Kimberly Majeski
Menu




Scholar. Storyteller.Activist.

Studying Scripture in Stilettos

1/6/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Very early in my childhood, I drew a scene snatched from the pages of the bible, the one my mother used to read from and out of which came the stories she regaled to us in our Wednesday night junior bible class.

Born and raised in East Tennessee, my mother had a way with words; she could spin a tale that would leave you, mouth gaping wide, mind whirling at the wonder of it all. Her faith a fusion of Missionary Baptist holiness, Cherokee mysticism and mountain magic all rolled into one.I would get lost in her stories just like in her red high heel shoes, they were too big, but I was fast growing into them.

Once after class, I drew what I saw in my infant imagination, put pen to paper and allowed the images to come to life. I drew reeds, tall and slender, spikey and bent; colored them in with the vibrant hues of the Nile delta, emerald, azure, magenta, as it existed in my mind. The papyrus reeds peeled back ever so slightly to reveal the babe in the basket afloat on the river deep and wide.

What I know now is that I heard the story, saw the scene unfold through the eyes of Miriam and looked on from some place of deep knowing as a young girl, the older sister called upon to care, watch over, yet surrender the baby to the God of the river. What I know now is I was exercising a hermeneutical lens, asking myself, “where do I stand in this text” so that I could find my way, move around in it, deep resonate with its meaning.

The story, clearly about Moses the one sent by God to deliver the Hebrew children from the bondage of Egypt, was experienced differently for me. As a woman, the story reverberated inside my own chest, I leaned into it and saw behind and up under it as I stretched into the skin of it and saw it all unfold from the banks of the Nile feet wet from standing too close to the edge, heart skipping beats.

The Holy Scripture has always called this out of me since the canon as we now have it is for the most part a collection of narratives recorded, copied, edited and compiled by men who live many centuries after those women and men whose stories they are trying to convey. And so, to find my own way I have needed to press beyond the text, delve deep into culture and context to find my imaginings real or renegade.

Studying Scripture as women then, requires much of us, we must know ourselves and the perspective, the pain, the hope, the needs we bring to the text, and we must, as much as we are able know of the time, the place, the culture and conditions of the women remembered forever in the ancient writ so that we might know them and remember we are not alone.

At the start of this New Year, on the blog we embark upon the study of women, written into history as harlots, remembered for the role they play in God’s redeeming plan. As we explore together, we’ll become aware at the prevailing theme it is to find women of scandal drawn right into God’s work of hope across the ages and perhaps we might find more grace for women driven to desperate measures in our own world.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Follow this blog

    Picture
    Picture

    Author

    Kimberly Majeski

    Archives

    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    July 2010
    May 2010

    Categories

    All
    Advent
    Anderson University School Of Theology
    Anne Lamott
    Ann Voskamp
    Baptism
    Chick
    Church
    Church Of God
    Confessions
    Corinth
    Doubt
    Downton Abbey
    Egalatarian
    Fab Five
    Faith
    Final Things
    Found
    Graduation
    Grief
    Growing Up In Church
    Hagaar
    Hebrew
    Holiness
    Holy Land 2012
    Jesus
    Joanna
    Julie And Norberto Kurrle
    Kingdom
    Landmines
    Laughter
    Leaving Church
    Lent
    Living
    Loss
    Lost
    Love
    Lydia
    Marie Howe
    Mary
    Mary Magdalene
    New Life
    New Testament
    N.T. Wright
    Olympics
    One Holy Catholic Apostoic Church
    One Thousand Gifts
    Paul
    Peace
    Preaching
    Prisca
    Rachel Held Evans
    Real Housewives
    Reconciliation
    Revelation
    Sabbath
    Sarah
    Seasons
    Sex Workers And Soccer Moms
    Staying In Church
    Strippers
    Survivors
    Susanna
    Theology
    Watch And Pray
    Wesleyan
    Wisdom
    Woman At The Well
    Women
    Women Clergy
    Women In Geneaology Of Christ
    Women In Ministry
    Zumba

    RSS Feed

© 2014 Kimberly Majeski
Photo used under Creative Commons from garussell11
  • Home
  • Bio
    • References
  • Stripped Love
  • Listen / Watch
  • Schedule
  • Holy Lands 2016
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Bio
    • References
  • Stripped Love
  • Listen / Watch
  • Schedule
  • Holy Lands 2016
  • Contact
✕