#also little snippet of Issac

[scuddle-bubble101]

Scattered doodles with some practice. (We are slowly being sucked into an old interest again and its been fun to lightly colour with it here and there.)

[p-and-p-admin]

Interview given to The Severus Snape and Hermione Granger Shipping Fan Group.  (sharing here Admin approved)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/199718373383293/

Hello IShouldBeWritingSomethingElse and welcome to Behind the Quill, it’s wonderful to finally have the chance to chat with you.

Many readers will know you from your extensive catalogue of works like Convergence, A Soul-Mate’s Kiss, Entangled and of course, The Ribboned-Witch

Okay, let’s jump right in. What's the story behind your pen name?  It’s a simple one. I should be writing anything but fanfiction, ie o-fic. I need the pennies! Which Harry Potter character do you identify with the most? Probably a mix of Snape and Granger. Snape’s general curmudgeonliness (is that even a word?!) and Granger’s swottiness, (also perhaps not a word…) Do you have a favourite genre to read? (not in fic, just in general) Romance. Always romance. I am addicted to my Happily Ever Afters. Do you have a favourite "classic" novel? Persuasion by Jane Austen. Reunited lovers, a fave trope. At what age did you start writing? 14. How did you get into writing fanfiction? I blame Wolverine. I fell into Rogan (Wolverine and Rogue) in 2011, then starting writing it, when I *should* have been writing my o-fic…. What's the best theme you've ever come across in a fic? Is it a theme represented in your own works? The Marriage Law Challenge. Can that be called a theme? I love that, and have written a few. It’s probably an equal love with soul-mates/fated mates. I’ve written a few of those, too. What fandoms are you involved in other than Harry Potter? I’m a fairly linear shipper. So it was Rogan, then Sherlolly…then SSHG and it’s been only that for *gulp* almost seven years. If you could make one change to canon, what would it be? Do you have a favourite piece of fanon? Naturally, Severus Snape lives (not that he died in the first place!). Fanon? At the minute, I’ve read so much fanfiction, I’m not sure what’s solely in the books anymore! Dark Revels, maybe? Or could Jason Issac’s idea for long hair for Lucius Malfoy be considered fanon? lol Do you listen to music when you write or do you prefer quiet? It varies. Sometimes it’s whatever I have listed on Amazon Prime, or various rainy ASMRs. I so have a creativity sound thing that’s supposed to tap into your writing brain. It runs for 3 hours and does *seem* to work…when I remember to turn it on! What are your favourite fanfictions of all time? Hope Reawakened - Georgesgurl117 A Place in the World - Noodle In the Darkness in Which We Are Made - Corvusdraconis A Number of Ways to Kill Ron Weasley - Ms-Figg From the Corner - Coffeeonthepatio Chocolate Enchantment - Vivian B Forged in Flames - MsWhich Owned - TwilightDarkness82 Three Pregnancies and an Adoption - rhapsodybree A Witchhiker’s Guide to Beltane - TeddyRadiator Romancing the War - Pubella The Marriage Benefit - Miamadwyn The Nature of the Phoenix - scatteredlogic Vomica Domintor - Always_ss There are probably fistfuls more… lol Are you a plotter or a pantser? How does that affect your writing process? A panster. Which is why I often get to the middle of the middle of a story (*the* hardest place!) and it stalls! What is your writing genre of choice? Romance. Always. Which of your stories are you most proud of? Why? Ignis Tactus, mainly for the feel of it. And chapter 5, because of quality of the writing. It’s intimacy. Did it unfold as you imagined it or did you find the unexpected cropped up as you wrote? What did you learn from writing it? I had a vague idea of where it was going and wrote the first chapters in a few days. Chapter 5 took longer - as the smexiness always does. It was a reminder to pick out the right detail, which is a simple idea and the hardest to achieve. How personal is the story to you, and do you think that made it harder or easier to write? It wasn’t personal, I don’t think. A story is always a tapestry to me, weaving threads together to make sense.  What books or authors have influenced you? How do you think that shows in your writing? Probably from years back, Orwell and Hemingway. And a shedload of poetry. It’s made me aware of language and to aim to use the least words I can to sharpen the imagery, dialogue and setting. Do people in your everyday life know you write fanfiction? My other half does and that’s about it. I keep my fanfiction separate from my o-fic world. How true for you is the notion of "writing for yourself"? I like to write what I want to read, so very true? lol How important is it for you to interact with your audience? How do you engage with them? Just at the point of publishing? Through social media? I’m a social media hermit, tbh. I’m on the usual sites, because I have to be for work…and even then, I can happily wander away for weeks! I envy people who do social stuff naturally. What is the best advice you've received about writing? Look at your verbs and make them strong. What do you do when you hit writer's block? I’m been blocked for about 2/3 years, which is why I’ve slacked on writing, both fanfic and o-fic. I’m still trying to find a way around it. At the minute, I mostly play with digital art/Daz3d. Has anything in real life trickled down into your writing? Very probably. I do sit and ‘feel’ the emotion in a scene as I write it. Do you have any stories in the works? Can you give us a teaser? I’m plugging away on bits and pieces, the odd few hundred words here and there. So this is a bit of a bare snippet from The Offer of Just One More (yes, I also peck at that!) “Victoire said you’re mean, Daddy.” Alexandra’s little Severus scowl was quite plain. “I said you weren’t, so she tried to pull my hair. So we sat on her,” she pointed to herself, Oona and a beaming Olivia, “until she said you wasn’t…weren’t.” Hermione sighed. The Burrow was a bloody minefield. And she was certain there was more than Ron stirring trouble, through their children, to get in a dig at Severus. “You shouldn’t sit on people who disagree with you,” Severus murmured. There was a light in his eyes. Hermione was sure she’d get the blame for their three daughters being little hellions. A lifted eyebrow and the murmured, “Draco? An attack of birds? Setting me on fire?” “She sat under the tree with us last week when you were at the Burrow,” Emily said. Obviously their eldest had known about the altercation. And supported it. The Snape girls were just as protective of their father as he was as them. It was sweet. In a Mafioso sort of way… “It was the troll then, too. And she thinks you’re the best storyteller, now.” “Troll!” Meredith cried, waving her juice cup, obviously at the end of her patience in waiting for her story. “The troll, indeed, Meredith.” The toddler beamed up at her father and clapped her hands. Severus glanced down at a still-sleeping Hannah. His voice was soft as he asked. “So…who is the hero of this story?” Five little girls grinned and looked towards Hermione. She blushed. “Mummy!”

“And who is the villain?”

“The Troll!” Oona and Olivia declared. “Because he attacked her.”

“Quirrell. He released the troll.” Alexandra said. Emily shook her head. 

“She wouldn’t be in the toilet at all without Ronald Weasley.”

“Weedy!” Meredith laughed and the semi-circle of girls fell into giggles. Her eldest had recently taken a sharp dislike to her old friend. Hermione’s eyes met her husband’s. They would have to keep an eye on what the ginger menace was saying around their children. Or wait four years, and let Emily hex him. Any words of encouragement to other writers? Write what calls to you…and find your fun in playing with language. Hunt out those moments where you go ‘ooh, that’s good!’ Thanks so much for giving us your time. No worries. A pleasure :)

[winterscaptain]

🥺 Derek Morgan 🥺 I LOVE that Aaron almost misses the birth of his first child with mom what a fucking goob. Honestly Tali anytime you give us mom and Derek I just lose it. Derek and mom feel a little like teenage Jack and mom to me. Both pairs understand each other in a way I feel Aaron doesn’t understand them. Like the “hypotetical” plan to kill Aaron if he woke the babies up feels very Derek Morgan to me. I LOVE THE DEVOTION. Jack yelling momma 😭🥰 Will we get a little snippet of Spencer finding out Issac is named after him?! I love the opening of this part so much. I love how the team reacts and I swear I feel like mom does this every time, she just 🤷‍♀️ the baby is coming but not till I’m ready to say something about it. I’m so excited that we have another kiddo being born. Brienne telling Aaron to share 😂 i love that you included Haley again. I have so many emotions. Once again ✨ Derek Morgan ✨ taking charge, being the sweetest and softest but lowkey threatening Hotch. Also the Neanderthal comment had my thoughts 📉 You remind me why I love each and every character. I have to reread everything now!

okay britt i saved yours because you always write me novels and ask the best questions (i STILL have questions in my drafts that i owe you!!) 

re: derek&mom vs jack&mom - i can totally see how you drew that connection! there’s a different boundary that both derek and jack have with aaron that they don’t have with mom, just because of the roles and relationships they have wtih each other. 

re: spencer - we will!! i’m working on it, and i’ve just finished the fic where we find out why mom and aaron named isaac after spencer. 

re: baby - i think mom definitely learns her lesson after isaac - he is the first, after all! and he’s the only baby born in the evening. the rest of them are born in the morning so mom either wakes aaron or goes into labor before bed (like elliot!)

oh yeah i had big “head empty thot thoughts” about...that moment u know. thank you my love!!

[facingthenorthwind]

WIP tag

tagged by @cuddlytogas

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP  folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! and then tag as  many people as you have WIPs.

[sweats] please don’t think about how many WIPs i have. (and yes i’m not counting the longfics that i haven’t updated in yonks, though i have not strictly abandoned them.)

wizard cops give james the bad news

redding weddy AU

make it to the playoffs [jaylen & mike]

wolf, wolf, run free

jon and martin end up in blaseball

ace rawlins

emmacore issac shapiro

regulusfic [newborns]

tagging @naryrising, @argentconflagration, @downn-in-flames and also anyone else who wants to do it, i’m barely on tumblr anymore and have forgotten everyone’s usernames haha

[hentaihunblog-blog]

Code:Realize ~ Sousei no Himegimi Episode 7

New Post has been published on https://hentaihun.com/blog/2017/11/24/coderealize-sousei-no-himegimi-episode-7/

Code:Realize ~ Sousei no Himegimi Episode 7

I must say, I am quite stunned. I can’t believe they actually skipped the entire event of Issac’s Lab. Now as I have been quite wary of how the writers were handling events that would contain major spoilers from the very beginning, so I can understand why they made the decision to only provide the key snippet to the chapter and nothing more. However at the same time, one has to ask, “Was it really worth it?”

Anyways, since they skipped the event and they jumped straight into Cardia’s dilemma I was honestly thrown off. As whole, I found the episode to be so-so. The pacing of it felt a little off to me, but I think it mainly had to do with how they literally skipped Issac’s Lab chapter. However the way the handled both Cardia’s and Lupin’s backstory was well done, so that certainly helped balance it out a bit. The one thing I did notice however was how insanely quiet this episode was. There was lack of background music, which isn’t a bad thing so to speak, but its absence was certainly noticeable to my ears.

Truth to be told, I was looking forward to Cardia’s backstory because it’s so bittersweet. Before she had met Lupin and the others, there was a time when Cardia broke her father’s promise of remaining in the mansion. When she was being chased by the local villagers, she was taken in by the lovely Elaine, and her young daughter Etty. Neither one of them feared her for what she was, and treated as a normal girl. This was really the first time, Cardia felt at home and enjoyed their company and warmth. She was happy to be living with them and was in no rush to leave, nor were they in any hurry to let her go. However the good days came to a tragic end when the @$!*@#* priest showed up at Elaine’s door demanding her to hand over Cardia. But Elaine being the badass lady she is defied him, but it came with a cost. They threw both Elaine and Cardia into a cave where there they met their tragic fate. Elaine ended up dying to Cardia’s poison. This part has not been addressed in this adaption until now, so here’s a quick note: Cardia emits poison into the air, so it’s dangerous to keep her confined to one place, because the poison would build up over time and affect others who are living in the same space (eg: Saint-Germain’s mansion). After that incident, horrified and guilty of killing Elaine, Cardia vowed to never leave the mansion – until Lupin and the Royal Guards came along.

So when she learns of what she is (a Homunculus), she handles it better than one would probably expect, mainly because she has one way or another always known she was not Human like the rest of them. She takes matters into her own hands, of investigating further of what she truly is, and what purpose she is supposed to serve. This is how she finds her father’s letter in a hidden compartment, where it provides instructions of where to go to fulfill her purpose and be granted ‘eternal peace’.

However she is still vulnerable, and that vulnerability is exploited when she re-encounters her trauma from the past. It is also one of the main reasons whys he keeps on trying to leave her friends, because she doesn’t want them to suffer to meet a tragic end because of her. Luckily for her Lupin isn’t the type to leave the girl he likes alone, so he went after her and saved her when she needed it most.

Lupin snapping at the villagers and that asshole priest who preaches nothing but bullshit, is probably one of my favourite scenes in his route, and despite the fact this was a slightly watered down version of that, I enjoyed it just as much. He lays down the law of telling these idiots to think how to make a difference with the heads rather than scapegoating people for their problems and turning against each other. The scene where Etty also tells Cardia that despite calling her a monster when she found her mother dead, in her heart she knows Cardia is not truly a monster, just a girl with an unfortunate fate. I am surprised they didn’t include that little gift because it would have made the scene even more touching, but hey, it’s not the end of the world.

It was also good to see they made sure Lupin’s backstory was covered this episode as well, of how he became a Gentleman Thief, and how he got ahold of Isaac’s plans in the first place. Basically the man who saved him and taught him the ways formerly worked as an agent, (I can’t remember if he worked for Twilight or not) who came across crucial information in regards to Isaac’s terrorist plot, and that is knowing its code name: Code:Realize, something which Cardia herself is familiar with as well. But because he hadn’t been able to do anything about it, it drove him into madness where eventually when Lupin learned about the crimes he has been committing and the organization he was a part of, he put an end to it, which resulted his teacher’s death. This is part of his past he honestly didn’t really want to share with anyone, but he decided to anyways because he wanted Cardia to know that everyone has sins or secrets about their past they don’t want to share.

Although they have now learned of the location where Isaac’s plot is taking place, Finis has already beat them to the punch by launching the attack, setting London aflame. Lupin and Cardia will have to find another way to get to the city and regroup with the others since the train back had stopped. Let’s see how they will deliver the final events!

A/N: First off let me say thank you for the patience. ; v ; / I can assure you starting this weekend, Code:Realize will be released on Saturdays again, as originally scheduled. Idolm@ster Side:M however will be released as a double-post on Sunday because I’m sick, again… fml.

PS: If you read this post within the first five minutes I have published this, you probably saw the chunk I erased when I faintly remembered how irrelevant it was – it has been since removed in the revision 5 minutes later.

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[jadednightwing]

Into Thedas - Visions

So I’ve been writing a thing... a Dragon age fanfiction thing that was sparked by reading “There & Back Again” by ElyssaCousland-senpai

Maker, I miss the days when I could post my horrible fanfiction and not worry about how good or bad it is.... I doubt it will get eyes, but let’s try

Title : Into Thedas

Chapter 1 : Visions

[Ao3 Link]

“Sarcasm,” my grandmother intoned gravely, her accent swinging from the practiced posh British to the more guttural Chechnyan of her youth growing thicker with every syllable, hiccuping briefly before continuing, “is a sign of weakness, Genevieve. Perhaps if you held your tongue more often, you would be married as well. You had such a wonderful thing with Nicolas, but you just couldn’t hold your tongue.”

I grit my teeth in silence while watching my brother dance with his new wife. A sarcastic quip about how, despite her and my mother's efforts to the contrary - my name is Jenna. Not Gemini, despite being my legal name. Not Genevieve, as she stubbornly continued to call me. Just Jenna.

I also wanted to point out that I wouldn’t want to bring a pathological liar and remorseless cheater to my brother’s wedding, no matter what his family connections. It would set a bad example.

Ruthlessly I managed to suppress both urges.

Being recently single while attending a wedding sucked.

Pressing against the pressure points along my eyebrows, I glanced around the room in search of something to use as an excuse to leave my grandmother’s intoxicated ramblings. God love her, when she starts drinking, the avaricious snobbery she spent most of her life trying to emulate becomes more than my good humor can stand. Breaking into her tirade about how I’d be engaged by now with a nonchalant, “Excuse me, Gran," I stood and walked away.

Leaving her sputtering gave me no small amount of pleasure.

Retreating to the dark corner behind the table of wedding gifts, I slid down the wall and, after popping a couple pain killers, pulled out my phone and opened the book I had recently picked up. It was a companion story to a game I had finally gotten around to playing, called Dragon Age. My oldest brother, Issac, had picked it up several years ago and had encouraged me to play.

/’You’ll love it, Jen. It’s epic fantasy. And it has 2 follow up games so-far, but you’ll definitely want to play them in order.’/

I’d put it off over and over again, telling both him and myself that I didn’t need another epic fantasy to get lost in. School, work, dating, hobbies; those were more important. But, late one night when I couldn’t sleep, I finally decided to give it a try. From that moment on, I was hooked. I’d recently finished playing the most recent game of Inquisition, and it was my favourite among all the games thus far. Political and religious intrigue, monsters both human and beastly, and magic that was feared instead of valued all culminating in a cliff-hanger ending — I was addicted. I had joined forums, read fan-written theories and head-cannons, and still couldn’t get enough. I’d even started dreaming of Thedas, which was both entertaining and a little irritating. I’d taken fangirl to a whole new level, and my brothers teased me mercilessly about it.

Trying desperately to lose myself in the story, the pounding behind my eyes was growing steadily worse. Turning my phone off, I pressed the heels of my palms against my closed eyes and breathed. I’d been having headaches for months, but this one was tuning up to be the worst yet. I felt more than saw two people pass me, but the snippet of conversation caught my attention.

“Tamlen, we should go back and bring the Keeper here. She may be able to decipher what the writings say,” a young woman said in a hushed voice, as if she was afraid to draw attention.

“Don’t worry so much, lethallan, we should scout the place out first before we bring the Keeper here. For her safety,” came the amused male reply.

Those casual words brought my head up, entirely confused as it was both familiar yet completely out of place. At first, I thought maybe I had misheard a conversation or if my mind was adding hallucinations on top of the migraine, but the swinging door leading to the kitchen and storage rooms caught my attention.

Deciding to investigate, I shakily got to my feet and pushed the door open only to see no one there, all the catering people were manning the food serving stations though the kitchen smelled amazing - and the wedding cake was beyond gorgeous. Following the long hallway leading to the storage rooms, a part of me was beginning to be convinced I’d simply made it up.

‘This is what you get for becoming too much Dragon Age, Jenna; you start hearing things.’ I was about to turn around and once again brave the crowded party when I heard a gasp behind me.

“Look at this!” came an excited male voice, “What do you think it means? I’ve never heard anything about elves living under ground.”

The voice had come from a darkened room, that turned out to be the costume and prop storage closet.

“Hello?” I hesitated before entering the room, “Excuse me, but no one should be back here.”  When no response came, I began weaving my way through the narrow walk space. Using my phone as a flashlight, I called out again and again but never got any response. When I turned a corner, I nearly gave myself a heart attack when motion caught my attention out of the corner of my eye, and had the knee-jerk reaction like I was about to walk into someone. I gave a shaky laugh when I realized it was just my reflection in a full length mirror. Backing up a few steps, my heart skipped a beat. The face was the same; the large bright-green eyes surrounded by white-blonde hair; but my reflection’s clothing was entirely different. Then a figure appeared behind her and I began feeling faint.

“What is it, lethallan?” The young man had sandy blonde hair with pale brown tattoos across his face, and a buzzing filled my ears.

“Let’s get out of here. This place makes me nervous,” he said and backed away.

The pain in my head seeming to pulse with each step, I inched closer to the mirror as if being drawn by a magnet, barely registering my reflection’s murmured, “Just a moment...this mirror... it’s the only thing here that’s unbroken. I want to take a closer look.”

I watched in terrified disbelief as my hand lifted in the exact mirror motion as my reflection’s and the moment both our fingers made contact with the glass, the pain in my skull expanded and ricocheted along my entire body. Crumpling to the floor, I struggled against the pain, only briefly registering that my phone was chirping and vibrating in my hand before my mind went dark.

[firstumcschenectady]

“Favoritism in the Family” based on  Genesis 27:1-29

If I have a favorite matriarch, its Rebekah. This is not because of this story. This story is Rebekah at her worst. However, her worst isn't as bad as Sarah, whose treatment of Hagar is atrocious. Nor does Rebekah's worst even relate to being married to the same man as her sister, a reality that make Leah and Rachel appear rather petty and immature.

Rebekah has a chance to shine her own light through the texts, and they show her as a woman who chooses. Not only does she choose, but her choices change history, repeatedly. The first time we meet her she's at a well. Abraham's servant has been sent to find a wife for Issac from Abraham's home country. The story is told well in scripture, from Genesis 24:

“Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all that he had, ‘Put your hand under my thigh and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but will go to my country and to my kindred and get a wife for my son Isaac.’ The servant said to him, ‘Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land; must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?’ Abraham said to him, ‘See to it that you do not take my son back there. The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and swore to me, “To your offspring I will give this land”, he will send his angel before you; you shall take a wife for my son from there. But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.’So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.”(Genesis 24:2-9)

The servant, still rather overwhelmed with his task, comes up with a plan. He'll head to the well, which would be both practical for accessing water after a desert journey AND practical for finding a woman as the women tended to gather at the well. Then he prays asking for God's help in identifying the woman. He asks for God's guidance so that that whichever woman he asks for water from who ALSO offers to water his camels will be the woman he's seeking.

Then the beautiful young Rebekah attracts his eye and he asks her for a drink. She immediate responds with water and then offers to water to water his camels too. Since there were 10 camels, this seems like a rather vigorous task, indicating rather significant hospitality and a commitment to the care of a stranger. The servant's plan worked out to identify a hard working and caring young woman. Even better, she was kindred to Abraham, granddaughter to his brother, which was the goal. (The matriarchs and patriarchs are incredibly inbred, sort of like the European royal families in the 19th century, please don't get too distracted by it.)

Then Rebekah invites Abraham's servant to stay with her family and heads home to prepare the welcome. When the servant comes to her family home and tells his story, her father and brother IMMEDIATELY offer to send her off to marry Abraham's son. As she was still unmarried and available, it is likely that she was also pretty young, prepubescent. Perhaps the journey home took long enough for her to grow up a bit more. (Let's hope!) In any case, they did forget to ask her if she wanted to go initially, but when the servant wanted to leave immediately the next morning, they asked Rebekah if she wanted to go, and she agreed to it, including the immediately part.

Now, in these first few choices, we already see that Rebekah's open heart and hard working nature are changing the course of history! She choose to give him a drink, to water his camels, to invite him into her family's home, and agreed to go and marry a man she'd never met (nor heard of previously), and to do so immediately.

If she had not, the story suggests, Issac would not have married and the lineage would have stopped there. But it doesn't. In fact, Issac and Rebekah's meeting continues to indicate Rebekah's openness to this marriage and her willingness to engage in it. (Here you see why I hope the journey was long enough for her to mature a bit.)

“Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi, and was settled in the Negeb. Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field; and looking up, he saw camels coming. And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, and said to the servant, ‘Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?’ The servant said, ‘It is my master.’ So she took her veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.: (Genesis 24:62-67)

The next time we hear of Rebekah is said to be 20 years later when she hasn't get gotten pregnant. #AllTheMatriarchsStruggledWithInfertility Issac prays for her and she gets pregnant, with twins. I know that the Bible predates the modern concept of romance, but it is SO easy to project it onto these two. Until this point, that is. Once pregnant,and for the first time, we hear of Rebekah praying to God. This is significant because the monotheism of the Bible starts with Abraham and Sarah on their journey away from their home-country. It is not assumed to extend to the family they left back home, and it is clearly a choice on Rebekah's part to accept the faith of Issac's family.

The story goes on to say that Rebekah had a terrible pregnancy:

The children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If it is to be this way, why do I live?’ So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb,   and two peoples born of you shall be divided; one shall be stronger than the other,   the elder shall serve the younger.’  (Genesis 25:22-23.)

Sarah never had direct contact with YHWH, although Hagar did. In fact, I think Rebekah is the only one of the matriarchs who is said to have an experience of the Divine. None of us are shocked that the result of the Divine experience is an inverting of the normal ordering of human society. God is like that. The order of human life mean that the elder son would be the one in charge, the inheritor of a double portion, the patriarch. Yet, Rebekah hears otherwise while they are still in her womb.

The story continues to indicate that the parents had different favorites in the family, “When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.” (Genesis 25:27-28) This little snippet reminds us that the stories of the patriarchs and matriarchs are meant to function in two ways simultaneously: both to tell a good story that makes sense about an individual, and to explain relationships between groups claiming to be the descendants of those individuals. Thus the story is about relations between nations AND about individuals at the same time. This little bit reminds us that the ancient Israelites, by the time they wrote this story down, were domesticated people who had distanced themselves from the nomadic hunter-gatherers of their recent past.

And now, we are caught up and ready to deal with the story read today! Rebekah is committed to the fulfillment of the prediction she'd heard during her pregnancy. She acts as if it is very important. The story believes that blessing is … an act of God of some sort. Issac needs to strengthen himself so that he can function as God's emissary in the giving of the blessing, and the story clearly believes that the future itself is changed by the speaking of the words. The blessing can't be taken back, but it can be tricked onto landing on the wrong person. This is an OLD story. The blessing seems to reflect back on the words of God that Rebekah heard during her pregnancy, ones that guided her to make them true.

Rebekah has a plan on hand. (I've been told that this subversive women sermon series could also be called “women who plan.”) She is willing to take any curses onto herself. She pushes her favorite son to trick her husband into giving him the blessing he'd reserve for HIS favorite and eldest. She is remarkably committed to fulfilling the words of God, even at cost to her own existence. She pays a high cost for it too. By the end of the story her favorite son is sent away, and we don't think they ever meet again. I say we don't think because her death is never mentioned in scripture. Her participation in this deception and her final work to have her son sent back to her family for safety (and the marrying of a woman from Abraham's home country and family) are her last notated actions. These are the final choices she makes. She fulfills the words of her husband's God, even at the risk of his fury and curses.

Rebekah starts out leaving her home and her family to marry a man she's never met who is following a God she doesn't know. (Seriously.  The radical openness and adventurous spirit of these ancient women is astounding.) Then she has an experience of this God, more of one than her husband is ever said to have. Issac is said to have prayers answered but not to hear God's responses. Furthermore, given the narrative about child sacrifice, Issac also has some serious reasons to distrust God. But Rebekah is given comfort and knowledge to use.  Her actions, ones that seem like they break apart the family she created, are done to fulfill the promises God made to her. Her husband's God at that. She leaves her own family, and then willingly participates in breaking her family out of her faith in this God! By the end of the story she loses her favorite son, her husband is near death, and her other son is (appropriately) mightily angry with her. And she's not mentioned again. She burns all of her power and influence in this one story that disrupts her entire life.

So, there she is, this adventurous, courageous, pushy, manipulative, faithful matriarch. However, I'm not sure I want anyone to mimic her choices, and there aren't a lot of moral compass points in this story if you take it directly.

Many scholars have suggested that the Northern Tribes (Israel) identified Jacob as their primary ancestor while the Southern Tribes (Judah – Jew) identified Abraham. In the process of forming a united identity the two were linked. In order to make it less hierarchical, neither was made the son of the other, instead they were separated by Issac. Issac, indeed, is more visible as the son of his father and the father of his sons than he is a stand alone figure. He's the link. These stories exist to create shared identity! They are successful in doing so, in part, by having a very relatable matriarch, and in part by naming an enemy as the “other” that the group can differentiate from.

Those the Bible identifies as Edomites (descendants of Esau) were the nation to the south of Judah, sometimes friends, sometimes enemies of the Israelites. They became a vassal of Judah for a while, but also contributed to their destruction and exile. This relationship is all being explained with the characters of Esau and Jacob, and in this story the behavior of their parents.

Which is to say, that this is a formative story about the nation, and its relationship with other nations. Similarly, we have narratives that explain our different relationships to Canada and Mexico, ones that aren't entirely honest about the reasons we worry more about one border than another. We have stories about our relationships with Great Britain as our (I recently heard this) “longest standing ally,” which conveniently forgets that they were our first opponent in wary; we have stories that pervade our subconscious about the relationships between European Americans and Native Americans, ones that include the idea that Columbus “discovered” a continent with millions of people living on it; we have stories about relationships between people of different races that dismiss the history of slavery, segregation, and choices to limit US citizenship to people who were “white enough.” We have stories, as a nation, who tell us who we are, who we are supposed to be, and who we need to exclude and dis-empower to get there.

Those stories today are more overt and readable than they've been in my lifetime. More than ever the stories that are being told to our nation sound like telling the so-called descendants of Jacob that Esau (and thus his descendants) was freakishly hairy, smelly, and uncouth. In fact, many of the stories I hear today are intended to create fear of the people who claim to descend from Ishmael (the Muslims). It turns out that the patriarchs, the matriarchs, and their stories still impact global relations today.

It also turns out that at the end of this narrative Esau marries a daughter of Ishmael, symbolically restoring relationships between the two “unblessed” parts of Abraham's family. While I don't actually encourage marriages as means of restoration (symbolic or otherwise), I hear God calling us to expand our definition of family, including by telling new stories about who we are and who we can be. May we hear, and tell such stories. Amen

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Rev. Sara E. Baron

First United Methodist Church of Schenectady

603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305

Pronouns: she/her/hers

http://fumcschenectady.org/

https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

June 18, 2017