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Jesus and Women, the oil of Joy…

/ jill autrey dorman / 2 Comments
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Side bar, just a short one I promise… (This sounds like theology 101 but fear not…it is not boring! It is absolutely fabulous for women.)

  • In the recorded life of Jesus we can clearly see that he never assumes there are rules in following Him designed for women only.  Jesus treated women as unique individuals. Nowhere does he condescend to flatter women, he rather demands as much from them as from men.

You have been anointed by the Holy One and you know the Truth. 1 John 2:20

Jesus’ approach to women is revolutionary considering the cultural norm of his day. When we hear the “Woman at the Well” story in the traditional exegesis, so much is made of the fact that this woman had multiple marriages and is in quite a predicament of living with a man, even as she speaks to Jesus, who is not her husband. Not only is that issue not the focus of this conversation with Christ but he actually gives her an apostolic role: Once she believes and is made a follower of Christ (disciple) she call others as Jesus called the twelve. She says “come and see” and others believed “because of her word.”

I love this declaration of Jesus’ first “evangelist move.” It clearly frees us of any cultural or theological hang up that women are NOT messengers of “The Kingdom of Heaven” that Jesus came to establish.

“Exposure to Jesus and His Kingdom are not  related at all to being male or female. The Gospel of Jesus is about receiving the testimony of the Spirit and embracing the hope of the gospel.”  Don’t you just love that? (1 Corinthians 2:14)

My sweetest Hallelujah

/ jill autrey dorman
woman carrying baby at beach during sunset

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These small child’s handprints on my glass backdoor
the sticky applesauce and popsicle on my kitchen floor
I wouldn’t trade for all the mansions in this world.

 
These conversations with my daughter’s
the new territories in this journey
I wouldn’t miss for all the fame this world could offer.

 
These days I count as precious gems
to the road that leads me round the bend
I will simply give my sweetest Hallelujah.

A bloodied and battered Benediction

/ jill autrey dorman

 

hand full of blood

A  silent prayer to the close of night

bloodied and battered in the morning light

No more walls or secret places

ashes to the wind  from trash to Grace…

 

The ribbons of sadness all broken away

Redemption’s song the melody of the day

I will  meet you at the road and the sky

over the edge I will let my spirit fly…

 

Turn my mourning into dancing

I clap my hands with the rocks and tree

The Benediction to the new day coming

a wedding feast for my Beloved and me…

 

 

 

 

 

I tried to make it Sunday…

/ jill autrey dorman / 1 Comment

landscape vacation people clouds

 

Well I tried to make it Sunday

but that ocean tide came calling

I stopped on the way for some Tupelo honey

just know my soul needs healing…

 

My Angels have grown older now

though they do not tire of my journey

they bring comfort to my soul

they guard me in my worry…

 

There are no words needing to be spoken

there is no darkness I cannot face

I will sit beside the ocean blue

and for a time it will be a resting place…

I know I’m not saying anything new…

/ jill autrey dorman

art business close up decor

 

I feel I am my best self when I write. To portray life as it is as well as it should or could be. I suppose that is what a painter feels as well or a dancer, a sculptor…

Writing brings me a contentment in the moment not feeding the future or regretting the past. Sometimes when I hear or read  a string of words together my ears perk up like when the wind whispers in them.

I know that I’m not saying anything new but for me writing feels like the process of the sea’s relentless movement or the running river water as they both over time smooth the sharp edges off of broken glass or a  rock and reshape them into something beautiful to behold.

I know most things never change but to attempt to express a feeling or fragrance or a picture using words is my passion.

Here is an example of what I am saying…

Wisteria grew along the weathered splintered gray fence that had long been forgotten. The fragrance of the wisteria permeated the bright spring day and it made her feel lightness in her heart that she had not experienced in a long while. She thought about how precious her memories of first love are for there-in  lies treasure in the pleasure and the pain…

I feel a story coming on…to be continued I hope.

 

Holy face

/ jill autrey dorman

  • abstract beach bright clouds

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  • No one can look into your face, yet you let us stand in the Holy Place
  • Oh how amazing to be present with you while the world spits in your face.
  • One minute we doubt you and next on our knees we beg Your mercy and grace
  • Amazing love, the old hymn sings, oh how can it be?
  • What do I know of your Holy face, yet you let me think I do?
  • When least deserved your presence and light come shining through
  • How I long to be in your heaven with you until all your love I know
  • Amazing love, the old hymn sings, on how can it be?

 

Rachmones, the Hebrew word…

/ jill autrey dorman
silhouette of pregnant standing on seashore during golden hour

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(“Rachmones”:this is a Hebrew word for womb…It is the definition of a compassion as deep and as undeniable as what a mother feels for her child). A little set up for the journal essay below…love you and your family.

 

I got up very early on Sunday morning and sat on a bench in the park…I wondered what it would be like to leave my Christian self and shrug off the garment of My Lord’s bloody cloak. I remember standing up and bowing to my knees. The stillness and holiness of that place brought to my mind the word’s “Lord have mercy… “Chrieste eleison.” Then I thought of the former life I had shed because of Christ and how he had withheld his anger from me and has shown me His Mercy. The Yiddish word for Mercy is “rachmones”, whose root is “rechem” the Hebrew word for womb.

 

Myself being a mother and now a grandmother I am sure once again that God is my father and my mother, the silent mother of mercy, if you will. In his transcendence He is not limited in any way. I know that I could no sooner cease being a Christian then I can cease being me…So I picked up my bloody cloak of Jesus Christ and put it back on gladly. I pray that if anyone sees anything at all the rest of my life it will be God, the silent mother of Mercy, Rachmones.

Silver Lanterns

/ jill autrey dorman

beach candle candlelight close up

 

So brilliant now the sunlit skies

that old sweet blindness passing by

A woman-child knows fruitless times

all dressed up in lace and rhymes…

 

Let silver lanterns lead the days

Of ones who journey through the ages

To nurture wildness is to be wise

Let silver lanterns by our guide.

 

 

Exposure

/ jill autrey dorman / 1 Comment

art blur close up colors

 

I lie down under the burden

         of the courage that I lack

For you to see the sin in me

        cannot be taken back

 

 

It is my greatest fear at times

       you might finally know

The dark and filth I tasted once

      I never want to show

 

Exposure of who I really am

     could drive your love away

After all  you’re only human

     dare I hope that you would stay?

 

The truth of exposure that I  do not fear

      is a mystery not of loss

but a debt that is paid fully

      willingly hung upon the Cross