Spirits minds and souls filled at feminist theology

Last night we had our final session of this year's feminsit theology cycle on finding you way and finding your voice. Our final June meeting is always a festive occasion, there is wine and juice and always delicous food. Those present last night spanned the generations from late 30s to mid 80s, it was a gentle and fun time. The weather was mild, our sharing spoke of friendship and relaxation. A special time sitting round the table tasting the delicious things each person had brought.

We looked back and shared what we had enjoyed, learned and taken with us from the varied interventions we've had this year. How the theme had or had not spoken to us at the beginning of the year and how we are still journeying with our ways and finding our voices as our lives and paths progress. We began the food for thought part of our evening by reading a prayer/poem from Francine Carrillo - one of Geneva's mystical spiritual feminist writers. Towards the end we listened to some piano music by Bach which evoked pathways for the member of the group playing it. We spoke or kept silent about how the year had helped us find our way, find our voice and think. For many of us it had quite an inner journey through the different sessions and we found echos of the road we had taken in various places: - the letters page of Vie Protestante, in systemic approaches to psychological and organisational issues, in art, the way our group itself had evolved and found itself during the year ... and much more besides.
And while we were eating Anne Coïdan also told us about her discovery during a recent holiday to the USA of the author of the book featured here. Woman on the Cross by Pierre Delattre sounds like quite a read, something for the summer perhaps. Although the author was born in France he moved the US when just six years old - so far the book doesn't seem to exist in French translation. A shame. Here's an extract from a review:

A stirring and poignant tale about a man and a woman who serve their god and goddess in the most intimate, bodily ways. Lyric and haunting, fierce and tender, Woman on the Cross brings subtlety and depth and an unprecedented twist to the ancient tradition of the Passion Play.

Meanwhile our feminist theology group will meet again on September 12th, our theme for next year: "Entre le passé et l'avenir, vivre le présent". And our first speaker will be the splendid Jacqueline Barenstein-Wavre a local Genevan politician dnd campaigner for women's rights. She's agreed to speak on the verse she received for her confirmation "va avec la force que tu as". Many of us have a complex relationship with the institutions of the church and even with faith itself, yet the texts of faith still speak deeply to us and are often the impetus for our lives.