Lenten Reflection: St. Sarah of Golders Green

The following is the thirteenth in a series of reflections on The Great Divorce.
For more reflections on this work, check out the hub page for the series.

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find this post helpful, please consider sharing.

St. Sarah of Golders Green

A reflection on chapter 12 of C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,

but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Give her a share in the fruit of her hands,

and let her works praise her in the city gates.

Proverbs 31:30-31 (NRSV)

They say in Heaven love comes first

We'll make Heaven a place on Earth

From "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" by Belinda Carlisle

The thirty-first chapter of the Book of Proverbs describes a "virtuous woman" or "capable wife," depending on the Bible translation one is reading.¹  In some Christian circles, this passage of Scripture is used as a checklist of things a woman should do in order to become an ideal Christian housewife.  Many Christian women are aware of the Proverbs 31 woman.  Many look to her as a role model, but many others consider her to be an unreasonable standard and the bane of their existence.

A few years ago, writer Rachel Held Evans spent a year exploring different dimensions of "biblical womanhood."  One month, she attempted to do all the things detailed in Proverbs 31 as if it actually was a checklist, and, over the course of that month, she learned that there is much more to that passage than meets the eye.²

---

The protagonist gets the opportunity to watch a parade in Heaven.  First, numerous angels dance and throw flower petals through a path in the forest.  Next, two rows of singers line up on both sides of the path - one row of young men and one row of young women.  Next, accompanying musicians march through the path.  There are also many animals present: cats, dogs, birds, and horses.  The protagonist then sees the spirit for whom the procession is being held, whom he describes as a woman of "unbearable beauty."  The protagonist's teacher says that this woman is "one of the great ones," a saint who has achieved fame in Heaven.

This spirit has come to the forest to meet her husband who has just made the trip from Hell to Heaven.

---

The person for whom the procession was held was not canonized as a saint by an institutional church, nor was her ministry well-known like Mother Teresa's work in Calcutta.  Her name was Sarah Smith, and, in her Earthly life, she lived in a suburb of London with her husband.  The people who took part in the procession for her were all those whose lives she touched.  Her care was not limited to other humans but was extended to all living creatures, hence the many animals present.  "In her, they became themselves."

The protagonist's teacher describes her thusly:
Every young man or boy that met her became her son...  Every girl that met her was her daughter...  Everyone on whom her [motherhood] fell went back to their natural parents loving them more.  Few men looked on her without becoming, in a certain fashion, her lovers.  But it was the kind of love that made them not less true, but truer, to their own wives...  Every beast and bird that came near her had its place in her love...
In other words, Sarah oozed love, and she brought out the best in everyone who met her.

According to the teacher, "fame in [Heaven] and fame on Earth are two quite different things."  On Earth, a person might be famous for any number of reasons: money, social status, physical appearance, power, influence, talent, or number of Instagram followers.  In Heaven, a person might achieve fame for one reason and one reason alone - love.  In Heaven, beauty is a physical manifestation of the love inside a person's heart.  The spirits of Heaven all appear bright, youthful, and healthy, and the protagonist describes Sarah's beauty as "unbearable."  By contrast, the ghosts from Hell all appear ghastly, and those ghosts who try to appear outwardly impressive end up appearing silly, contorted, or grotesque.

According to Rachel Held Evans, the Hebrew phrase that is translated "virtuous woman" or "capable wife" in Proverbs 31 is eshet chayil, which is better translated "woman of valor."  As she attempted to follow Proverbs 31 to the letter, she learned from a Jewish friend that the passage is actually not a checklist but a song Jewish men sing or recite to honor their wives on the Sabbath.³  This song is not unlike those sung by troubadours to celebrate the accomplishments of great warriors, as it is filled with militant language that is typically lost in English translations.⁴

I would argue that Sarah Smith was a true Proverbs 31 woman, for she was not merely a "capable wife" but a woman of valor and a soldier of God.  It is people like her and other saints who show us how to combat darkness and conquer the world - not with military might or with political pressure, but with self-giving love - one act of kindness, one encouraging word, one work of justice at a time.  Sarah was a light to all with whom she crossed paths, and the people who experienced her love took that light with them and shared it with others.

Rachel came to the conclusion that "the Proverbs 31 woman is a star not because of what she does but how she does it - with valor."⁵  This is a lesson that all of us - both women and men - need to take to heart.  We are all called to be valorous soldiers of light and goodness in a world plagued by darkness.  We conquer not with violence or force, but with love.


Notes:

1. See Proverbs 31:10.  The KJV and NRSV are referenced above.
2. Rachel Held Evans.  A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband "Master".  2012, Thomas Nelson.
3. Evans, pp. 87-88
4. Evans, pp. 75-76
5. Evans, p. 95

The photograph of the forest path was taken by Wikimedia Commons user Tognopop, and is public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.