Luke 22: 24, 26b “A dispute arose among them as to which was the greatest…. the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves.”

As I sit with both the seasonal and political darkness that surrounds me this Advent, I am reminded that the Light that we await each year bursts into the world through the messy blood and water of a woman’s birth canal. Our Saving Light, in the form of the Christ Child, arrives not as a fully formed warrior with an army but as a poor, vulnerable baby born in a barn. Mary’s son grows up to preach and teach the most counter-cultural ideas, including God’s love for the poor, the marginalized and the dispossessed: lepers, children and women. In God’s Kingdom, Jesus assures us, the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

Yet, when Jesus tells his disciples of his impending death, a group of men begin arguing over who among them is most worthy of leading in Jesus’ absence. Jesus gently reminds them that the work is not actually about them. Those who will pick up the mantle to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth must cast aside ego and be servant-leaders.

Among the earliest of the servant-leaders who followed Jesus were strong and trustworthy women. Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, whose 1992 book In Memory of Her, broke open the field of feminist theology, and helped shine a light on the powerful role that women played in the early days of the Christian church. In the first 200 years after Jesus’ resurrection, women were priests, deacons, and leaders of countless Christ-centered communities. As this movement of Jesus followers slowly morphed into an institution – a religion aligned with governance, empire, and patriarchy – new limits were placed on women’s roles and public leadership. The voices of women grew quieter, and many of their stories were lost.

I confess that, right now, as a woman fully alive in a world, a nation, and a religious tradition that often leave me feeling diminished and de-valued just for being born female, I am feeling tremendously discouraged. At the same time, in memory of Her, I am praying this Advent season for the courage and strength to pick up the mantle of the Way of Love and continue.

Susan Trabucchi