{"id":1788,"date":"2010-12-14T09:59:43","date_gmt":"2010-12-14T14:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/hungerrumblings\/?p=1788"},"modified":"2010-12-14T09:59:43","modified_gmt":"2010-12-14T14:59:43","slug":"christmas-musing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/christmas-musing\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Musing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2010\/12\/Holy-Family.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1789\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2010\/12\/Holy-Family.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"292\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a>This next Sunday (the last Sunday before Christmas&#8211;yikes!) we will read about Joseph\u2019s courage and Mary\u2019s faithfulness. \u00a0 What follows is a reflection on Matthew 1:18-25 that I wrote for our weekly ListServ, &#8220;Hunger Sermon Starters&#8221; (if you are interested in receiving in your email inbox hunger related reflections on the lectionary, click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elca.org\/Our-Faith-In-Action\/Responding-to-the-World\/ELCA-World-Hunger\/Resources\/For-Congregations\/Worship-Helps\/Sermon-Starters.aspx\">here<\/a> to sign up). \u00a0Read the reflection and let me know what you think!<\/p>\n<p>Through the faithful obedience of two normal people, with very real struggles and fears, God incarnate entered the world.\u00a0 How might God\u2019s presence be needed in our world today?\u00a0 How is God calling us to be faithful?\u00a0 When we think about hunger and poverty, what might God be calling us to be and do as the body of Christ, God\u2019s hands and feet?<\/p>\n<p>A deeper look at the Gospel reveals an excellent opportunity to think about systems and structures that keep people hungry.\u00a0 After telling us that Mary miraculously conceived from the Holy Spirit, Matthew is careful to demonstrate Joseph\u2019s piety (1:19): \u201cHer husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.\u201d\u00a0 Joseph, for reasons that are not explicit (Was he worried about how it would look for his betrothed to be pregnant? Did he question her fidelity?), wishes to leave Mary once he discovers that she is with child.\u00a0 Matthew seems to suggest that Joseph\u2019s status as a \u201crighteous\u201d man is protected by his willingness to put Mary away \u201cquietly.\u201d\u00a0 It was culturally appropriate to abandon Mary, leaving her to be a young single mother on her own.<\/p>\n<p>Allow for a provocative question: How is Joseph\u2019s desire in any way \u201crighteous\u201d?\u00a0 Matthew\u2019s justification implies that it is acceptable (even proof of one\u2019s righteousness) to leave a young woman to fend for herself and her child, so long as it is done privately.\u00a0 In spite of Mary\u2019s manifest vulnerability, her health, security, and status are irrelevant.\u00a0 To be fair to Joseph (and Matthew), he was simply operating in the norms and mores of his society (here we see the systems and structures).\u00a0 Moreover, Joseph\u2019s faithfulness to God\u2019s call shows his courage in standing against unjust systems when necessary.<\/p>\n<p>Today, in many parts of the world (and yes, in some sectors of the Global North as well), women and children are seen as second class citizens, and can be simply discarded much like Joseph wished to do to Mary.\u00a0 Women suffer disproportionately from hunger and poverty and are more likely to be abused (sexually and otherwise) and trafficked.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On the flip side, women are multipliers when it comes to effectively addressing hunger and poverty.\u00a0 Women produce 60-80% of food crops in the Global South.\u00a0 Yet they are far less likely to own land.\u00a0 Women are also more likely than men to invest money in their family.\u00a0 In short, we see a system (in this case pervasive sexism) that perpetuates and exacerbates hunger and poverty.\u00a0 (For a host of relevant facts and data and some clever media presentations, see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.girleffect.org\/\">www.girleffect.org<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>This week\u2019s Gospel, in my opinion, does not adequately challenge the system (but it does draw us into a discussion of the problem).\u00a0 But we can challenge the system.\u00a0 We can give to programs that support education and empowerment of women (ELCA Good Gifts is a good place to start\u2014see <a href=\"https:\/\/community.elca.org\/netcommunity\/page.aspx?pid=474\">https:\/\/community.elca.org\/netcommunity\/page.aspx?pid=474<\/a>).\u00a0 We can advocate for laws and policies that protect the rights of women (see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elca.org\/advocacy\">www.elca.org\/advocacy<\/a>).\u00a0 We can educate ourselves and others about the issues (the aforementioned Girl Effect Web site will give you plenty to think about).\u00a0 Let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n<p>David Creech<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This next Sunday (the last Sunday before Christmas&#8211;yikes!) we will read about Joseph\u2019s courage and Mary\u2019s faithfulness. \u00a0 What follows is a reflection on Matthew 1:18-25 that I wrote for our weekly ListServ, &#8220;Hunger Sermon Starters&#8221; (if you are interested in receiving in your email inbox hunger related reflections on the lectionary, click here to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[114,197],"class_list":["post-1788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post","tag-causes-of-world-hunger","tag-womens-rights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - 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