Читать книгу Jesus and Those Bodacious Women - Linda H. Hollies - Страница 11

INTRODUCTION

MEET MS. CHIPPIE

Chippie never knew what hit her. One moment she was perched high, queen of her world, secure and singing her heart out. But her owner decided that today was cage-cleaning day and she would do it the quick way, with a vacuum cleaner. As the last attachment was snapped on and the cage door opened, the phone rang. Turning to answer, the owner heard a “swoosh.” Poor Chippie had been sucked into the vacuum. Hanging up the phone, the woman quickly tore open the bag, and there sat poor Chippie, dirty and stunned but still alive.

Grabbing the little bird, the owner rushed into the bathroom and turned on the faucet to rinse Chippie off. But she felt shivers shaking that tiny body. So, doing what any compassionate owner would do, she grabbed the hair dryer and hit Chippie full blast with hot air. Chippie never knew what hit her! In less than two minutes, her world had been turned upside down. She had been sucked in, washed up, and blown over. A couple of days later, the friend who had initiated the call checked on Chippie. “Well,” her owner replied, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore.”¹

Can any of you identify with Chippie? I know I can, for life is not fair. Life does not have a set of failure-proof rules. The bottom can drop out of your world without a moment’s notice. It takes only one phone call from the police station, asking about your child. It takes only one county office delivering the divorce petition to you. It takes only news of the government’s plans to downsize and close your facilities. It takes only one meeting in your boss’s office, or one knock on your door with bad news.

It is almost impossible to believe that one mammogram reading, one prostate test, or one culture report can throw your whole world into chaos and leave you feeling stunned, sucked in, washed over, and blown away. A Chippie moment will steal your song. A Chippie moment will shake your faith. A Chippie moment will truly rock your world. And if you think about your own life and those of your girlfriends, you know that Chippie is alive and well today.

We can gather for a time of professional development. We can search to glean new information, to fine-tune our skills. But life is not kind. Bad news, hard blows, family problems, and personal issues travel with each one of us on a daily basis. Some painful brokenness is alive and well at every seminar, workshop, or church service you attend. Anywhere people gather, they are in a room full of wounded folks. Friends, I have discovered a well-kept secret. We can train, get education, receive promotions, and take the executive escalator to success, but we cannot hide from nor escape life’s Chippie experiences.

Crisis has no geographic boundaries. Crisis has no ethnic or cultural restrictions. Crisis has no regard for money, position, status, or title. Crisis will find you, regardless of where you travel. Crisis will cause everybody to be equal in feeling helpless, anxious, and confused. And crisis will make the best of us look like lost sheep without a shepherd. But there’s good news for bodacious women. Jesus has already come to show us how to look with discerning eyes and see the pain around us and within our own souls. Jesus Christ came to show us how to pray and how to care. Jesus Christ came to give us the power, the authority, and the mandate to intervene with loving, healing care for both the Chippie among us and the Chippie within us. For Jesus Christ came so that we might become bodacious women!

I clearly remember my first full day on the job as the first African American pastor of a two-thousand-member, wealthy, Anglo, suburban, United Methodist church. With the exception of my husband and grandson, my surroundings were totally Anglo. It was truly a strange land. All of us in the North Illinois Conference were anxious over the bishop’s decision to make this cross-cultural appointment. All of us were experiencing our individual and collective Chippie moments. It was bad for me, until I closed my office door on the first day. I sat at my desk, stunned and overwhelmed. With my big, bad, efficient, and scared self, I cried like a baby. A gentle, hesitant knock struck my door. As I wiped my eyes, repaired my makeup, and tried to look occupied, I called, “Come in.”

“Pastor Linda, what time will you be at the parsonage this evening? I have to deliver your dinner, and I want it to be hot.”

I went from stunned to delighted in a single moment. I moved from despair to hope with that one tentative intervention. I was delivered from sadness to singing because someone showed healing, loving care. For genuine love has no color, gender, or age limitations.

With this intervention of one hesitant knock on my door, this Chippie had her song back! Jo Mazik brought me an egg quiche, and this black woman loves meat. Jo Mazik brought prune muffins, and this black woman loves nuts and berries. Jo Mazik intervened with healing, loving care, which this black woman pastor sorely needed and accepted fully and eagerly.

Beloved, Chippie moments keep on coming, for life is not fair. But healing offered in loving care, even hesitantly, can restore a song and help a wounded bird fly again. I hope you will not be too surprised to discover that the Holy Spirit has taught me much from this experience. And I pray that you will be open and alert to the ministering opportunities that show up in each of our lives. We must learn how to minister to each other. We must begin to experience what it means to be soul friends. We are privileged to practice inner healing as broken vessels. We can be deliberate about our care for each other. And Jesus wants us bodacious women to encounter the stranger within ourselves and come to know her in a more intimate manner.

Wherever you go today, look around. Be attuned to the spirit of discernment that allows you to look beyond a smiling face and view the broken heart and wounded spirit that lies just beneath that mask. In every place, even in your life space, there are Chippies who have been sucked in, washed up, and blown over. Thank God for an opportunity to be involved in a healing ministry to another. Thank God for Jesus, who has chosen us to intervene in the lives of stunned and wounded birds. Thank God for Jesus, whose resurrection power is available so that by our love and care and intervention in the lives of each other, we might help Chippie mount her perch and sing again. The time to begin our soul-to-soul ministry is now!

Just Between Us

What was the last episode that “stole your song”?

What did it feel like?

Had you ever experienced those feelings before?

What or who helped to cheer you, to right your world, to allow you to “hum”?

Can you hear the song of other sisters when you cannot sing?

Are you in a support group of sisters? a Bible study group of sisters? a church school class of sisters?

Do you think this could help you reclaim your song?

Suggestions

Do you know of any sister who is going through an extremely distressing time in her life today? Go to your local card shop and buy a card just for her! Do you know of a single mom with no family close around? Call and ask if you could come and spend a day to give her a break. Make her day! Singing is often done in rounds. Do something to help another get her song back, and watch something happen to bring a song back to your heart!