Where is life narrow?

If you’ve studied with 40 Orchards, you have likely heard us say that the Hebrew word for Egypt is Mitzrayim, which means “The Narrow Place.” When studying a passage that references Egypt, there’s an invitation for us to ask ourselves,

Where is life narrow? 

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat was reflecting on a teaching of Me'or Eynayim’s about Mitzrayim and she wrote the following:

“As though when our lives contracted, God's own self contracted too. When we are in Mitzrayim, it is as though God shrinks. When we are in tight straits, when our hearts and souls feel constricted, when our lives feel constricted, it's as though God becomes smaller. When our awareness of God atrophies, it's as though God actually shrinks.”

I was struck by how true this has felt in my life. When I sensed that my work had become an Egypt for me, and when my marriage hit a hard season, God felt distant and small. While living the last few years with a pandemic, political unrest, and the ongoing fight for racial justice, God still feels small.  

I would like God to show up in a pillar of fire and tell us all what to do.

(With the obvious hope that I would be on the “right” side of that pillar of fire.)

I wonder, is there something I can change so that I can experience God differently? If it’s not that God is small, but that I am being constricted, how do I leave this current Mitzrayim? Especially when it feels like there is not a way out? Is this about perspective or experience… or both… or neither?

Another layer of questions arises when I notice that this current Mitzrayim is communal.

It’s difficult when you can’t just leave by yourself. Communal leaving takes work that many of us are currently unwilling or unable to do.

Communal leaving means that I have to trust the people around me and they have to trust me. We have to agree that leaving is better than going back or staying where we are. We have to compromise and have compassion. We have to forgive and ask for forgiveness. We have to dig up hope and find our collective resiliency.

It has felt like a really long time since I felt communal hope and felt resilient. I want to feel both, but wanting and actually feeling it are two very different things. 

Seasonally, this all fits. Passover is a season where we pause to remember how God liberated people from the Narrow Place before, which will hopefully help us recognize that God will bring people out of narrow places again.  Even if I can’t feel it, I can remember what God has done. 

This season of Passover, Easter, and Lent invites us to take a deeper look at our own lives and the lives of our communities, to see where we are stuck in Narrow Places.

What do we need to leave?
What do we need to give up?
What do we need to start?
What is our next right step? 

If any of these questions resonate with you or you are looking for some ways to be intentional in this upcoming season, we would love for you to join one of our many offerings. 

I would love to dig up hope with you.

Believing that we can,
Lisa

Join us as we wrestle with leaving Narrow Places together.

  • Focusing on the book of Matthew, Gospel Roots examines how Jesus is positioned as one who fulfills and expands the Torah, guiding others to see with new eyes. In fact, Matthew paints Jesus as a new Moses- someone who will provide both leadership and liberation.
    How could connecting Jesus’ words and works to the Hebrew Scriptures help expand how we see Jesus and those around him?
    How can Jesus’ example still guide us today as we wonder how we are called to live? Begins March 2.
    Learn more and register here.

  • In many Christian traditions, Jesus’ last week on earth holds a special place as a “Holy Week.” Yet, many of us have not had space to wrestle with the teachings and narratives that occurred during that time period.  Join us during Lent as we bring the concept of Midrash to the Gospel of Luke. Our Midrash & Holy Week Scripture Circles will be held on four different Wednesday nights from 6:30-8:30 pm.

  • In our Seder Experience, we will partake in traditions that our Jewish siblings have engaged with for generations. This will be a communal, Zoom-based experience that’s open to all, including families and kids. Some parts of the evening will be facilitated for the  large group, and other parts will be done with small online "tables." (Families and groups within the same home can be their own "table.”) Together, we'll walk through some of the practices, questions, and conversations about leaving The Narrow Place that are sparked by the experience of a Seder. For those who register, we'll provide a list of supplies that you can gather ahead of time. This event is free. The Seder Experience will be on Maundy Thursday, April 14 from 6:00-8:00 pm. Learn more and register here.

Stephanie Spencer