URC Daily Devotion Saturday 29th April 2023 Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard had an intense friendship with another nun, Ricardis, and wrote demeaning herself whilst, at the same time, giving learned commentary on a range of subjects.  In an age which severely limited women’s education and academic interests Hildegard stands out.  The acceptance of public preaching by a woman, even a well-connected abbess and acknowledged prophet, does not fit the stereotype of her time. Her preaching was not limited to the monasteries; she preached publicly in 1160 in Germany.  She conducted four preaching tours throughout Germany, speaking to both clergy and laity in chapter houses and in public, mainly denouncing clerical corruption and calling for reform.  

Although the history of her formal canonization is complicated, regional calendars of the Roman Catholic church have listed her as a saint for centuries.  On 7 October 2012 Pope Benedict named her a Doctor of the Church, in recognition of “her holiness of life and the originality of her teaching.”  

St Matthew 25:1-13

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

As Reformed Christians we pride ourselves on living out the Reformation tag that the Reformed Church is always being reformed by the Word of God.  We find we struggle as we wrestle with being loyal to the tradition yet finding new ways in which the Word speaks to us.  Over the last hundred years or so the ordination of women, acceptance of divorce and remarriage, the place of lgbt folk in the life of the Church, and the insights that the two third world bring,  have all been ways in which this struggle between faithfulness and reform have played out for us.  

Like Hildegard we can all be full of contradictions.  We can be radical in some ways and deeply conservative in others.  We can be contradictory in our approaches to ethics, Scripture, tradition, and authority – just as Hildegard was.  We can infuriate those around us, and no doubt the historians yet to come, but we strive, just as Hildegard did, just as all our saints have done, to be faithful to the One who calls us.