Pregnancy Gospel of Luke

Have you been kicked by your child? I was lucky to have that experience quite early on (and 25 years ago). Even for fathers it, is one of those life changing, almost mystical moments. I still remember when it happened to me. One day evening after school, we were still university students, Martina grabbed my hand and placed my palm on her rounded belly. She wore gray and blue tartan dress. “Now!” She said, with bright sparks in her eyes. And I could feel a gentle nudge under my palm. Soon it became more vigorous. In a few weeks she could hardly sleep; at times, we were joking George would be a great soccer striker (thankfully he did not turn that way). With Jakob I even developed a little game. I would tap with my fingers Martina’s arching navel, and he would kick back, I would drum gently, and he would kick back, and again and perhaps one more time. Well, that was about how long Martina would let us play. (When I think about it, he appreciates this kind of little game until today.)
    These are those very special, intimate and mysterious moment of every parent. At the same time it is also one of those realities which constitute the delicate archetypal substance of any true religion. In the Near Eastern bronze age pre-biblical myths and legends fathers counted lunar months of pregnancy, five and five, first five (most likely to the quickening) and second five to birth (KTU 1.17.ii.43-46; KTU 1.23.57) They also deeply revered goddesses of childbearing called Kotharot. This is their three thousand year old hymn:
    I will sing of the goddesses, the Kotharoth
    Daughters of Ellil, the Bright Ones
    Daughters of Ellil, the lord of Crescent,
    they descend to the nut-groves,
    and among the olive-gardens.
    Lo, in my mouth is their number,
    on my lips is their count:
    Wedding-Gift  and Dowry,
    Flame-of-Love and Womb-Opener,
    First-Cry and Perpetually-Fruitful,
    finally, Benefactress - the youngest of the Kotharoth.
        (KTU 1.24.40-50)
Kotharot epithetic (characterizing) names are not unlike similar names of two famous and similarly respected Jewish midwives from  Exodus 1.
This Sunday is the last one in Advent. The evangelist Luke will introduce and highlight this intimate, mysterious life fostering Motherly Religion into the formative moment of our Christian faith. Come to celebrate life with Elizabeth and Mary and hear their “Pregnancy Gospel of Luke”.
 
(By the way, among the evangelists, Luke is the cultivated Hellenistic person, he has a keen eye for medical observation and detail, and also he has the least patriarchal worldview - his female characters are numerous and developed with insight and understanding.)
  

Terracotta figurines of pregnant and nursing women (goddesses?) from Iron Age Palestine.