Jesus Christ is the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead
and ruler of the sovereigns of the earth.
To him who loves us,
who showed us love’s conquering power over sin,
who has made us into a kingdom,
priests for our God who is Mother and Father,
to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

Behold, God is coming amid the clouds,
and every eye will see God,
even those who pierced God’s heart
by abusing and silencing those God loves.
All the peoples of the earth will lament with God.
Yes. Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says our Sovereign God,
“the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty.”

I prayed and I imagined that as Jesus drew near Rome, he saw the city and wept over it, saying,
“If this day you only knew what makes for justice– but now it is hidden from your eyes.
For the days are coming upon you when those you abused, those you cast out, those you silenced
will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.
They will smash you to the ground and your privileged within you,
and they will not leave one stone upon another within you
because you did not recognize the time of My visitation.
You refused to listen,
you refused to change,
you refused My grace,
preferring your own privilege.”

From 3 John 5-8
Beloved, let us be faithful in all we do for our sisters and brothers,
especially for the abused, the silenced, the outcast,
And those who are strangers in a strange land;
that they may experience our love.
Please help them in a way worthy of God to continue their journey.
For they have set out for the sake of the Name
Of our God of Justice and Wisdom
and are receiving nothing from the abusers and deceivers,
From the arrogant and privileged.
Therefore, we ought to support such persons,
so that we may be co-workers in the truth of our God of love.

From Luke 18: 1-8
Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.
Jesus said, “There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being.
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,
‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.'”

What might we learn from this parable?
Here’s how we can understand
What God’s chosen one said about this parable:
Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.
If even a dishonest judge yields to persistent demands for justice,
How much more surely and swiftly
Will God secure the rights of Her loved ones
Who have been abused, silenced, cast out and denied justice.
The injustices done to them call out to God day and night.
Will God not answer them?
I tell you, God will see to it that justice is done for them surely.
But when God looks to us,
Will She find that we were persistent
In our faith and cooperation with those who seek justice here on earth?”

Here is how I have come to understand today’s reading from Titus 3:1-7

Beloved:
We are reminded to be wise in challenging the control of authorities,
whether civil or religious.
Ordinarily, we are called to be obedient,
but we are equally called to be open to every good enterprise.
When it is necessary to challenge authority,
then, as in all our dealings with others,
we must slander no one, be peaceable, considerate,
exercising all graciousness toward everyone.
We need to humbly remember that we ourselves
can be foolish, disobedient, deluded,
slaves to various desires and pleasures.
Let us do our best, prayerfully, to avoid living in malice and envy,
hateful ourselves and hating one another.

For by the kindness and generous love
of God our Mother, Father and Savior –
not because of any righteous deeds we had done
but because of God’s mercy –
we are saved, reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit of Wisdom,
richly poured out on us
through our gracious saving God,
so that we are justified by God’s grace
and heirs to eternal life.

How do I understand the second chapter of Titus? This was my meditation challenge from today’s reading. And I think I found the answer in these words of Paul’s to Titus, explaining that Paul’s purpose in writing was to guide them in how “to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age.” (Titus 2:12). And so, guided by Lady Wisdom, I dare to suggest what this might look like “in this age.”

Beloved:
This is consistent with sound doctrine:
that older men and women should be temperate, dignified,
self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and endurance,
reverent in their behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to drink,
teaching what is good,
so that they may train younger men and women
to love their partners and children,
to be self-controlled, chaste,
Cooperating in making good homes,
under the control of their love for each other,
so that the word of God may not be discredited.

Urge the younger men and women, similarly, to control themselves.
Those who would teach them and guide them must
show themselves as models of good deeds in every respect,
with integrity in their teaching, dignity, and sound speech
so that no opponent will have anything bad to say about us.

For the grace of God has appeared, saving all
and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires
and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age,
as we await the blessed hope,
the appearance of the glory of our great God,
who is our Father, Mother and Savior,
who delivered us from all lawlessness
so that we may be God’s own people,
eager to do what is good.

This morning, as I meditated on the first nine verses of Paul’s letter to Titus, I imagined what I might write, were Lady Wisdom gracious enough to bless my humble service:

We, free women of God, our Lady Wisdom, and sisters of Jesus Christ
For the sake of the faith of God’s ignored ones
For the recognition of Her eternal truth
In the hope of Her eternal love –
The love that God, our gracious Lady Wisdom who is always truthful, promised before time began
Who through all time reveals Her word, though it be not spoken or written
In the proclamation of which, lately, we women are entrusted
By the command of God, our Wisdom and our Savior
To all our sisters and brothers of faith
Grace and peace from God our Mother and Jesus Christ our brother.

For this reason we are hearing the words of our Mother
Wherever we are, wherever we worship
So that we might set right what needs to be corrected.

Those who serve our needs of faith
Those who worship with us
Need not be blameless
Need not be married only once
Need not have perfect children
Need not be men
But, to serve as Lady Wisdom’s stewards
Must not be arrogant
Nor overly irritable
Nor abusers of themselves or others
Nor aggressive
Nor greedy for their own gain and pleasure
Those who serve as stewards for our Lady Wisdom
Must be hospitable, lovers of goodness, temperate
Striving always for justice, for holiness, for self-control
And must try, to the best of their ability
To hold fast to the true message
Though it has become more ignored than taught
So that they will be able to see themselves clearly,
To admonish others charitably and truthfully,
And to rebuke and reject narrow-minded arrogance
In interpreting the word of Wisdom.

Praying, I imagined myself dining with Jesus and I heard him say:
“Some will say,
‘Blessed is the one who consecrated the bread and wine in the Kingdom of God.’
But I tell you this:
God gave a great dinner to which She invited many.
But some priestly men stole many of the invitations
And secretly gave them to other men, only men,
whom they judged more worthy to be invited.
When the time for the dinner came,
God dispatched Her angel to say to those invited,
‘Come, everything is now ready.’
But one by one, the priestly men began to excuse themselves.
The first said to the messenger,
‘I have to hear confession and stay to free people from their sins;
I ask you, consider me excused.’
And another said, ‘I have to raise money to build a better church so people can come watch me worship God;
I ask you, consider me excused.’
And another said, ‘I have to say Mass to bring God to the people, and therefore I cannot come.’
And each woman said, ‘I did not receive my invitation,
But I would love to come.’
The angel went and reported this to God.
Then God in a rage commanded Her messenger,
‘Go out quickly into all the world
and bring in here the abused and the outcast, the ignored and the silenced.’
The angel reported, ‘Madam, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.’
God then ordered the messenger,
‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows
and invite everyone to come in that my home may be filled.
For, I tell you, none of those pompous priestly men who were invited will taste my dinner.'”