{"id":1833,"date":"2017-04-03T08:29:57","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T13:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/?p=1833"},"modified":"2017-04-03T08:29:57","modified_gmt":"2017-04-03T13:29:57","slug":"gods-someones-csw61","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/gods-someones-csw61\/","title":{"rendered":"“God’s Someones” at CSW61"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is roughly the sermon preached by the Rev. Meredith Harber during the Lutheran-led worship for the 61st<\/sup> session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women Ecumenical Women\u2019s worship on March 14, 2017. Since sermons are lived experiences where the Holy Spirit shows up in her glorious and gracious way, these words aren\u2019t verbatim. This sermon is based on Esther 4:16.\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

When I was 22 years old, I worked for an elementary school. One of my kids from the school invited me to come have dinner with her family. While her mother was working in the kitchen to finish dinner, I sat with my student\u2019s grandma. In our general introductions, grandma learned my name and then asked me if I had a husband. I generally use humor in these situations, so I said, \u201cNo, no. Husbands are a LOT of work and I don\u2019t want to deal with that!\u201d She laughed and agreed, but she persisted. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you have a husband?\u201d she asked, with concern painted across her face. I said, \u201cWell, I\u2019m young and I don\u2019t want to rush into anything.\u201d She said, \u201cYes, you\u2019re young, but you\u2019re fat. And no man is going to want a fat wife. And really, you\u2019re not that young.\u201d<\/p>\n

This moment has stuck with me over the last eight years, because this moment captured a feeling that I and many other women experience on a regular basis. My identity was attached to a husband \u2013 or my lack of a husband \u2013 and to my age and to my weight and to any other outside factor. Anyone else ever have that experience of being reduced to labels and property, rather than to be seen for your whole personhood?<\/p>\n

This morning, we heard a bit of the story from Esther, specifically Esther 4:16 that says,\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cGo, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast\u00a0for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.\u201d If you haven\u2019t spent time with Esther, I invite you to do so, because she is a fierce woman. This one verse may not seem like much, but this one verse is the turning point in Esther\u2019s story from powerless to powerful.<\/p>\n

See, Esther was as powerless as she could possibly be. She was born a girl, to parents who both died in her childhood, leaving her as an orphan. When her uncle, Mordechai, adopted her, she became a tool for him to accomplish his political goals. She was also prejudiced against for her religion and culture as a Jew. King Ahasuerus, the ruler of the land, put out a call for the prettiest virgins to come present themselves to be considered for the king\u2019s harem. Mordechai sent Esther to be reviewed for her beauty and virginity, and she was eventually chosen. She was sent by a man to be chosen by a man to be a sex slave.<\/p>\n

Esther was labeled as property by the men in her life. Girl, orphan, Jew, sex slave. She was as powerless as she could be.<\/p>\n

But see, Esther wasn\u2019t just someone\u2019s ward or someone\u2019s sex toy. Esther was someone. She worked her way up through the harem, building relationships with those in power, to become the queen of the whole land. She was always powerful, despite the labels placed on her that tried to tell the world \u2013 and Esther \u2013 that she was worthless.<\/p>\n

She was God\u2019s someone.<\/p>\n

The beauty of Esther\u2019s story is that while she had harsh words from those around her about who she was and was not, the ultimate word from our God is that we are God\u2019s someone.<\/p>\n

YOU, dear friends, are God\u2019s someones.<\/p>\n

YOU are powerful beyond belief.<\/p>\n

YOU, whether you\u2019re \u2026
\nold
\n<\/em>young
\n<\/em>skinny
\n<\/em>fat
\n<\/em>unmarried
\n<\/em>divorced
\n<\/em>widowed
\n<\/em>married to your husband or wife or partner
\n<\/em>a mother
\n<\/em>an auntie
\n<\/em>a stepmother
\n<\/em>painfully childless
\n<\/em>happily childless<\/em><\/p>\n

YOU, no matter your \u2026
\nrace
\n<\/em>socio-economic status
\n<\/em>religion or denomination
\n<\/em>gender identity
\n<\/em>assigned place in society
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

YOU, dear friends, are God\u2019s someones. And YOU, as God\u2019s someones, are powerful beyond belief. Thanks be to God. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is roughly the sermon preached by the Rev. Meredith Harber during the Lutheran-led worship for the 61st session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women Ecumenical Women\u2019s worship on March 14, 2017. Since sermons are lived experiences where the Holy Spirit shows up in her glorious and gracious way, these words aren\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1400],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n"God's Someones" at CSW61 - ELCA Advocacy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/gods-someones-csw61\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""God's Someones" at CSW61 - ELCA Advocacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is roughly the sermon preached by the Rev. Meredith Harber during the Lutheran-led worship for the 61st session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women Ecumenical Women\u2019s worship on March 14, 2017. 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