Changing Church: Christina Cavener, “Christ-Sophia Loves us, Restores us, and Sets us Free”
Let us begin by reading a Scripture from the Gospel of Luke.
-Luke 7:35-50
Sophia, Our Love-Maker,
We are afraid of your love, your intimacy.
We are used to being judged,
but we are not used to being loved, totally.
We would rather hold on to our self-hatred
than believe in your total acceptance of us.
Give us the courage to let go and embrace you;
may we learn how to want your loving touch,
that we in our turn may love generously those who cannot believe they are loved.
Let us now rise and greet one another saying, “[Name], you are loved.”
-Mark 14:3-11
Sophia, Our Pain-Bearer,
Give us the courage of this unknown woman,
to speak the gospel with authority;
to break open all our resources
from the place of no resources;
to break open and pour out
even the pain that we want to hold on to;
so that we can dare to name the truth about our world,
and truthfully stand with the Christ-Sophia who made herself nothing for our sake.
At this time, let us now name those women who have lived the gospel through their actions or spoken prophetic words. Let us name our sister pioneers. Let us claim our sister saints.
Miriam, poetess of the Exodus, our sister,
We remember you.
Rachel, traveler with Jacob, our sister,
We remember you.
Sarah, our sister,
We remember you.
Gabriel, brave messenger, our sister,
We remember you.
Ruth, our sister,
We remember you.
Elizabeth, sister of Mary, our sister,
We remember you.
Mary, mother of Jesus, our sister,
We remember you.
Anna, our sister,
We remember you.
Mary of Bethany, our sister,
We remember you.
Mary of Magdala, our sister,
We remember you.
Martha of Bethany, our sister,
We remember you.
Phoebe, our sister,
We remember you.
Julie and Junia, our sisters,
We remember you.
Saints Perpetua and Felicitas, our sisters,
We remember you.
St. Teresa of Avila, our sister,
We remember you.
St. Hildegard of Bingen, our sister,
We remember you.
St. Isidora, our sister,
We remember you.
St. Margaret of Antioch, our sister,
We remember you.
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, our sister,
We remember you.
Lift other names and we will respond with, We remember you.
All women in the church, our sisters, how good it is to claim you,
for you are our tradition of prophets, disciples, ministers,
The cloud of witnesses to the work of Spirit-Sophia through the women of Christianity. We thank you for your faithfulness. You are inspirations to us all.
Sophia, our Life-Giver,
Again and again we find ourselves stuck
in old patterns of domination and submission;
we stay resenting our powerlessness
or guilt-ridden by our power.
Give us courage to believe that change is possible:
Let us so wash one another’s feet as sisters [and brothers]
that the fragrance of our ministry
may fill the whole church;
and free us from captivity
to a world where no one is held in bondage.
Let us now wash one another’s feet with the love of Christ-Sophia. We will partner with one another and take turns washing each other’s feet. After washing your partner’s feet, say, Christ-Sophia has set you free, my sister/brother.
Let us now come together as sisters [and brothers], holding each other in solidarity. Let us together voice our unity in Christ-Sophia,
Christ-Sophia has restored our love.
Christ-Sophia has healed our pain.
Christ-Sophia has set us free.
Amen!