Readings

July 14: [Argula von Grumbach, Scholar and Church Reformer, c. 1554]

The Collect of the Day

Argula Von Grumbach

Almighty God, who gave your servant Argula von Grumbach a spirit of wisdom and power to love your Word and to boldly draw others to its truth: Pour out that same spirit upon us, that we, knowing and loving your Holy Word, may be unashamed of Christ and may not sin against the Holy Spirit that is within us. Amen.

Argula Von Grumbach

Almighty God, who didst give to thy servant Argula von Grumbach a spirit of wisdom and power to love thy Word and to boldly draw others unto its truth: Pour out that same spirit upon us, that we, knowing and loving thy Holy Word, may be unashamed of Christ and may not sin against the Holy Spirit that is within us. Amen.

Argula von Grumbach would have been a remarkable woman in any age, but her brilliance shines especially brightly in her setting—Germany in the sixteenth century. She became the first published Protestant woman writer, and participated publicly in the theological and political debates of her time.

Argula was born in 1492 into a noble family in the Bavarian countryside. When she was ten, her father presented her with an illustrated copy of the German Bible—a lavish gift which seems to have made an impression on the young Argula. Her education continued when she was a lady-in-waiting at the court, in a time when renaissance and reform were stirring the air in Munich and Germany.

Her parents died when she was 17; she married at 18 and moved to another country town, where she managed the household, finances, and land; bore, raised, and oversaw the education of four children; and pursued her interests in theology.

Argula took on a more public role when, in September of 1523, she learned that the theologians at the nearby University of Ingolstadt had forced a young Lutheran tutor to recant his beliefs in public. He was saved from burning at the stake, but was to be exiled and imprisoned. Argula wrote a letter to these clerics, accusing them of “foolish violence against the word of God,” and notes that “nowhere in the Bible do I find that Christ, or his apostles, or his prophets put people in prison, burnt or murdered them, or sent them into exile.” She defends the writings of “Martin and Melancthon,” which she has read, and decries the University’s failed attempts to hide the truth of these reformers and of Scripture.

Despite her being a lay person and a woman, she says she is compelled to speak by her divine duty as a Christian to confess God’s name (she quotes Matthew 10) and to be unashamed of Christ (Luke 9). Her knowledge of Scripture and artful use of it was striking to her readers of the time, and is striking now. Her letter is a variegated composition with textures from across the Bible, picking up Gospels, Psalms, and prophets to form the skeleton and teeth of her impassioned arguments.

She closes by saying, “What I have written to you is no woman’s chit-chat, but the word of God; and (I write) as a member of the Christian Church, against which the gates of Hell cannot prevail.” Her letter was immediately printed as a pamphlet, which was then reprinted in fourteen editions over two months. More pamphlets, letters, and poems followed, and consequences followed too. However, she did not seem ever to regret that she—like her beloved forebears Judith, Esther, and Jael—had been called by God into decisive action.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

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Psalm

19Open for me the gates of righteousness; *I will enter them; I will offer thanks to the Lord.

20“This is the gate of the Lord; *he who is righteous may enter.”

21I will give thanks to you, for you answered me *and have become my salvation.

22The same stone which the builders rejected *has become the chief cornerstone.

23This is the Lord’s doing, *and it is marvelous in our eyes.

24On this day the Lord has acted; *we will rejoice and be glad in it.

25Hosanna, Lord, hosanna! *Lord, send us now success.

26Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; *we bless you from the house of the Lord.

27God is the Lord; he has shined upon us; *form a procession with branches up to the horns of the altar.

28“You are my God, and I will thank you; *you are my God, and I will exalt you.”

29Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; *his mercy endures for ever.

Gospel

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Judges 4:4–9

4 At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. 6 She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. 7 I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’” 8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 9 And she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

Matthew 7:24–29

24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!” 28 Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, 29 for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.