Maternal Health for All Seasons

Our God, it is the season of Advent and we anticipate your birth. With new beginnings on the horizon may we usher in a time of awareness that educates your people about the need for international family planning. May we herald this hope for women everywhere as we celebrate an epoch of love.

Our God, it is Epiphany and you come to us in a forward motion of revelation. Reveal to us how we can increase maternal health globally. Inspire us to train midwives. Inspire us to be midwives.

Our God, it is the season of Lent and we wait with you in quiet reflection and midnight gardens. May we watch and pray for the women of the world who do not have access to reproductive freedom. May we fast for those who find themselves at the mercy of biology in a world where every 60* seconds a woman dies from a pregnancy related cause.

Our God, it is Easter and your Sunday morning greatness is too much to comprehend. Overwhelm us with hope for those who are engulfed by death. Bring to life a movement of education, economic development, and healthcare for women and girls around the world. You are the God of resurrection. May it be so for those in their ninth month of pregnancy.

Our God, it is the season of Ordinary Time and we sit with you in calm thanksgiving. Deep breath in and deep breath out. Ten fingers and ten toes. May we reflect on the possibilities of a world where babies are planned and mothers are healthy.
S

*The statistic is now 90 seconds. Progress!

layers

It's been one of those weeks. A week that starts with a dreaded late night call and continues with daily questions so personal that there are times when I think there is no more ministry left in my body. But amazingly, there is. It is like the oil that fueled the Hanukkah miracle . . it keeps coming, unexplained.

I work with teenaged girls and there is always drama, but this week is exceptional. Our layers of selfness are deep. Teenaged girls are no different from their older sister counterparts and like us, they cover who they really are with superficial overlay as a kind of foil. Sometimes I forget and their sighing, eye rolling, and seemingly uncaring attitudes cause me to bristle. But underneath those layers are amazing girls waiting for a word - waiting for me, you, us to be in their corner even when they act like they don't want us to be - especially when they act that way.

This post is a lot of everything and nothing because I am bound by confidentiality and friendship laws, but my bottom line is - this week my mother muscles have been exercised. This week I've thought about maternal health contextually as sometimes maternal health means going to bed early or watching a movie. Tomorrow, my phone will ring again and there will be more conversations and airport rides and God forbid, hospital visits.

I'm amazed, once again, by Body Theology - mine and theirs. All of it is nothing short of miraculous.
S

Body Theology

Imago Dei.
Love metabolized.