by Carol Howard Merritt
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 1:10-18
For Sunday, Novemeber 3, 2013: Year C —Lectionary 31
I sat in a circle of clergywomen, and once we realized that the space was safe with trusting bodies, we began to talk about the times when we had experienced sexism. Considering religious occupations are some of the only jobs left where women can be barred just for being women, the stories flowed.
Right when it felt like we were on the edge of despair, a friend said with the gravitas of a great preacher, “You know what? We. Make. People. No wonder why they want to keep us down. No wonder why they are afraid of us. We make people!”
It has become a mantra of mine. I play it in my head, when someone is being particularly demeaning, I nod and think, Yeah, you may think you’re awesome, but I make people.
It’s Gonna get Messy
So the hardest question came up for me quickly when the first author of Isaiah denounces the moon festivals and writes, “Though your sins are like crimson, they shall be white as snow.” An unfortunate side effect of reading too much George R. R. Martin is that hearing “moon” and “blood” used in the same breath makes me pause. But then, this crimson color could refer to a particular shade of red that came from a maggot that was used to dye clothing.
In case the metaphor was too unclear, the third author of Isaiah picks up the word picture and makes it more explicit,
We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth (64:6).
The Hebrew word for “filthy” is one of human excrement, making clear that the author is particularly referring to what the grocery store aisle refers to as “feminine products.”
I have to admit, I have a difficult time with the authors of Isaiah on this. And, I suppose, if I’m going to take up a beef with Isaiah, then I need to take it up with all the Levitical codes, which see this particular type of blood as unclean, and even make the connection to sin.
Demeaning Filth
It has been mysterious, for many who have written myths over the ages. It is a blood that comes without violence and flows without war. For many women, it is a life force and a monthly reminder of our possibility, our creative powers. The mujuerista theologian, Ada María Isasi-Díaz, has worked with the concept with a liberating flair. And I appreciate her ability to be able to struggle with the text and end up with a redemptive narrative.
But the words of Isaiah make me uneasy and they remind me that Christianity has often taken the reproductive powers of women, in all of its forms—whether it is our ability to create, struggles with infertility, or our need for birth control—and has made it unclean. When women have a cycle, they are filthy. When they are barren, it is because God has not blessed them. And now, in our modern twist, many clergy want to tell women that they are immoral if they want access to birth control. I have even heard arguments that link birth control to the downfall of Christianity.
The Hardest Question
Many questions arise in the midst of this. How do we struggle with the persistent misogyny in our tradition and in our news? How can we lift up the beauty of fertility, infertility, and birth control in ways that are not de-humanizing?
Is there any way to get beyond these harmful metaphors?
Carol Howard Merritt grew up along the beaches of Florida. After being raised as a conservative Baptist and attending a fundamentalist Bible college, she went to Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and decided to become a minister. Carol has been a pastor for 13 years, serving growing Presbyterian Churches in the swamps of Cajun Louisiana, a bayside village in Rhode Island, and in an urban neighborhood in D.C. She is the award-winning author of Tribal Church (Alban 2007) and Reframing Hope (Alban 2010). She has contributed to numerous books, websites, magazines, and journals. Her blog, TribalChurch.org, is hosted by the Christian Century. She blogs regularly at Huffington Post and Dukes Divinity's Faith and Leadership site. Carol is a sought-after speaker. She hosts Unco (short for Unconference), open-space gatherings where participants dream about and plan for the future of the church. And she co-hosts God Complex Radio, a podcast with Derrick Weston. Carol lives in Chattanooga, TN with her daughter and husband, Brian Merritt, who is starting a new church. You can follow her on Twitter (@CarolHoward) or Facebook.
