…Yesterday on TV – a feature on Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Rosetta Tharpe was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose 1930s mixture of spiritual lyrics and electric guitar brought gospel music into the mainstream. Her influence on Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin and many more, shaped rock and roll and music as we know it today.
Earlier this year a blue plaque was unveiled in Manchester, commemorating Sister Rosetta’s performance at Manchester station on May 1964. The ‘Godmother of rock and roll’ – seen, noticed remembered.
…Yesterday at church Esther mentioning Hagar…
Hagar was the Egyptian maidservant of Sarai (later Sarah). Sarai’s unable to bear children, so suggests that Abram (later Abraham) has a child with Hagar. There’s domestic fallout when Hagar gets pregnant. Badly treated by Sarai she runs away to the desert. an angel appears to Hagar, giving comfort, advice and reassurance.
Hagar calls the place ‘El Roi’ – ‘the God who sees me’. Alone, powerless, distressed and vulnerable she’s seen and noticed.
…Yesterday, October 25th, was St Tabitha’s day
Tabitha, one of the few Biblical women named a ‘disciple’, was a widow from Joppa, now Tel Aviv. Always doing good, helping the poor, making clothes for the needy, she fell ill, died and her community mourned. Peter was sent for and raised her back to life. St. Tabitha is now the patron saint of seamstresses and tailors.
Her life of generosity and compassion, lived out in her local community, seen and noticed then, is remembered still.
…This morning reading about Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman
The British musical ‘SIX’ is a modern retelling of the story of the six wives of Henry VIII, featuring the school-rhyme, ‘Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, Beheaded, survived.’ n conversation with the Samaritan woman Jesus says, ‘You have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.’ It’s the woman’s ‘SIX’. Later the woman goes back home and tells her friends, ‘He told me everything I ever did.’
Jesus has seen, noticed and knows all about her.
