March 6, 2024

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As we commemorate Women’s History Month, my thoughts turn to the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:24b-34). She spent her life and wealth seeking a cure for her illness. This medical condition surely caused her social, emotional, and spiritual pain. For years, she carried the burden of this ailment, which led to isolation and loneliness. Due to her condition, people around her shunned her and considered her unclean. This is for all the women worldwide who are deemed impure and live in solitude.

Last week, I walked out onto my back porch and found a young woman sitting there. I was taken aback and immediately went back inside to tell my husband that someone was on our porch. I then turned to the young lady and asked if she needed any help. She replied that she was just resting until she figured out where to go next. She had come from the wooded area behind our house and seemed a bit disoriented upon emerging. I asked her some basic questions about her destination and who she was looking for, but her answers were brief and lacking detail. It was clear that she was homeless and had recently stayed at the local shelter. She also appeared to have mental health issues. What struck me most was how young she looked, and it pained me that I couldn't do more to assist her. I followed all the recommended protocols—offering food and water, asking if it was okay to call the local mental health clinic for assistance—eventually leading to the local sheriff's deputies picking her up. I wonder how she is doing now; I'm sure she is still struggling with her issue. I wonder what it will take for her to be healed.

In the story of the woman with the issue of blood, she was instantly cured when she touched Jesus' garment hem. We usually think of this as healing from her physical condition, but I believe it also healed other aspects of her life. I believe she was freed from loneliness, the bruises from living on the streets, the pain of decaying teeth due to inadequate self-care while homeless. I believe she was cured of the anger and resentment towards her family and community for turning their backs on her. I also believe she was healed from financial hardships caused by her quest for a cure and her inability to work in her condition. Furthermore, I believe she was relieved of depression and anxiety resulting from the realities of her unhealthy lifestyle.

If this is true, can the young homeless woman with mental health issues who has been abandoned by her family and community find healing as well? If so, where is Jesus for her? In the church, we often talk about being the hands and feet of Jesus, but we do not make an effort to heal one another. We don't even offer basic necessities like food and water to those who are hungry.

Where is Jesus? Where is the church? Why aren't we utilizing the power bestowed upon us by God?

Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. Luke 9:1-2

As we celebrate Women's History Month, let us contemplate our ability to heal and trust that God has chosen us to do the work of kingdom building.

Cyneatha Millsaps

MW USA Executive Director +

Midwest Regional Representative

At the end of Black History Month, we gathered via Zoom for a Coffee & Conversation on "Ending Racism through Education." As we learned together, we kept our attention focused on the use of education as an ever expanding opportunity to counter our society’s racist framework: to seek truth, further repair, resist manipulation, and bring about the well-being of all.

We started the conversation by introducing ourselves and saying why we joined in to talk about this topic. Learning was the common refrain, along with a desire to put a deeper knowledge into practice. The learning actually started before the gathering as each participant was invited to watch a documentary on the events and policies that make up our shared American history of racism. So, the next part of the conversation invited the group to share anything from their own story, good or bad, that responded to or furthered racism. For our stories are all connected.

The discussion that followed identified how ingrained racism is in us. It confronted us, in the best way, to be accountable for working every day to question our own mindsets that passively accept the unequal status quos and undo our habits that perpetuate destructive systems. Our conversation also kept pointing to the ways we can choose to participate or withdraw our part. We don't bear the harm equally, but we all pay a price for inequality.

While there's no leap forward or one ultimate undoing, we can take steps toward repair: small acts based on our raised awareness. And it begins by talking about it, which is what these Coffee & Conversations are all about.

We're actively resisting the precedence of pretending we're not all connected to each other and that our histories have no bearing on our current stories. We can't play a role if we don't know the problems at hand, so let's talk!

For Black History Month we gathered to talk about education. In May we'll be focusing on Mental Health Awareness Month. If you have a topic near and dear to your heart, please reach out and let us know. Let's keep the conversation going!

This rainbow over the city of Havana was captured by Sister Care leaders at the close of a 2015 Sister Care seminar in Cuba. 



Sister Rhoda and Sister Carolyn are preparing to return to Cuba for a Sister Care seminar this month. Please keep them in your prayers as they currently tend to all the work needing to be done in preparation. 

Sister Cyneatha was at the11th Hope for the Future conference in Dallas, TX last month, gathering around a theme of “Breaking Chains, Mending Walls" based on Isaiah 58. The MW USA Leadership Circle prayed for her on our group chat, and she responded saying, "The conference [was] going great. I always feel at home in this space."

Photo by Juan Moya, Anabaptist World. Used with permission.

MW USA has an exciting ongoing opportunity for sharing your story. Each month we feature an original community journal entry in our Women's Voices blog celebrating and empowering women. Send in a 500–800-word story, reflection, meditation or vision.

Follow this link for more details, guidelines, and inspiration.

Not a writer? We'd love to feature your pictures, quotes, and notes of sisterhood too. Show us how you are gathering, serving and ministering with women in your community. Tell us something a woman said that encouraged you. Send a line about why you love your favorite woman-authored book or sub stack on faith. Let us know how it went circling up around one of the MW USA Bible Study Guides. We are always delighted to format and feature sisterhood in action on our social media.

Engage with us on social media @mennowomenusa on Facebook and Instagram.

The Luke 13 story of Jesus' healing on the Sabbath of a woman who couldn't stand up straight is in chapter 9 of MW USA's latest woman-authored Bible study guide, Abundant Liberation. Sister Samantha notices,

"Jesus' attention and response is to the person in the room who is experiencing alienation and pain. As we also prioritize our attention toward people actively in pain or blocked from flourishing, we position ourselves to learn the discernment of Christ."

This is the second takeaway of the scripture reflection and is followed by discussion prompts and a prayer in poem, as comprises each chapter. All scripture are included (with permission) from 'The Inclusive Bible: The First Egalitarian Translation.'

May gathering together in study tune our priorities and attention to Jesus' healing way. 

Being an MW USA donor makes a way for women to find their prophetic voice and find each other for embracing the whole world in God's mothering love. That is the love of one from whom we are born and the One in whose image we are created. It's the nurturing, embracing, exuberant love of aunties, mentors, daughters and dear friends. And where the world knows this love, people find unconditional belonging, satisfying joy and lasting peace.

The ways of MW USA involve learning, supporting, listening, sharing, and caring. We learn with each other by gathering around women-authored Bible Study Guides. We support women across the world studying for spiritual leadership with annual IWF Scholarships. We Choose Sisterhood by listening to those who are different. We share our own story by engaging in Coffee and Conversation and writing for the Women's Voices blog. And we care for ourselves and each other through international Sister Care gatherings.

We love in these ways to make as many ways as possible for all to know God's love. Donating makes a way.

Mennonite Women USA

www.mennonitewomenusa.org

office@mwusa.org

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