Friendship Baptist Church Book Club

May 2021 – “Just A Sister Away,” Renita Weems

Discussion Leader – Sadie Dennard

Discussion Questions:

1. How would you evaluate the relationship between Black and White women – Protestant and Jewish women? How does our shared faith in Jesus Christ help to ease the differences between us or help to erase the memories of what has taken place in the past between us?
2. Have you ever had a friendship with another woman which approximated Ruth and Naomi’s story – a friendship where you saw each other through a lot of good and bad times and remained friends? What was your friendship like?  What do you think made their friendship so special?
3. The authors probes beneath the surface of the women being portrayed to tell us how they felt about themselves and how they treated other women. Sister Weems believes that there is a common thread of sacred female experiences that continues to bind centuries of women. What are some of the environmental, societal, and religious traditions that continue to shape who we are and how we relate to one another?  Which of the Biblical relationships portrayed best makes your point?

 

Hagar and Sarah

Naomi and Ruth

Martha and Mary

Jephthah’s daughter and the mourning women

Miriam and Cushite

Women who followed Jesus

Vashti and Esther

Elizabeth and Mary

Lot’s wife and her daughters

 

4. This is a quote by the author, Renita Weems, what does it mean to you?“We are frequently just a sister away from our healing.  We need a woman, a sister, who will see in our destitution a jagged image of what one day could be her own story.  We need a sister who will respond with mercy.”