What’s coming next?

by Elouise

Dear Readers,
Yay! I’m still basking in the joy of having completed the write-up of our Courtship and Engagement! Here’s what I’ll be posting this coming week.

White and Female
Tomorrow, Sunday, I’m posting a piece I wrote several years ago about myself as a white woman. Issues of race and gender have been part of my life since I was born. I didn’t know there were two issues. I thought there was only one—gender. But there are two.

When I arrived in the Philadelphia area to teach theology, I had a long over-due wake-up call. It was 1983. For the first time in my life, I was in daily contact with women and men who didn’t look, act or talk like I did. Suddenly my whiteness was as obvious as my gender. So was my cultural and global ignorance.

I learned the hard way that I couldn’t avoid looking into issues of race and gender. So tomorrow you’ll see a piece I wrote in the mid-1990s. Though it doesn’t include everything I’ve learned about myself as a white female born in the USA, I stand by every word I wrote back then.

An Offensive Story
This is a sermon I’m reformatting and editing for your reading convenience. I first preached it in Nairobi in 1999 at the seminary where I taught during my fall sabbatical.

Why this sermon? Because it’s about one of the most horrific stories in the Bible, and it has to do with women and men. It’s one of those Bible stories I’ve loved to avoid. This preaching invitation gave me an opportunity to take a second look. What is this story about and not about?

I hope you’ll find it thought-provoking and even encouraging. I did.

In Addition
If I have a haiku or a poem or a brief devotional piece to share with you, I’ll do that as I’m able. If it’s not there, it’s because I wasn’t able. Or I was outside breathing and walking in the spring air!

I’m so grateful for those who read any post I write. It’s invigorating to know that each post is out there—waiting for someone to discover it. Thanks for your faithful reading and for commenting as you feel led.

Elouise

© Elouise Renich Fraser, 29 March 2015