haha on my way home ... i pass a group of homeless drinkers one of them is somebody i have prayed for there has clearly been some sort of incident and someone is on the ground with some of the others towering over them i just pray and what happens next is well there is a calm person i have previously is being pacified it all looks untidy and unpleasant me i just saunter by not getting involved i see the cans and smell the booze.. it is tough out there...

i find myself pondering an incident earlier when i left the prayer meeting to do the washing up i think of Martha i can't stop thinking of Martha and in my head i revisit the incident that is much talked about from the pulpit by men ,,, hmm i'm not sure i have ever heard a presentation by a woman come to think of it .. would it actually be any different... in men's eyes martha is the ignorant fool ... but hey i have been doing a lot of this recently feeling a complete lackj of affinity for groups of men ie christian men... but whether martha starts out in the kitchen or actually retreats to the kitchen .. i have this moment where martha realises her sister is doing something rather startling and there it is all those men looking at a woman doing something a bit extreme right there in the living roomj... the one time i have seen something like this was at a prayer meeting of mixed sex and mixed race...  i say mixed race cos it was a distasteful scene in my eyes there were a couple from a far off land there and the wife was as good as prostrating herself at her husband's feet in quite an ... he didn't seem to mind or react .. and that made it all the more unpleasant viewing it was out of context to all the rest of the scene which was a charismatic prayer meeting... what however was being to my eyes portrayed ok the woman may indeed have been uncomfortable amongst the mottley crew that was the rest of us the man was in Mio nist4ry of sorts and i have to say i saw some very dark stuff around him that made me feel uncomfortable for that reason alone i was in a bit of a state of shock and when he as was i guess his custom led some corporate stuff... me i buckled out... it was sure not my thing and i did not recognise authority on him... but the scene of a woman ingratiating herself at the feet of a male allbeit her husband was a scene that lingers on.... and now i have had opportunity to be in the same room as them a few times my heart goes out to her second class citizenship and her functionality as wife and mother ... and GOD gives somehow the opportunity for me to pray into her brokenness...  which bonds through an initial revulsion!,,,  jhey that's the woman looking on without religious view on a religious kindov scene.... the kids actually are quite cool unexpectedly so something is going right in that apparently patriatrchically dominioned household!

hey ok have you got the picture yet you walk into a room and see a group of men with one woman apparently ingratiating herself at the feet of one of the guys sitting there with all the others looking on and clearly they have theri own views (John's account)...  so if you are a bloke are you intrigued and actually the idea of a broad fauning about some guy is well a bit of a turn on or even an inconvenience if you are married or single?  do you feel uncomfortable?.....   or think good on yer? what's she doing ? is she ok or is she out of control?.....   when i hear men talk this story there is something natural about this and hey you know what martha is the stoopid one ... she should join in the fauning  if she  and you know what it's begining to look like a brothel... but hey it's Jesus that's clearly what all the gals should be doing... cos that is what the bible says? well they don't actually go that far... but what about the guys?... the story is about extreme devotion and ... well yes Jesus does fill in the dots with the whole burial rites thing....  a whole jar of perfume worth a year's wages?... what sort of household is Mary and Martha's are they perhaps actually already a reasonably affluent household? Jesus had a whole posse of women following and feeding and sponsoring... what sort of 'prostitute' was Mary ? .... when Martha comes through that door you know what you would think that a whole jar of nard might catch her nostrils a bit .... that is not what attracts her attention though her attention is for her sister at the feet of Jesus with all thsoe men looking on... now then woman what would you do... i can see some bloke not objecting to theri sister fauning at the feet of a man who is of greater sTAtus and even one that actually you might want to be getting in with ... no sister doijng extreme hospitality would come into its own.... but the sister? we are not sure which one is the senior one at least from memory there is a sense that the practical one be the older one .... i would be hysterical ....  seeing a completely in another place little sister or big sister lost in tears and perfume at the feet of a very special guest with all those acolites with their individual responses looking on.... oh yes i have walked into a room where three men are interrogating the one woman there unattached and i can see she is feeling vulnerable me i walk in and they all suddenly disperse... i didn't ask ... oh please don't think that there was anything more weird going on than an interogation to do with Spiritual Manifestations and stuff .... the way they all dispersed though when i came in showed a complete lack of awareness and sensitivity towards the put upon female and they were confident and comfortable with eachother... male culture and male bonding in the patriarchal world is pretty cosy and pretty blind and pretty full of apologetics....  i can see also a scene with a really sensitive male aware of the uncomfort and not exactly dealing like with the terms needed... you see what i was feeling last night there was there was martha coming in horrified not wanting to cause a scene... she asks Jesus not her sister .... and Jesus' answer gives martha reassurance everything is safe your sister is safe ... without using those words... and martha is confident to leave the scene back to what she was doing.... did Jesus see anymore did martha see anymore... wehre Jesus is even the vulnerable woman is safe like even the scantily clad or naked even woman drunk and out of control or the vulnerable person of any age ... where Jesus is..... she is safe even from the thoughts of men....  oh she is safe with a good man of any creed too and oh she is not necessarily safe in the presence of a christian... but with JESUS THERE IS NO SAFER PLACE TO BE... can you trust your little sister at that vulnerable place in her life to Jesus?

or the little stranger?

i prayed deep into the night and saw the sun arise and did i wait for the rushing winds oh i dwelt on stuff for sure i did i had much on my mind much on my thoughts and me i wanted to ask Jesus some questions too... Will you? i am learning with limited culture to copy... it has been a wonderful year and it has been one that yes i thank the prayers of an ipc that asked that i hear GOD more clearly and for those that thirst for that i pray for you too! in Jesus Name AMEN!

GOD BLESS!

Peace and Love,