“There were also women” Lent 2024

[At the cross] there were also women watching from a distance; among them were Mary the Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. These women followed him and ministered to him when he was in Galilee, and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem. (Mark 15:40-41)

The season of Lent is often compared to a journey. Throughout forty days, the church journeys towards the cross and resurrection of Christ, and our faith is renewed. The cross is our destination. At the cross, Christians encounter the mystery of our salvation at the intersection of marginality and suffering.

This year St. Luke’s will use as our roadmap for the Lenten journey a new resource called A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church by womanist biblical scholar and Episcopal priest Rev. Dr. Wilda C. Gafney. Central to Dr. Gafney’s critically acclaimed lectionary series is the conviction that “it ought to be possible to tell the story of God and God’s people through the most marginalized characters in the text.”

Women are certainly marginalized in our scriptures, which are andocentric and steeped in patriarchy. Women’s stories are told through the lens of male authors, women go un-named and un-voiced, or their stories are never even told. But, as Dr. Gafney notes, women are “even less well represented in [our lectionaries] than they are in the biblical text.” That is, when scriptures are selected for worship, bible study, or preaching, many stories of women that do exist in scripture are still not chosen, read, or heard.

Dr. Gafney’s lectionary places women and girls at the center of the story. Her resource provides readings for the whole church year (and even a whole three-year cycle), but it seems especially appropriate to begin in the season of Lent. As we journey towards the cross, we enter more deeply into the mystery of a God who makes Godself known in marginalized people and places. At the cross, we find our salvation in the body of a marginalized God.

Our companions on the journey are women in scripture who, like Jesus, know what it means to experience brutality, fear, rejection, betrayal — and yes, also abundance, authority, power, joy, and life.

In the gospel of Mark, the story of Jesus’s suffering and death on the cross ends with Jesus’s final breath:

Then Jesus gave a great cry and breathed out a final time. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, stationed facing him, saw that in this way Jesus breathed out at the end, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” (Mark 15:37-39)

Immediately, in the very next verse, the gospel turns its gaze from the cross to the women on the margins:

There were also women watching from a distance; among them were Mary the Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. These women followed him and ministered to him when he was in Galilee, and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem. (Mark 15:40-41)

And so, as our Lenten journey brings us finally to the foot of the cross, we find faithful women waiting there. With them we bear witness to the mystery of faith. With them, we grieve and lament. With them we await God’s new day.

(Quotations and scripture translations from: Gafney, Wilda C.. A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church Year B. Church Publishing Incorporated. Kindle Edition.)

Preaching this Lent

In Lent, St. Luke’s is grateful to hear from a variety of preachers who will proclaim God’s good news to us and enrich our worship life with their perspectives. Our preachers will be following text selections from A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church Year B by Rev. Dr. Wilda C. Gafney.

First Sunday in Lent - February 18

Judges 5:24-31 | Deborah sings of Jael’s victory
Psalm 25:1-7 | Remember your maternal love, O Womb of Life (Ps 25:6)
Romans 12:14-21 | Vengeance belongs to God
Mark 6:14-29 | Deadly politics of Herodias

**Samantha Nichols** is a graduate of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and an ordained pastor in the ELCA. She is currently serving in the Metro Chicago Synod as a Staff Chaplain at University of Chicago Medicine with unit assignments including the Emergency Department, Trauma, as well as Surgical and Burn Intensive Care Units.

As part of her synodical call to chaplaincy, Samantha will be dedicating a few hours per month of non-stipendiary Word and Sacrament service to St. Luke's -- meaning she will be around from time to time leading worship and participating in activities.

Second Sunday in Lent - February 25

Proverbs 28:20-25 | Warnings against avarice and greed
Psalm 50:1-15 | Mine is the world and all that fills it (Ps 50:12)
1 Timothy 5:1-4, 8 | Believers care for elders and provide for one another
Mark 7:1-15 | Jesus interprets the commandment to honor father and mother

**Rev. Christina Marthield Montgomery** is a self-described Black Disabled Fat Femme Lesbian Woman who was ordained in Metropolitan Chicago Synod in July 2022. She received her MDiv in May 2021 from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) and is a trained End of Life Doula. She currently serves as Racial Justice Manager in the Office of the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA. She lives in the South Loop neighborhood of Chicago and loves elephants, crafting, and traveling.

Third Sunday in Lent - March 3

Joshua 6:15-17, 23, 25 | Rahab saves her family and people
Psalm 146 | The Mother of All cares for the stranger (Ps 146:9)
James 2:14-19, 24-26 | Rahab’s example of faith
Mark 7:24-30 | A Syrophonecian woman challenges Jesus

**Kristen Opalinski** serves as the Manager for Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations on the staff of the Office of the Presiding Bishop for the Evangelical Lutheran church in America (ELCA). Her work centers around shepherding new and existing ecumenical and inter-religious partnerships, while deepening opportunities for ecumenical and inter-religious formation and leadership throughout the ELCA.

Kristen has written a number of articles, including reflections on her personal faith journey, women’s leadership development across the global church, and the Lutheran church’s legacy of peacemaking. In addition to her writing, she is an artist, photographer, and graphic designer. Her work has been featured by the Lutheran World Federation, the Product (RED) Campaign, CNN, the United Nations, The Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation, and Westminster John Knox Press.

Fourth Sunday in Lent - March 10

1 Kings 17:8-16 | Miracle of the widow of Zarephath
Psalm 145:8-10, 14-19 | The eyes of all look to you, and you give to them their food (Ps 145:15)
1 Corinthians 3:1-9 | Paul provides the spirit-young with milk
Mark 8:1-21 | A crowd of women, children, and men are fed by Jesus

**River Cook Needham** (she/her/hers), the administrative assistant at St. Luke’s, is a graduate of and student at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, studying transgender oral histories. She comes to St. Luke’s ambitiously blending her theological education with her office experience. Previously, River worked as an office manager for a theological journal, and as a research assistant studying student debt.

Outside of her work and studies, River lives with her chosen family. She’s rarely far away from a good book or two.

Fifth Sunday in Lent - March 17

Genesis 4:17-24 | Adah and Zillah marry Lamech
Psalm 128 | Happy are all who revere the Fount of Life (Ps 128:1)
1 Corinthians 7:1-17 | Paul gives relationship advice
Mark 10:1-16 | Jesus teaches on divorce