Deborah and Barbara Baisley

DEBORAH

Yesterday we saw how God brought about another victory for the Israelites through Deborah and Barak. Today they are singing about it.

Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!
I, even I, will sing to the Lord;
I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song.  Judges 5:3

Of course, there is loads to praise God for. God has done amazing things. He has delivered His people. He has led them into victory.

It is good to have the opportunity to sing about who God is and what He has done in our lives.

Consider the voice of the singers at the watering places.
They recite the victories of the Lord,
the victories of his villagers in Israel.  Judges 5:10-11

This song, however , has quite an agenda. It’s all about the individual’s response to the call to join in the struggle…..

When the princes in Israel take the lead,
when the people willingly offer themselves—
praise the Lord!  Judges 5:2

What God will do is never in doubt. It is the people’s response that is unpredictable.

No one would fight for good until Deborah arose as a leader – as ‘a mother in Israel’ – and gathered a new leadership team around her.

My heart is with Israel’s princes,
with the willing volunteers among the people.
Praise the Lord!  Judges 5:9

The song lists the tribes that arose and were with Deborah and Barak in the battle. Those that did not do not go unnoticed.

In the districts of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.
Why did you stay among the sheep pens
to hear the whistling for the flocks?
In the districts of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.
Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.
And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?
Asher remained on the coast
and stayed in his coves.  Judges 5:15-17

If we search long and hard, we can always find a reason or an excuse not to volunteer. We can always persuade ourselves that this call for action is not for us. Our lack of involvement will not go unnoticed.

Those that did not come to help the Lord against the mighty will be cursed; those like Jael who showed courage in killing Sisera will be blessed.

“So may all your enemies perish, Lord!
But may all who love you be like the sun
when it rises in its strength.”   Judges 5:31

Getting involved has a cost, but the reward is greater…….

Then the land had peace forty years.  Judges 5:31

BARBARA BAISLEY

Barbara Baisley was the Anglican Chaplain at the University of Warwick. I didn’t know her that well. We had a few good chats over cups of tea, but I can’t really remember what about. Much of my time at university is a bit of a blur though – not the happiest time in my life.

So I’m wondering why I feel the need to include her in this list of individuals who led, inspired and challenged me. I think it’s because she was a woman and a Reverend. I had a very sheltered background. Women were not allowed to take part in services at my church. They were definitely not allowed to preach. Women knew their place. Many wore hats to cover their heads. I inwardly rebelled against all this and then felt guilty for doing so.

But Barbara was in a position of spiritual leadership – and was a woman! That was mind-blowing to me at the time. I was very suspicious and struggled to shake off the teaching I had grown up with. Surely this couldn’t be right. Surely God couldn’t use a woman in this role. But she was amazing. And God clearly did use her.

Her role challenged all that I had been brought up to believe. She inspired me to believe that maybe I too could have a voice and a leadership role for God.

Andy and I were privileged to have Barbara come and do the talk at our wedding – quite a leap from the denominational doctrine I had been immersed in for 18 years! And now we are about to celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary. And our son is about to get married.

We’ll let Barbara speak for herself. Here is a copy of her talk at our wedding to inspire those of us who have been married for a long, long time and those just setting out on their journey together…..

‘It really isn’t easy for some of us to get through a marriage ceremony without tears – you can call it sentimentality, I shall call it idealism……The picture is so perfect – not just the two young, beautiful, gifted, happy people loving each other…..but God’s vision of the summit of human relationship.

For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one.

The ideal of love worked out, of tenderness, of honesty, of understanding and faithfulness. God’s vision for Helen and Andrew…..leaving and cleaving and becoming one…..

So, the vision means you have to leave – to know that your next of kin now is each other. That home from now on  is what you will create together, a place of welcome for all who come in Jesus’ name.

But in that leaving, you can look back and rejoice and be thankful at what you bring to each other from that old life you are leaving: your Christian faith, your sense of calling in your Christian lives and witness and in your careers, your firm intention to live out God’s will and purpose, whether it’s in Colchester or Botswana, in computing or with a development project, as a teacher, as parents……your sense of adventure and eagerness for life, both of you. You bring all that to your marriage, so be glad and recognise it in yourselves as well as in each other, as you begin a new life, leaving the old.

And God’s vision is that you be joined together, cleaving to each other in love. Committing yourselves to be there for each other; to be the one who listens; the one who respects the other as a person; who allows room for change, even though that can be disturbing; who allows space and time for growth and prepared to adjust, to rethink, to learn and grow as well; the one who rejoices in the triumphs and weeps in the agonies, through thick and thin…..that’s the vision.

And to become one, one flesh. Not to lose your individuality, not to swallow each other up in total dependency, or to exclude everyone else from your relationship. But to be prepared to face yourselves, face each other. To be honest about the hard things, that you don’t like about yourself, to share your deepest fears and hopes. The intimacy we all long for, that heals our loneliness, is no easy option, but it is God’s gift through each other.

It comes in the honesty of prayer together, in making time to be open, in discovering God’s joyful acceptance of your deepest self in the tender giving and receiving of married love.

That’s God’s vision for you. The ideal of Christian marriage.’