AUDACITY

Audacity: boldness or daring, esp. with confident or arrogant disregard for personal safety, conventional beliefs, etc.

This word (AUDACITY) has been bantered around in book titles and actions in recent years. We have heard about the AUDACITY OF HOPE, and we have seen the AUDACITY of enemies of the United States in the 9/11 attacks. We have heard about the Audacity of the Illinois politician looking to sell the vacant Senate seat. We have seen the Audacity of our soldiers in foreign lands give gifts, compassion, and comfort to children of other faiths. And the Word tells of the Son of God who humbled himself, took on the form of man, and ripped the curtain with his death in order to set us ALL free. Audacious, indeed! I know He had a ton of that boldness, confident and arrogant disregard for personal safety, and conventional beliefs in order to carry out his calling, don't you think?

It came to me last night as I was looking through songs I had written that there is a beautiful story of a woman who came with an alabaster jar and performed AUDACIOUS acts for the King of Kings. She was driven, barring all consequence or judgment, to pour out her love for her Savior before He went to wear the crown of thorns. She didn't have permission, social standing, gender, or title with a capital letter of (P)astor or (M)inister, or (R)everend to go minister to Jesus, the Christ. In the midst of the indignant disciples and other bystanders she was compelled by the love she had for Jesus to carry out her course of action.
She did not get tangled up in the rules...she just headed straight away to accomplish the tender, horrendous, gut-wrenching task in front of her.

I presume to tell the story through my song words:

We Are Broken
copyright by blog hostess
2001

WE ARE BROKEN, YES WE ARE;
MY JAR, AND ME AND YOU.
WHY IS IT THAT THEY CANNOT SEE
THE THING YOU GO TO DO?
MY LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN
BECAUSE OF TIME I SPENT WITH YOU
~~~

LET ME PREPARE YOU FOR THE WOUNDS,
DON'T KNOW HOW I'LL BEAR THE LOSS!
LET ME WASH YOUR FEET WITH MY TEARS AND HAIR
AS I CONCEDE YOU TO THE CROSS.

AS YOU GO TO MEET THE FATHER,
TAKE MY OIL IN FULL MEASURE.
I LONG TO HEAR YOUR EVERY WORD.
YOU ARE MY ONLY EARTHLY TREASURE!

DESTITUTE, UNDONE, AND IN LOVE
IS HOW SHE CAME.
EVEN THE DISCIPLES
ONLY SAW HER WASTE AND SHAME.

SHE COULD SEE HE WAS GOING
TO HIS DEATH;
SHE DID THINGS OUT OF FASHION.
THE BUSY AND RELIGIOUS
DID NOT SHARE HER CHILD-LIKE PASSION.

WE ARE BROKEN, YES WE ARE;
MY JAR, AND ME AND YOU.
WHY IS IT THAT THEY CANNOT SEE
THE THING YOU GO TO DO?
MY LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN
BECAUSE OF TIME I SPENT WITH YOU.

~~~~~~

The story of this woman's audacity has been recounted by the disciples in Mark 14, Luke 7, and Matthew 26.

The response of Jesus to this woman's audacity?...

in book of Luke:
"Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet."

in books of Mark and Matthew:
"Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

~~~~~~~

I have great aunts on both sides of my family that were Preachers (that's what they called them in their day), with captial P. I remembered them praying for us before going on trips. I was quite young, but was impressed with their passion to care for and minister to others. It stirred the same in me. In my vocation and avocation I am compelled as well to preach the good news, to lay hands on folks for healing purposes, to give pastoral care to those close to passing. My 'paying' job I see as anointing with oil. It is a MINISTRY. My avocations, telling the 'good news' through my photography and songs, are also MINISTRIES. I disregard exclusions of not being able to (Pp)reach or (Pp)astor because I am a woman. ... I am bold and confident in my calling and held accountable to it by God, not man.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion~~ to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
Isaiah 61:1-3

This woman with the precious alabaster jar did not care who might exclude her on Man's terms. She was not going to a dying neighbor or family member close to death. She was giving pastoral care (what is that really and totally, but LOVE?) to the Christ, Jesus himself! Does he not say that what we do or not do for the least of these we also do or do not do for Him?
ref: Matt. 25:30-45

Will we each, in our callings, submit our lives audaciously to the spirit of Religion, or the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord?