Women’s History Month is a time to remember the accomplishments and voices that have been ignored and silenced through history in exchange for male-centric narratives. This year it begins at the same time as Lent–the liturgical season of Forty days (+Sundays) leading up to Easter. As in other disciplines, women have been left out in the history of Christianity, and in a tradition dominated by male images for God, the Divine Feminine has been essentially erased from our consciousness. Relegated to the shadows along with our fears, the Divine Feminine represents that which we choose to hide–darkness and death– both necessary and powerful aspects of light and life.
Lent is like entering into the darkness of a womb–it isn’t permanent, but it is necessary for new life to be born. It’s a season about examining our hidden selves with the lens of our own mortality. We remember that we are finite, that we are broken, that we are usually very afraid of acknowledging the ways in which we’re broken, and that all of this is okay. We don’t have to fear when we enter our own darkness because at the end of Lent we celebrate the resurrection! We celebrate that every death brings forth new life, and every new life demands death. We celebrate that death and life are dance partners and the human experience demands our attention to both. This Lent, and this Women’s Her-story Month, may you find courage in the nurturing arms of our Mother in heaven, who waits for us in the untold stories of the dark to breathe into us new, resurrection life.
Blessings, Heather