Fourth Sunday of Advent
Womb to Womb
Of the four Gospels, Luke includes women and their experiences more often than any of the others. This Sunday we hear about Mary and Elizabeth, both at extremes in their capacity to bear children. Mary might be considered too young and Elizabeth too old. God looks upon both favorably and chooses them! Nontando Hadebe, an African, laywoman theologian, writes, “God it seems believes in women, takes women seriously, and trusts women with the greatest event in history.” Mary and Elizabeth lived in an oppressed nation where women had no significance, status, or power. They did however have a relationship with God and with each other. Mary’s unaccompanied trek to visit Elizabeth becomes a “visitation” like no other. Their heart-to-heart talk includes a “womb to womb” communication between their children. The sharing of life, of values, of ways of being there for each other are an expression of women’s power, of women being there for each other, of standing strong together, of using voice and action to assert a different kind of power. Hadebe continues, “In a world where a third of women globally experience violence, the power of women circles and authority to speak and bring life to each other, the story of Elizabeth and Mary is indeed the Advent story of hope for women.”
You can read Hadebe’s full reflection here: