"Sensibilities and Survival - The Wedding of Feminine and Masculine"
Kathie Power-Obrien
Sunday, February 16th, 2003

In our first reading we heard about the collective forces that are rising up on the earth today ... the energy of the reborn feminine. We heard that this energy needs to come into balance with the masculine forces which have dominated human consciousness. In order to create a partnership the feminine forces need to be visible and embraced by men as well as women.

Our second reading from the Book of Wisdom makes the many qualities of the Divine Feminine visible and speaks of her leadership as relations not hierarchical, validating vulnerability as well as standing in her strength. In another translation she Is described as being "at. home" in all of life’s rhythms; chaos is no threat to her: for she knows how to usher in order as well". *She labors by embracing the chaos and In so doing, creates order! (homemaking and child care ... office managers and executive assistants)

*This translation also speaks of her as offering leadership on the Paths of justice and understanding- in the service of truth. (playground duty, negotiation, collaboration)

I'm going to tell you a story about my search and research for the Divine feminine which began in the early 1980's and includes a young Jewish Artist and a wise and seasoned, Artist-Nun from the College of St. Catharine's. Many of you out there have gone to dinner parties and hosted dinner parties and I've been to some of your dinner parties and they have been fabulous experiences. But in the early 80's I went to a dinner party, hosted by Judy Chicago, a young artist from the west coast. She was struggling to find her way In an art world where men made all the rules about artistic expression. Through her search to find expression, she discovered the invisibility of women's contributions in the world of art, science, literature and religion, as well as the invisibility of their courses and ' tenacity as they labor for equality, reproductive rights, health, and the safety and survival of their children. So she went to work designing, organizing and creating "The Dinner Party" that I attended at McCalaster College. She not only honored 30 of these women by giving them a place at her table of artistic expression, but she created unique place-settings with runners and ceramic plates to reflect each woman and her contribution.

Judy designed the work and partnered with many women who did the sewing, stitching and needlework for this multidimensional work. I like to think that this was the first Dinner Party created and executed by women, for women, honoring women and open to the public as well! ("She knows how to deal with chaos and usher in order as well")

That day, the Divine Feminine Creator became visible for me and found her way into my heart. I was so proud to be among women throughout western civilization, who had shown leadership with courage and tenacity, laboring for justice, and understanding in the service of truth! And to honor them by using women's gifts in a setting that was both sanctuary and celebratory.

The second part of my story involves Judy's connection to the "Renegade Nun" as she affectionately called Sr. Judith. While Judy was In town they began a collaboration which culminated In The Creation Story which we used today as our multimedia refrain. My hope was that this multimedia response to the readings, would touch our sensibilities, opening us to receive and be moved by the power and passion of the Divine Feminine Creator who continues to infuse the universe with life-giving energy and who was and is consciously present in the birthing of the earth... we all are living, ever-evolving and changing ecosystems. We live in a delicate balance....reminding us of our vulnerability. Creation-centered Theology and Spirituality flows from the Divine Feminine Creator. She is our Original Blessing! And blesses us with life in her loving and tender embrace.

Judy Chicago's next project grew out of this collaborative effort. She came to the realization that the universal experience for all women is their power to birth and that there were too few images in western art. So she set out again to counter that omission through an extended series of painted and needlework images of birth. She discovered that to behold the vulva in labor as a woman is giving birth is to be confronted with sheer evolutionary power.

Again, how divine this experience was for Judy, the artist; wedding together her vulnerability and strength in this creative, collaborative, intuitive, mentally, emotionally and physically labor-intensive process .... it replicated the birth process itself. How divine this experience was for the 250 women who told their story or expressed their art form so boldly. And how divine is was for all the women and men who were touched and transformed by viewing this body of work.

We may not all have bodies that have the capacity to birth, but we all have the common experience of having been birthed which means that evolutionary wisdom of the birthing experience lives in our consciousness. By accessing that wisdom we can reclaim the Divine Feminine Creator and find a new respect for life, not only as outcome, as well as for being focus in the moment.

By making the Divine Feminine more visible, we can create the conditions and attitudes that embrace our earth and ourselves as part of her. And in that loving embrace, we can offer a new kind of leadership for our planet born out of the feminine in balance with the transformed masculine.

This takes me to Judy's next projects which her husband encouraged her to explore. They were titled "PowerPlay," and "The Holocaust". She began exploring the Masculine face of leadership, and its effects in our world. She also was looking for the roots of oppression and abuse. Again she discovered that in art, men were most often portrayed full of laughter or anger, no tears, thank you. She rarely found images of men in grief, loss or anguish. The names of her works are telling "Crippled by the Need to Control", "Trying to kill the Womanly Feelings in his Heart". "Come Here, Go Away". "Pissing on Nature". "Driving- the World to Destruction," "in the Shadow of the Handgun'' ' and finally, Judy births two images which are filled with hope for transformation; "Rainbow Man" and the image that you see above you,"Woe/man". These expressions tell all of us something about our journeys in a world where human consciousness is dominated by masculine forces where dualism runs rampant. We need to feel the feminine forces embracing us as we continue to move away from reactive, and violent attitudes, language and actions, toward proactive, receptive attitudes, words and gestures that embody the Divine Creator *who inspires us as we inspire; *who heals us as we heal others *who strengthens us as we act with strength. This image captures all of this, as well as the heartfelt sense of tenderness, looking out with hope. The lines are the branches reaching up from the heart wedding it to knowledge which creates understanding and compassion. This Is man on his/her way to being transformed ... becoming inclusive ... knowledge informed by deep feelings and intuition ... moving out of an "either / or" world into a "both / and" world where he is at home with all of life's rhythms and chaos is no threat to him for he knows how to usher in order.

In Closing I invite you into a visualization: close your eyes and breath deeply ...

1. Invite the image of May's movements expressing birth into you consciousness
2. Now bring In the Image, "Woe/man" and see yourself stitching those two images together
3. Lastly, create a huge heart that surrounds those two images and breath the images stitched together down into your heart space, letting the Image of the heart encompass your whole body. Resolutions A Stitch in Time" is Judy's most recent project. One of her androgenous images is called "Find it I Your Heart." So as you stay with your image and breath life into it, I invite you to live from a I" clear, open and courageous heart.

And then all that has divided us will merge.

And then compassion will be wedded to power

And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind

And then both men and women will be gentle and strong

And then all will nourish the young and cherish life's creatures

And then once again, all will live in harmony with each other and the earth.