"And she brought forth..."

"Now I'm not one to second guess
what angels have to say,
but this is such a strange way
to save the world..."

Once again, a friend's sharing of a video gave birth to this post on a night when I didn't know what He wanted me to write about...thank you. 

"A Strange Way to Save the World," by Michael Card is the perfect soundtrack for the space my heart has been in since last night's candlelight service at our sweet little storefront church. 

The readings from Scripture -- and from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, were all based on the timelessness of the Christmas story.  And were sparked by the realization that the phrase "brought forth" also means (according to Webster) "to attract; to draw towards oneself" as in "to bring forward, to accept".  For me, this definition has given new life to such familiar, and much loved, statements like:

"And the earth brought forth...."  [Genesis]

"And she [Mary] brought forth her first born son..."  [Luke]

"The illumination of Mary's spiritual sense put to silence material law and its order of generation, and brought forth her child by the revelation of Truth, demonstrating God as the Father of men."  [Science and Health]


"Soul is the divine Mind, - for Soul cannot be formed or brought forth by human thought, - and must proceed from God; hence it must be sinless, and destitute of self-created or derived capacity to sin."  [Miscellaneous Writings]

For me, it makes conception, gestation, and birth one fluid, beautiful motion.  A graceful acceptance of the spiritual substance of those things that are flowing/radiating from God within us, the cherishing of them within our heart, and then an immediate flowing outward of their coincidental form, beauty, outline, and purpose.  It is a divinely choreographed movement that reminds me of a river's flow from it's Source, eddying for the briefest of moments within the crook of the river's womb, yet continuing to flow towards the broader waters of the sea.


But I digress...back to our candlelight service.   

As I sat there, I couldn't help but think of these images.  And after the readings were shared, we prayed in silence, and a hymn was sung, the meeting was opened for testimonies of healing and inspiration.

There were so many lovely thoughts "brought forth."  But it was during my friend, Amanda's, remarks that something broke open inside of me about this beautiful and timeless Christmas story. 

Amanda was saying that she had been led to cherish the concept of "expectation" and "expectancy" all that day, asking herself questions like, "What am I expecting?" and "How large is my expectation of God's love and care?"

As she was speaking, so earnestly from the heart, I heard the question - within me, "Do you remember when you were an expectant mother?   Well, think of it...you weren't empty, waiting to be filled, but right in that time of "expectancy" you were already full. You were cherishing what was already alive and growing within you...you were pregnant with the promise and its fulfillment."  

I could see that the time in my tummy, was only an eddying, not a creating or a waiting to be.   The waters of my child's true substance were always flowing from their divine Source, and were continuing to flow freely forward towards the broader ocean of God's purpose for her.  She was never "mine."  I could never contain her, any more that the river is being contained while it eddies in a lovely cove or inlet along its course. 

It was like a light turning on in my soul. 

I could suddenly see that when we are led to cherish an expectation...it is not in anticipation of its possible fulfillment, but the celebration of what already is present and living in, and around, and through us.

I love thinking of expectant father, Joseph, as the humble receptacle of a divine covenant.  Much the way a riverbed holds the waters of the river.  While at the same time, those same waters gently carve out a newness to its outline.  It begs the question, what is defining the shape of the river, the earthen banks...rocks, mud, trees, or the flowing of the water...or both?  

Joseph begins our story as the perplexed, but trusting, fiance' of a young girl, and the Christ  carves out in him a timeless place in history as a fully vested father, the purest of manservants to the Lord's promised "peace on earth, good will to man." 

An obscure village, this simple carpenter, a rough hewn stable, an unmarried girl, a babe - "beloved, replete, by flesh embound"...all filled with a divine purpose. 

A strange way to save a world...maybe. 

But what is it that you are expectant with tonight?  What is it that you think can't possibly "make sense?"  What will you take into the quiet manger for a star to reveal, for wisemen to worship, for kings to bring gifts to the feet of, and for shepherds to bow before?

What will you "bring forth" from the fullness of your heart...from the quiet sanctuary of your earnest longings, already pregnant with promise...and fulfillment?

sitting with you in expectancy, and with a heart full of love on this holy night...
Kate
Kate Robertson, CS

[quotes above are from the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy]

"El Shaddai...we will praise and lift you high...."

"...Through your love
and through your plan,
You saved the son of Abraham;
Through the power of your hand,
You turned the sea into dry land.
To the outcast on her knees,
You were the God who really sees,
And by Your might,
You set Your children free.

El Shaddai, El Shaddai,
El-Elyon na Adonia,
Age to age You're still the same,
by the power of the name.

El Shaddai, El Shaddai,
Erkamka na Adonai,
We will praise and lift You high,
El Shaddai."

Sometimes the answers to our most persistent questions come in such serendipitous ways. 

Two, seemingly random, questions were on my heart. What to write about in honor of Mother’s Day (without gushing over my own mother, children, or grandchild), andAbraham’s journey up Mount Moriah.

As to the latter, I’ve been walking around with Abraham in my heart, for the last few days. Asked by God to trust His steady, loving hand in all things, Abraham was urged to take his own young son, Isaac on, what must have been, the most heartwrenching “Sophie’s Choice” hike of Abraham’s life.

He was being called upon, by “the God of his fathers,” to lay his son on the altar, and offer his sweet innocent life, as a sin offering. I can’t even imagine the mental space this man must have been in as he took each step in their ascent.

And then the question pokes through with perplexity and horror, “where was this boy’s mother?”

But back to my story...

Okay, so I'm hiking Moriah with Abraham and Isaac, worried about this little boy (since I am not allowing myself the luxury of knowing the end of the story...I really want to be with them in that space for a while) and I am listening to the son asking his father benign questions, and Abraham's distracted responses.  It is hot, dusty, and the air is heavy with the father's pain.  I am an observer, a listener.  But that was when the sweet strains of  "El Shaddai" start sweeping through me like a cool clear breeze.  I can hear the music, but I want the words, so I can sing along in Hebrew. 

So I go to my computer, and since my last Youtube search was for a song by contemporary Christian artist, Michael Card, the first "El Shaddai" video that comes up is not my "go to" Amy Grant version, but a Michael Card performance. 

Stay with me here...this is where it gets all goose-fleshy for me.  So, I thinks to myself, "hmmm...I like Michael Card - a lot - and I wonder what his version sounds like?"

Now this thinking is not very Kate-like.   Kate seems to like-what-she-likes, and doesn't go off-roading in her preferences much.  If she finds something she likes at a restaurant, she never orders anything different...ever again, at that restaurant.  When she finds a piece of clothing she likes, she buys three of it, and wears it every day.  

And when I find a version of a song I like best, I pretty much never listen to any other performance of it...unless I am tricked, or gently led (like finding Sarah McLaughlin’s version of “Blackbird” on the “I am Sam” CD) into it.   Not this time though.

This was a case of, "hmmm...I wonder what Michael Card will do with this song?"  Very open-minded for me.

Now, I have to say here, that "El Shaddai" is one of my favorite spiritual songs.  I happen to love hearing Hebrew sung.  But whenever I have heard "El Shaddai," I always think of a Judeaic God who is very Fatherly.  Well, with regard to this moment, that made sense...right...I am thinking about Abraham and his relationship to his son, Isaac.

But as you will see in the video clip, I was in for the loveliest surprise.  Out of the blue, comes the hauntingly lush voice of my loved Sara Groves, and suddenly, I can actually hear the voice of the absent mother, Sarah, singing to her husband and son.  And, no surprise to anyone who knows my relationship to scripture-based songs, I am weeping. 

In this moment of grace, "El Shaddai" becomes the lullaby of a mother.  This, once for me, very masculine song (even when sung by Amy Grant) is as gentle and tender as a heartbeat, a mother braiding her daughter's hair, bathing her child's fevered brow, soothing a lost lamb.

So, I am thinking, "Have I ever even looked up the meaning of the Hebrew words, "El Shaddai?"  Hmmm, not sure.  But I can always look them up again...so I do. 

And again, the weeping. 

My research follows:

"El-Shaddai means God Almighty. El points to the power of God.  Shaddai seems to be derived from another word meaning breast, which implies that Shaddai signifies one who nourishes, supplies, and satisfies. It is God as El who helps, but it is God as Shaddai who abundantly blesses with all manner of blessings.

Scholar Harriet Lutzky links 'Shaddai' with the Hebrew 'shad' meaning "breast" giving the meaning "the one of the Breast," just as 'Asherah at Ugarit' is 'the one of the Womb.'

In Genesis (49:25) the Hebrew reads 'El Shaddai will bless you with the blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts [shadayim] and of the womb [racham].'"

Oh my goodness, the boy's divine Mother was with them all the way up that mountain, at the altar, finding the ram, and singing to them as they "skipped as little lambs"...father and son...down Mount Moriah, with gratitude and joy.  I can just imagine Sarah, the manifestation of that Mother-love, waiting for them at the trailhead, confidently trusting the Source of her mother-love to bring them home...whole, holy, and blessed. 

Happy Mother's Day to each of us...let us honor the Mother who continually seeks us out on our journeys, walks our path with us, waits to greet us, and sings to us of Her love and strength, day-by-day. And may we each, as Mary Baker Eddy encourages us in her reference to Love's healing presence in our lives, feel ourselves innocently, trustingly, devotedly, hungrily as:

“the babe that twines its loving arms about the
neck of omnipotence, and calls forth infinite care from [Her] loving heart.”

always with Love,
Kate
Kate Robertson, CS