{"id":323,"date":"2011-03-18T12:42:36","date_gmt":"2011-03-18T16:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/?p=323"},"modified":"2011-03-18T12:42:36","modified_gmt":"2011-03-18T16:42:36","slug":"her-body-broken-for-many-friday-lent-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/her-body-broken-for-many-friday-lent-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Her Body Broken for Many: Friday, Lent 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

We continue the story of the woman of Judges 19. In the scriptural account, we read that on the morning after the attack, the woman’s husband “opened the doors of the house, and when he went out to go on his way, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. ‘Get up,’ he said to her, ‘we are going.’ But there was no answer.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Friday<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhere am I? Oh, I hurt! I can\u2019t walk\u2014what did they do to me? Am I safe now? . . . Where can I go? The house where he is\u2014the one who gave me over to these men\u2014it\u2019s over there . . . if I can just make it to the door. . . . It\u2019s not all that far\u2014I had no idea we were so close to the house. That means he must have heard what was going on! . . . Just give me the strength to get to the door\u2014I want him to see me. . . . Just a bit farther. . . . Just a few more feet. . . . Let them hear me knocking! . . . my body\u2014how it aches! I\u2019m feeling strange\u2014God, are you here? God, if you can, take care of me! O God . . . \u201d (From Dorri Sherrill)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

She died with her hands on the threshold. This image is the most haunting of all for me. In a strange town, in an unfamiliar place, she goes to the only place she knows, this place of uncertain security. And with her hands on the threshold\u2014of hope, of a touch, perhaps of revenge, perhaps of a final mercy, perhaps of a sister (what did happen to that virgin daughter whom the host offered?)\u2014she dies.<\/p>\n

I imagine her with her hands on the threshold, her fingers pointing west. I imagine her with her hands empty, having flung her spirit toward the house of the dying sun, toward the land of no-turning-back, toward the hills of the last light. I imagine her hands splayed in supplication to the guardians of the gates of night, may they draw her safely through. I imagine her pointing the way toward the Great Sea, the Mediterranean; toward salt, toward land\u2019s edge, toward water\u2019s birth, toward moon\u2019s rising, toward the place where they wait for her, toward the home of safe return.<\/p>\n

\u2014Jan Richardson<\/p>\n

Questions for reflection<\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

To what does this woman point in her own life, and in yours?<\/p>\n

From Sacred Journeys<\/strong> \u00a9 Jan L. Richardson<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We continue the story of the woman of Judges 19. In the scriptural account, we read that on the morning after the attack, the woman’s husband “opened the doors of the house, and when he went out to go on his way, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lent","category-sacred-time"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p190Xv-5d","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323\/revisions\/326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}