The Daily: Monday November 27, 2023

Daily Lectionary Reading: Psalm 7 (NRSV, The Messgage); Esther 2:1-18 (NRSV, The Message) 2 Timothy 2:8-13 (NRSV, The Message)

The girl pleased him and won his favor...
Esther 2:8 (NRSV)

Esther's story corners us and forces US to examine ourselves. The setting is grotesque, heinous - a king who culls from his kingdom a selection of young virgins for his pleasure. Esther's story should never be told without stopping there and condemning the premise. When we uncritically repeat these stories, we sustain such practices, still taking place in various forms and places, in our collective psyche.

Esther also forces ME to examine how I am responding to the circumstance in which I find myself. Esther, who found favor with the king and was submitted to a year of "cosmetic treatments" (?!) took advantage of the situation she was in to save her people.

Our task is two-fold. We must fight systems of injustice wherever we find them, and we must practice our response to the circumstances in which we find ourselves, learning how to lean in, do the work, and join God in bringing things about for our own, and other's, good.