Double Rejection

Christians have been brought up to understand that Sarah is not only the matriarch of our faith tradition, but is also an example of human (womanly, in particular)virtue. Hopefully, by the time readers have made it to chapter 3 they have a broader and deeper understanding of the story of Hagar and Sarah.
Letty continues to broaden and deepen our understanding of the story of Sarah and Hagar by looking in depth at what Paul does with the story. Besides pointing out the 'Twists and Turns in Paul's Allegory,' Letty's expositions of the texts also give us occasion to contemplate the ways allegory in moral and ethical arguments can lead us astray.
Focusing on the texts in Galatians, Letty shows the ways in which Paul's writings in one letter contradict each other. In the familiar text in chapter 3, Paul writes, "for there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, for all are one in Christ." (vs28) Then in chapter 4 vs. 21-31, Paul contradicts himself by affirming the oppression of Hagar by Sarah because Hagar was a foreigner and Sarah's slave. Paul even goes so far as to say that 'Hagar's child was born according to the flesh while Sarah child was born through promise'. So much for neither slave nor free as a basis of worth and acceptance in God's realm!
Paul further complicates the relationship and meaning of the women's lives by ‘representing the women as opposing covenants of law and promise.” Hagar is no longer simply a slave, a foreigner and a threat to Sarah she is now also a “…Jewish Christian opponent, a slave to the Jewish law and a threat to freedom in Christ.” (p.72) Paul wants her, or what he has made her stand for, driven out of the church. Hagar is doubly condemned. And so Christians receive the message, in contradiction to the freedom proclamation of Paul in chapter 3, that Hagar’s story is a story of bad behavior, bad social status, and even worse, bad belief.
What strikes me in this is how this twisted allegory has become the shadow by which we interpret the Hebrew Scripture story of Hagar and Sarah. It is my contention that Christians cannot read the story in Genesis without being influenced by the allegory of Paul. What do you think?

At the end of chapter one, Letty and Phyllis ask: "How might we as daughters (& sons) of Hagar and Sarah contribute to the topics of family, faith and interfaith relations...?"
Their answers are:
That focus be not on Abraham as the founding father of three different religions but on Hagar and Sarah as the founding mothers.
That we focus on interpreting the sources in ways different from the traditional approach.
And that we can advocate as women (&men) of diverse faiths who refuse to allow those faiths to be used against us or against outsiders.

This would of course mean that we would have to pay attention even more closely than we already do to the ways words are used and liturgy is spoken.

I was at a radically feminine worship service Sunday evening. Everything was led by women, the language of the biblical texts read was inclusive even in the use of the language for and about God, the prayers included lifting up the female saints along with male saints of the church, and intoned blessings in the name of Abraham and Sarah. The words of this service would have been heard as extremely radical in most Christian worship services.

However, as a result of reading this book, Hagar, Sarah and Their Children, I felt the absence of Hagar in these words of blessing and in the reading of the text from Galatians 3.
Why when we bless each other in the name of Abraham and Sarah do we feel that we have completed the task of inclusive worship? We haven't, have we? Not until we are comfortable blessing each other and God through the names of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar, Deborah and Miriam, Leah and Rachel, Dinah and Tamar, Ruth and Batsheva, will we have come even further along the pathway of understanding and experiencing the inclusive nature of God's love and grace for humanity.

Who Is My Mother?

Adult women are often brought up short when they realize, through something they have said or done, "I sound just like my mother." At times this can be a moment of joy and pride; most often, however, it is a moment of consternation. Always it should be moments of self-awareness--we, as women, are not as autonomous as we would like to think we are. As Coki Roberts proclaims, in the title of her book, "We Are Our Mother's Daughters." In the context of this blog we are exploring what it means to be daughters of our mothers Hagar and Sarah.
As a Christian woman I have been taught that I should claim my lineage through Sarah.
In the introduction to the book, Letty and Phyllis succinctly, yet powerfully, explain how this mistaken notion was handed down to me through generations of Christian mothers. The fable I was taught was—‘Sarah was the chosen of God, we (Christians) are the chosen of God, and therefore Sarah is our mother.’
Like many fables that perpetuate the myths of power and privilege, this fable is much too simplistic. It does not reflect the complexity of the story and the, scant, but telling history of Hagar and Sarah.

What would change in your perspective and experience if you claimed both Hagar and Sarah as your mothers?
• If you claimed both Hagar and Sarah as God's chosen ones?
• If you claimed a dis-unified family as your family of origin? ("By the command of God, a single family has become two families, one living with the father and the other, apart from him. pp. 3)