had second thoughts
Rarely in scripture do we learn women’s names –and we never hear from them again after this story but we gain an insight into Shiphrah and Puah’s courage under pressure. Their authority and expertise as midwives was needed by the king who later prevailed in his plans for genocide.
Standing in faithfulness and courage, Shiprah and Puah’s civil disobedience led to the saving of Israelite boys for a time– and Moses. The rest is well, liberation history (or “her story” as Gloria Steinem would say.) The courageous speech and choice making fit into the movement of God’s people in the Exodus narrative– from powerlessness to freedom.
Likewise, the actions of other women in the Exodus narrative, Moses’ Hebrew mother and Pharaoh’s daughter, lead to Pharoah’s ultimate downfall. And the rising of Moses, Yahweh’s prophetic community leader.
The work of a midwife then, as now, was to assist in the birth process; to wait with the mother in labor however long it took and witness to new life being born. Participating in death was against their vocation as midwives– and their faith!
We learn that God multiplied their numbers…and the children grew in strength.
(PAUSE)
The resistance of the midwives, the liberative acts they engaged in against abusive power- offers us a way to imagine a liberating, feminine divine power at work in the world.
It also can help us reflect about how we as a church community have been midwives; Midwives of hospitality, justice and mercy for our neighbors. As a church, we have chosen to be a place and a people who provide Sanctuary for those on the margins. Today is day 189 of waiting for Malik, Zahida and Roniya living with us in sanctuary. We wait with them and we know deep in our souls about standing together against injustice, about acting according to a faithful conscience.
Defying the Pharaohs of this world so that all God’s children may live.
As Jesus taught in the gospel (of Mark,) “All you who welcome a little child in my name, welcomes me. “
The practice of God’s welcome is often a life-saving one. What the theologian, Letty M. Russell termed, Just Hospitality, “the practice of reaching across difference to participate in God’s actions bringing justice and healing to our world in crisis.”[2] It is a process that requires partnership with those labeled “other” in our divided world.
It continues to be a long journey. Like the birthing process itself, this this “lived theology” of accompaniment and hospitality has been hard, fear inducing and challenging. Albeit one filled with much joy, deep friendships and surprising gifts.
Zahida has often described it as “living in a golden cage.”
And yet, with your encouragement, your sharing of time and talents from knitting to yoga to pottery to drumming…You, as a community of care, have been waiting side by side and filled this loving family –and our church —with new life. In turn, they have cared for us and fed us with their presence, cups of Chai tea and gentle hearts.
Just this past Friday night, about 24 people gathered in our Fellowship Hall to share another tasty potluck. The friends at long tables seems to expand by the day.
Where in your life are you acting as a midwife for others?
How might someone be shepherding you, waiting with you as you transition into a new way of being or as you express yourself with newfound hope?
Please remember that we’re with you every step of the way.
Says the psalmist, “Be strong, my friends, and take courage.” (31.24)
In the movie, Selma, (the historical drama based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches), there is a magnificent anthem by John Legend. It’s called, called Glory.
Glory.
One day when the glory comes
It will be ours, it will be ours…
Oh one day when the war is won
We will be sure, we will be sure
Of the glory (Glory, glory).
Can’t wait for that day! Amen!
[1] John Lewis, Across Cross That Bridge, 2012.
[2] Letty M. Russell, Just Hospitality: God’s Welcome in a World of Difference, 2009.
