She Did What She Could

The other week there was a segment on “The News Hour” of Afghan women who had come to America seeking to become medical doctors.

Presently, in their nation under the Taliban, women are limited to a third-grade education.  Their voice cannot be heard in public.  They are prohibited from holding most any job, certainly not as a professional – a lawyer, accountant, doctor – virtually every door is closed to women with such aspirations.

So many are now here, professionally stranded.  They can never go back and offer the gifts of their training.  Most were cut off in the middle of their studies, their training and degrees never to be completed.

UNTIL.  Until another woman who had suffered great loss when her daughter, being held for ransom in the mountains of Afghanistan, was killed by a grenade thrown by a Navy SEAL in the botched rescue mission. 

Let me first add some backfill to this story.

Linda was a very accomplished woman, holding a PhD from the University of Manchester in development policy and management.  She had served in rural areas around the world before being employed in Afghanistan.  She had done work for the UN in Pakistan, Mexico, and Laos before taking up her most recent work in Afghanistan.

She held the same high aspirations for Afghan woman as she did for herself.  She made it possible for some of these women who aspired to be doctors to go to Scotland for medical education.

All that, seemingly, came to an end when the Taliban routed US troops from the country in an ignominious departure — deserting the women of Afghanistan and their daughters to their dire fate under the rigid theocratic rule of the Taliban.

Needless to say, Linda’s parents were devastated by the news of her death.  Eventually her parents recovered their footing and her grieving mother, using her influence, using her connections and some family wealth, decided to do what she could for the women of Afghanistan.  She formed the Linda Norgrove Foundation to continue her daughter’s work as well as possible in that nation.

During the time when some could still escape that brutal rule, the foundation brought 19 female Afghan medical students barred by the Taliban from university education to Scotland to continue their medical studies.  The first group was among now more than 100 being sponsored by the Foundation to study medicine.

One of the few opportunities open to women under Taliban rule was to be midwives.  Through patient and arduous negotiations with the authorities, the Foundation has been allowed to establish a health clinic for women. 

Within the limits of what is allowed, her mother Lorna Norgrove continues to do what she can.  She’s a woman on a mission in memory of her daughter.  And it shall be sufficient.

Many pregnant women in Afghanistan have little access to medical care.  They have no prenatal care, no pediatric care for their newborn.  Often, their families are so impoverished that there is not enough food or clothing for a new addition to the family.  For these essentials, they are completely reliant upon donations.

The pilot project permitted in the town of Herat, western Afghanistan, is providing funding for some of these mothers and their families suffering from extreme poverty and malnutrition.

This clinic initiated by the Linda Norgrove Foundation in Herat is run by three Afghan women, a midwife, a qualified doctor and an anesthesiology student. 

These women are now providing healthcare for mothers, babies, and children two days a week. This includes weighing and measuring babies, providing medical treatment, and managing cases of malnutrition.

In the most extreme of situations, these three women do what they can.  And for those they serve, it shall be sufficient.

In our story from 1 Kings, we read of a widow in Zarephath, who, when called to tend to the prophet Elijah, also does what she can.  Even to the detriment of herself and her son.

“As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug:  I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”  She trusts in the prophet’s assurance that out of her meager gift, God’s response will be sufficient for them all.

“For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: ‘The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth’…she as well as he and her household ate for many days.  The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.”

Out of her poverty the Widow of Zarephath did what she could, and it was sufficient.

And is not this the case with an unnamed woman, a poor widow, who places two small copper coins in the treasury?  Out of her impoverishment, she did what she could, and the Lord pronounces it “sufficient.”  A gift far greater than that of all the millions of an Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos.  For she gave out of her scarcity.

Like some of you, I was pretty bummed out by the results of Tuesday’s election.  My candidate gave everything she knew how to do.  And for now – for now, it was insufficient.  For now.

In her concession speech she told of her phone call to president-elect Trump congratulating him on his victory.  That is what the peaceful transfer of power looks like in a democracy.

But she went on to add, “…while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign—the fight: the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness, and the dignity of all people. A fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation, the ideals that reflect America at our best. That is a fight I will never give up.”[1]

“On the campaign, I would often say when we fight, we win. But here’s the thing, here’s the thing, sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn’t mean we won’t win. That doesn’t mean we won’t win. The important thing is don’t ever give up.”

She left it all on the field, she did what she could, and eventually, it shall indeed be sufficient.  The Promise of America is ever expanding.

I heard a Latino man; the DJ of a Hispanic radio station, proclaim that most men who called in were inalterably opposed to a woman president.  “No one will respect her.”  “She doesn’t know what she’s doing.”  “Women are not meant to be in charge of men.”  All the tired and hackneyed excuses offered up by little men. 

Well, as my son Christopher pointed out this morning, even though we might not agree with some or many of their policies, women have had a good run as heads of state:  Indira Ghandi in India, Golda Meier in Israel, Margaret Thatcher — the “Iron Lady” — in the United Kingdom.  Other nations have had or do have very successful women heads of state:  Finland, Germany, Australia, Lithuania. You do remember Anglea Merkel, don’t you?

As is often said of Ginger Rogers, she was just as good as Fred Astair only she did it all backwards and in high heels.  Same as these women leaders.

And if we voted against Kamala just because she’s a woman, we deserve Trump and the worst he will do.  This will be divine and righteous judgment against our misogyny.  

Frederick Douglas, one of the few men attending the Seneca Falls meeting of the women’s rights movement in 1888, spoke of his modest role in promoting women’s suffrage and equality.  He was hesitant to even address the gathering.

“I believe that no man, however gifted …can voice the wrongs and present the demands with the skill and effect, with the power and authority of woman herself.”[2]

He summed up the goals and promise of their efforts at that historic meeting:

“…whatever the future may have in store for us, one thing is certain—this new revolution in human thought will never go backward.  When a great truth once gets abroad in the world, no power on earth can imprison it, or prescribe its limits, or suppress it.  It is bound to go on till it becomes the thought of the world.  Such a truth is woman’s right to equal liberty with man. She was born with it. It was hers before she comprehended it.”

We trust the women.  Full stop.  End of argument.

These women did what they could, and in the march of time, it was sufficient.

That’s where you and I come in.  I know many who supported the vision Kamala laid out are disappointed and perhaps discouraged.  Those who may have supported the other candidate may be ecstatic, wrapped in victory.

But let us all remember, our allegiance is not to a person, not to a party but to the Gospel and to the Constitution, flawed as it may be.   Flawed as our politics and this nation may be.  Flawed as we may be – let us move forward under the rule of law and in mutual respect.

Only a fool in my tribe would, after this drubbing, not want to talk to folks who chose the alternative.  We need to find out from them what they feel needs fixing and see where there might be common ground.

We must work to find common ground where we can all join in unifying effort to make manifest the ideals of equity and inclusion, the promise of a decent life for all.  Especially those left out and shoved out. 

If the in-coming president elect can be focused on what we can all do together, it’s likely that we can move this nation forward.  As vice-president Harris is fond of saying, “We have so much more in common that unites us than divides us.” 

And our efforts, puny as they may seem, as insignificant as perhaps a small bit of dough and depleted jar of oil, in and through the Grace of God, they shall be sufficient.  We are only asked to now do what we can.  As John Wesley, putting sectarian differences aside, offered, “If your heart is as my heart, take my hand.”  And let us go forward together.  Then perhaps — just perhaps, God will shed a bit more of her Grace on this our marvelous land.  Ame

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[1] Time Magazine, transcript of concession speech by Kamala Harris, November 6, 2024.

[2] Frederick Douglass’ address to the 1888 Seneca Falls gathering of women, public domain.

November 10, 2024
25 Pentecost, Proper 27

1 Kings 17:8-16; Psalm 146;
Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:39-44

“She Did What She Could”