Jesus and Those Bodacious Women: Life Lessons from One Sister to Another (Anniversary)

By Linda H. Hollies and Barbara J. Essex

Learning from the Women.

This is the tenth anniversary edition of a Pilgrim Press favorite. Jesus and Those Bodacious Women is well known for its new spins on the stories of biblical women such as Mary Magdalene, the Bent-over Woman, Queen Esther, and Mary, among others. The tenth anniversary edition contains spins on the stories of five additional biblical women: Vashti, Jezebel, Cozbi (the prostitute in the Book of Numbers), Dorcas, and Lydia.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pilgrim Press
• Release date: Dec 1, 2007
• ISBN: 9780829819113

Book preview

10TH ANNIVERSAY INTRODUCTION

Ten years old! I can hardly believe that this much time has passed since the Holy Spirit compelled me to write Jesus and Those Bodacious Women! I still carry that initial sheet in my Bible with the names of the awesome women to be included. Here we are, ten years later and there is so much more to say about the way that women have been used in the world to move people, places, and things. There are five new women to be talked about as they strut upon these new pages and provide us with new, fresh insights.

Ten years old! A whole decade has passed and life has presented me with both joy and challenges. My life continues to teach me how to better trust in the unfailing mercies of God and to remain bodacious all the while! Since writing this book, my employment has changed at least three times. I was hired as the West Michigan Annual Conference Director of Missions—and then fired! The bishop called it an itineration move! So, I was then assigned to pastor a local congregation—a congregation that had never had either a female or a pastor of color. I lasted one full year! After this assignment, I went on disability leave, suffering from what my physician called post traumatic war syndrome!

I was depressed and I had to face my depression. It makes me sad to realize that the place where I worked, the church, was actually making me ill! It’s no wonder that the average tenure for a woman in ordained ministry is only twelve years. After being unemployed for five years, I decided to open WomanSpace, a Sacred Space for Bodacious Women. At WomanSpace, I did pastoral counseling for an assortment of women and even some of their spouses. It was a beautiful place. It had a quiet ambiance where tears were honored and water fell all day long from a huge fountain that Mista Chuck created in our Wise Woman’s Garden. Then my Bishop called me and said, God is telling me that it’s time for you to return to the church.

Talk about shock. I was almost ready to retire and collect my pension. I had already tried to become pastor of a Baptist Church in Grand Rapids but they were not having it! For more than three years, I had served in a pastoral role. I counseled, taught classes, preached, and enjoyed worship to the fullest. But when their male pastor left and a search began, I was not even offered the opportunity to interview. Nor were any other females allowed to be candidates. After much prayer, I agreed with Bishop Jonathan Keaton that it was time for me to bust a move. I hoped for another executive position where I did not have to deal with any more mean church folks. Believe me, I was well aware that the local church needed bodacious leaders, but was I the one? God, the Bishop, and eventually Mista Chuck and I came into agreement.

I am back in a local church as senior pastor of Calvary United Methodist Church in Jackson, Michigan. And I am having a bodaciously good time! We are about one and a half hours away from Grand Rapids, so I am learning to adjust to life in the country! We live where there are no street lights, no sidewalks, and no city water. This means that we live with well water, a slow internet connection, as well as deer and fawns having the right of way in the street. The wild turkeys, however, are too large for a roasting pan! But the people of Calvary make it all worth while. They were welcoming and continue to be warm, gracious, and receptive to new, bodacious ideas, plans, and challenges. And, yes, I continue to take my meds for depression.

I have learned much over the past ten years. One of the things I have learned is that there is no truth to the myth that women are always strong! It’s a myth that your faith will carry you through without proper intervention and assistance. And it’s a myth that you can handle all of life’s issues without a supportive community. As a matter of fact, I have a list of twelve things we need to do in order to maintain a bodacious and healthy mental outlook.

1. Go to your family doctor for a yearly check-up. My internist, Dr. Sheila VanLowe-Prince, noticed that the fire in my eyes had gone out. I had dressed up, made my face up and made my mind up that I could fool her as I went for my annual physical. It didn’t work. It was Dr. Sheila who hugged me, held me, and allowed me to cry about the pain I was trying to hide. She also prescribed medication for me. I am thankful for Dr. Sheila being both my doctor and my sister-friend.

2. Find the right doctor. If your doctor is too rushed, too distant, and too busy, you need to search for a caring, compassionate doctor who will walk with you when your bodacious self is way, way down in the dumps. Interview doctors like you interview beauticians and plumbers.

3. If your doctor prescribes medications, take them. Don’t stop taking your medication when you begin to feel better. Keep talking to your physician and keep taking your medications. Don’t allow shame or pride to prevent you from getting the mental health care that is needed.

4. Exercise. Get physical. Move your behind on a daily basis!

5. Plan your meals. Shop for healthy foods.

Cook and eat healthy balanced meals.

I have discovered that white flour, processed foods, coffee, nicotine, and alcohol are not good friends of ours! We need more fresh fruits, whole grains, and vegetables. And much less red meat and pork.

We need to get sufficient sleep. But likewise, we need to force ourselves out of the bed. Oversleeping, staying in bed, hiding from the world is a sure sign that something is off key in our lives. We cannot burn the candle at both ends without paying the piper.

6. Purchase a Happylite for your home and your office if you suffer from Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD). These lights provide the daylight that many of us need to feel good. SAD is caused by a biochemical imbalance due to the shortening of daylight hours and the lack of sunlight in winter. Now we can add more light to our own lives!

7. Get involved in things that interest you. At Calvary, we have a First Friday for Women from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. We each bring something to munch on and there is a focused program for us to chew, chit, and chat about. It’s a loose evening where we might decide to assist a charity, or we might decide to just be good to ourselves.

8. Count your blessings through daily journaling. The Rev. Dr. Janet L. Hopkins, my sister and my friend, died within these past ten years. Janet was an elder in the North Illinois Conference, a peer, and dear to my heart. She allowed me to cry, whine, and complain to her ready ear. One day she said to me, We are going to start a gratitude journal, Hollies. Each day we are going to write down the blessings that we receive and stop looking at what we don’t have! Every morning, I’m in the bathroom, writing down my reflections of the previous day. Back in the day, the old folks usta call it counting my blessings, naming them one by one! It pulls me up and out of the dumps.

9. Find a life-coach whom you can trust. Baby sisters, it was a life saver when I found a professional to talk to! Mrs. Mary Bennett, a social worker with a specialty in abuse counseling, has walked with me over the past seven years as my therapist. So, find a spiritual director. Find a good psychologist. But, find someone who is professionally trained to help you sort out your issues. For bodacious women do have issues!

10. Attend worship on a regular basis. Community can be a wonderful thing. This is another situation where you might have to interview a couple of congregations to find what fits your needs. But don’t wait until you feel better to go to church. The church is a hospital for the hurting. I left worship at the United Methodist Church for four years and was loved back to life in a black Baptist Church.

11. Learn to meditate. Speak scriptural affirmations to yourself for encouragement through God’s Word. Learn to sit in the silence, light candles and allow the smoke to tell God what’s going on with you. Buy inspirational instrumental music and play it during the day.

12. Pray. Talk to God like you talk, or should talk to your best friend! I know that I am sane today because I know that I am a friend of God. It is God who calls me friend!

Ten years! In ten years, my family and I have moved three times. We have had three new grandchildren, Symphony, Imani, and Jordan. Giraurd has attended seven different schools, is a senior this year, and stands over six feet tall! He remains the love of our lives, as we prepare him for college. During this year, his mother, my daughter, Grian Eunyke, was released from prison after almost six years! It’s so good to talk to her daily, without hearing the words collect call!

My oldest son, Gregory, who is employed with AT&T, has moved to Southfield, Michigan. He is just a car ride away. He loves me madly and treats me like the Queen Mother! My youngest son, Grelon Renard, died three years ago from complications diabetes and dialysis. I cannot explain the pain of losing a child. I cannot grasp the words to put around the hole in my spirit, the ache in my heart, and the questions that whirl through my mind asking, Why my child? There are days when I don’t even understand how I make it through the day without simply knowing that I have to put one foot in front of the other and take it minute by minute. Yet, through it all, I remain bodacious! I can only do it because Mista Chuck remains my best friend and supporter. For this I give God great thanks and daily praise.

This book is a very simple yet profound series of lessons for those of us who face dire straits and desperate situations. I am thankful for the lessons that I learned from this decade of challenge and growth. The Bible images from yesterday continue to help us see some strategies, some methods, and some ways that bodacious women have struggled and survived throughout the ages.

Mark, the evangelist, provides us with a woman who has been suffering from a long-term illness. She has been to every doctor and gotten no better over a twelve-year period. She has used up all of her savings; her money has run out. She’s aging and in deep despair. So, she goes looking for new cheese. Then, there is a man named Jairus, who is a ruler of the Jews in his town. He has the ability to command many people and he owns much. He is also father to a twelve-year-old daughter, who is ill. Although he has money, power, and influence, nothing seems to improve her health. What they both need is to be found in the person of Jesus.

Mark wants us to understand that a desperate situation will make us move out of our comfort zone. The woman dares to drop to her knees and crawls to touch Jesus. The man does not send any servants or messengers, but he travels to find Jesus so that Jesus might come and speak a word to heal his little girl. These two people, who represent us all, recognized that hemming and hawing is not the answer when there is a personal crisis in your life. Whether you are a person with a long-time situation that continues to bring you pain, misery, and confusion or whether you are a person with something that just appeared out of nowhere, we all need a touch from Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ, the Messiah, came to heal all those in need. The Messiah means the Anointed One. And, to be anointed means to be touched by the Holy Spirit, the very power of the Living God. In the midst of the crowd, the woman humbled herself and made herself small and insignificant so that she could make her way to Jesus. She recognized the fringes on the bottom of his rabbinic robe, for she could not see Jesus’ face. She did not try to make an appointment with him, for she would have been stoned to death had it been known that she was in the crowd with males. Her bleeding condition would have caused every male to go through a ritual of purification. Girlfriend took her life in her hands as she bodaciously decided to move the cheese. She knew that a healing touch would bring new life. She received what she sought.

Immediately, Mark says, that flow of twelve years dried up! Immediately, Mark remarks, the woman felt the healing change that came from touching the hem of a garment. Immediately, Mark lets us know, this bodacious woman was transformed, made new, healed and delivered. It just took one touch. Now, Jesus stopped what he was doing and asked the crowd, Who touched me? Jesus felt the healing virtue, the drain of holy power, and the emptying out of his very essence as the woman was healed. It was not a touch on his head, his hand, or his body, but a touch to his robe fringe that made him know that an exchange had taken place.

Now the crowd thought that surely the Messiah had lost his mind, for the crowd was great and there were many people. But a touch is sensual. A touch is emotional. A touch is effective for both the one who made the touch and the one who received it. You know when you have been touched. We all have a history of being touched. We all have a history of touching others, touching things, touching ourselves.

Touch is a significant and even necessary event in each of our lives. Scientists have defended the importance for infants to be touched and held to fully develop in a healthy manner. Our fingertips have such sensitivity and can convey so much with one touch. A touch can say, It’s all right. A touch can say, I care. A touch can say, I’m with you. A touch can say, Calm down. A touch can say, I’ve got your back. A touch conveys that we are not alone. The ministry of laying on of hands belongs to the people of God. Laying on of our hands, in the name of Jesus, is a Calvary touch.

We all practice the art of laying on of hands. When our head hurts, our fingers make their way there. When we cut ourselves, bang up against something, our fingers make their way to the injury. Especially as we age, we find ourselves laying hands on our knees, our hips and our backs. We all practice the art of laying on of hands. We, however, have forgotten or we have not been taught that this laying on of hands was given to us by the Messiah of Calvary. Jesus came to touch, to save, to heal, and to deliver.

The bodacious, crawling, touching woman got her healing and went on her way. And Jesus continued with Jairus to see about his daughter. Jesus will walk with us. Jesus will go out of his way to care for us. Despite what the people say, despite what is politically correct or geographically proper, Jesus will come to see about us. For although the people were declaring that the little girl was dead and that Jesus should go about his business, Jesus came. He walked into her bedroom, and he touched her. He spoke to her and said, Little girl, get up. Death had to release her. She was raised up, brought back from the dead, resurrected, and given new life with a touch from Jesus’ hand.

The word for every reader of Jesus and Those Bodacious Women is get up, reach out, move out of your comfort zone, and touch somebody with the love of Jesus Christ. We have been touched by Jesus Christ. Someone took the time to invite us to a personal experience with Jesus. Someone took the time to invest in us, to teach us and to impart their life into ours. Regardless of what is going on in our lives today, no matter what we are facing—personally or collectively—we can gain courage from the faith of that nameless bodacious woman and that scared but bodacious father. We have come to expect that we can be touched again by the power of the community of the faithful through the uplifting of our voices in prayer, and praise and the power of God’s Word and Holy Communion. When we have been comforted, we are obligated to pass along what we have received.

Ten years! It’s a new day for the Hollies. A new day brings about excitement, anticipation, and a certain amount of fear. This decade, each of us needs a new, fresh, healing, and calming touch of the Savior. There is violence, death, murder, and pain all around us, and within us. There is war in the world, anger within us, and domestic violence within our homes. We can put on a happy, smiling face and pretend that all is well. Or we can come out of our mask of pretense to seek a touch of new life like the bodacious, hurting woman and bodacious, desperate dad.

Take the time to look at your own hands. Say after me: These are the extended hands of Jesus Christ. There is healing in my hands. There is hope in my touch. I vow to use these hands to offer a bodacious, Christ-like touch. This week, be prayerful about to whom you will give a Christ-like touch … This week, listen carefully. This week, look around you with eyes of love. Be on the alert for the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart, to tug at the fringes of your life, and to open your eyes so that you might be a bodacious agent of Jesus Christ in the world. Make a permanent and positive impact upon your world. I speak life to you, even now!

Thanks for these ten wonderful, life-changing years of being my readers. I so appreciate this opportunity to walk with you and to have you walk with me. My prayer is that