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Moving from chp 2 to chp 3 in Song of Songs moves us from a scene where the young woman has invited her lover into her home for the night … and suddenly she declares to the women of Jerusalem (either in a dream or in reality):

Our third woman in this series is Phoebe. Both Priscilla and Junia are clear evidence of women in leadership and mininstry, and Phoebe seems to fit the same pattern. But, I want to begin with a point I made about two weeks back:

We get enough e-mails about our books; rarely do I say much about them, but I have to share this one. Why? Because she’s eighteen and because her letter was so delightful for both Kris and me. I’ve edited it a bit to hide her identity.

The next verse is from the woman — and she speaks to the maidens of Jerusalem. Oh so nice.

I’m reading Diana Butler Bass’s Christianity for the Rest of Us (HarperSF, 2006), and want to devote a few posts to her ideas. Essentially, the point of this book is to show that mainline, liberal, progressive churches are showing signs of life.

Sunday Kris and I were at St. Matthew’s in Sterling VA. I posted a few pics yesterday from our time there with Rob and Linda Merola. Rob is Rector of St. Matthew’s (whatever “rector” means). There is major impression I get everytime I “go Anglican.”

The woman, either in conjuring up her lover in her mind or reporting of a previous encounter, now recalls what her lover said through the lattice. His words are basically these: “Let’s escape into the flowery areas or let’s find ourselves a cave.”

Priscilla was the first woman we looked at in this series — and we looked at a profile of her last Thursday. Today we look at Junia. Here’s the simple overview: there was an early Christian apostle who was a woman and her name was Junia.

Kris and I were in Sterling, VA, this weekend. We got to be with former students, Rob and Linda Merola, now serving at St. Matthew’s Episcopal. It was a delightful Sunday — I preached three times on Mary’s struggle with the cross-life — sealed when a man sang the praises of Rob’s pastoral efforts to…

Our next section in the Song of Songs, 2:8–3:5, describes the woman’s rendition of her lover’s visit to her home — either in reality or in her mind — and then her nocturnal search and finding of her lover.
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