By being denied the opportunity to share her experiences with her family and community, by being faced only with social disgrace, devaluation, and shame, Dinah suffers perpetually the fate of the silenced rape victim, isolated, stigmatized, and deprived of a supportive audience.
Caroline Blyth
Note: Worship is at 10:15 AM on Sunday
In-person worship and live stream
Dear Grace Family,
In the Job class that Jamie Afshari is leading us through, we are immersing ourselves in a profoundly difficult story. Job—a man that God himself described as “upright and blameless”—suffers an unspeakable tragedy. His children are attacked by violent men and are all killed. In addition, Job’s body becomes covered with painful sores, and he loses his wealth and property.
In the face of such terrible suffering, Job’s friends come and sit with him in silence for an entire week. Their wordless solidarity with their friend in their grief is, interestingly enough, the only helpful thing they do in the entire book. Once Job’s friends open their mouths, their words only inflict more damage upon him.
This week, we will consider the story of Dinah, one of Jacob’s daughters. The text centers around the horrific rape of Dinah. It is a brutal story of power, violence, and victim silencing. In the aftermath of Dinah’s rape, the narrative shows no concern for her but instead focuses on the actions of a group of powerful men who sidestep, cover up, manage, and avenge the sin perpetrated upon her.
So what are we to do with such a text that is profoundly painful and grievously all too common?
The text is in God’s word, so we believe it is for our good. It is with this faith in the goodness of God and his word that we will walk through this narrative together on Sunday.
But at the same time, please know that depending upon your own story, this text may be too much for you to bear at this time. If that is where you are, you need to know that is absolutely good for you to care for yourself and not listen to this week’s sermon.
Also, parents will also need to make a judgment call about the appropriateness of this text for your children today. I’m not going to sensationalize the story, but I’m also not going to sugarcoat what happens to Dinah.
I hope to worship with you on Sunday.
This Sunday: Genesis 3:18—35:1 (NIV)
Dinah
Here is the Order of Worship.
Warmly in Christ,
John
P.S. A reminder that we are having an Easter egg stuffing party after church in the downstairs fellowship hall. Light snacks provided. Email Linn at linn@graceseattle.org if you are able to help!
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