By Lori Whittemore,
I have been participating in a Bible Study each week with a group of women who currently reside in a county jail. I don’t believe any of the women are over the age of 40. Many have children. All are survivors of abuse, either at the hands of parents, partners, or both. The majority are there because of crimes relating to their addictions. Rather than counseling, rehabilitation, and recovery, we give them isolation and condemnation. Some have no exposure at all to the Bible or the epic stories contained therein. Others know it more thoroughly and take it more literally than I do.
It was particularly meaningful to spend time with them during Holy Week. Taking them from Bethany through Psalm Sunday, to the last supper through the crucifixion, and onto resurrection was humbling. We engaged with the story, in its fullness and its joy. They could relate to the abandonment by beloved friends, crowds turning against Jesus, and being crucified for the sins of others. Some of the women articulated the resurrection so clearly that the hopefulness of Easter was made tangible in ways that I could never do for them.
In this journey during Holy Week and with this Bible Study, I was struck by the Biblical women’s stories, such as the story of Mary, Lazarus’ sister, anointing Jesus with precious oils. While others scoffed at her “wasting” costly oil, she was preparing him symbolically and literally to face his death and resurrection. His mother Mary never abandoned him and stood at the cross as he suffered and died, never leaving him alone. Mary Magdalene brought cloths and spices to his tomb to attend to his dead body and was the first to discover that his tomb was empty. These women faced the hard truths revealed to us in the story. When other disciples abandoned or denied Jesus, these women accompanied Jesus from the beginning of this hard journey, through the horror, and then midwifed the Good News of resurrection.
In our Bible Study, we reflected on the importance of the women in the story and the strength that women had to have to do the hard work. Each woman in our group was able to find some meaning in the story. And because of our time together I felt a deeper connection to the women of the Bible and the women in our group. It is my prayer that our society reconnect to resurrection, redemption, and recovery rather than continuously punishing those who suffer in darkness and pain. It is my prayer that we all choose to share this resurrection tangibly with those who need it most.
Lori Whittemore a spiritual care volunteer for the American Red Cross and Maine Behavioral Health, as well as the founder and director of Abbey of Hope and Clinical Pastoral Training Center of Southern Maine (CPTCSM). Through CPTCSM she trains chaplains and pastoral care givers with today’s varied religious and spiritual landscape in mind. Rev. Whittemore approaches interfaith ministry from her Christian background and training as well as her interfaith education at Chaplaincy Institute of Maine.
Art: Detail, station of the cross, Saint Symphorian church of Pfettisheim, Bas-Rhin, France. Wikimedia Commons, public domain.