Advent: a woman's place

I won’t lie to you: there are days when I struggle with calling myself an Evangelical. 
                
                      Today, for example. 
   
Yes, the Church of England’s General Synod recently voted to exclude women from ordination in the role of bishop.  Yes, an acquaintance, who has since been hidden on my social media feed because I seriously can’t take anymore, posted a youtube video from the previous (not Obama v. Rommey, but Obama v. McCain) election in which a male pastor explained why and how, “biblically,” women in governmental leadership positions equal a nation under God’s judgment; and, that women should never, ever, ever be permitted to preach.  Yes, the church I recently committed to attending (the last bastion of hope in my local vicinity) has ousted all female pastors for personal reasons, and hired a plethora of young, married men in their stead.  And yes, recently I had a conversation with a friend who assured me that her marriage would be recognized in God’s eyes because she had been married by a male leader.  For, to be married by a female pastor (oh, that they even have the audacity to call themselves that!)  makes any covenant illegitimate in God’s sight. 

                  What?

Why is the faith that I love so dearly, so harmful and restraining for women?  How is it that we can read the exact same scriptures, and cite experts in the field, and come to such polarizing answers?  How can it be said that women have no voice; yet Jesus Christ gave the honor of first missionary to a woman, instructed women to proclaim the gospel after he rose, and allowed a woman to study at his feet as the other male future-leaders did?   

How can women be so excluded from God’s plan of redeeming creation that we have been relegated to our husband’s dreams or callings?  Or at best, to the tents of the other women? 

Dear one, you know this topic is my heartbeat: the God of the universe is the same God of women.   I hope I am clear in my pursuit: not a female over male, to counteract the current systems, but female with male.  Serving together, teaching and learning from one another, ministering to each other, living the gospel together for the benefit of each other.  Because God made women, as He made men, in His own image.  And in Christ, all are free to worship Him thus; and teach about Him thus; and show the world who He is.   Because we all have the same outpouring of the Holy Spirit as our male counterparts.  There simply is no scriptural way to duck this truth.       

And where do I land after another gender-equality rant?  Where do I go when I am so weary of only hearing God's Word taught by male voices?  To whom do I turn when, yet again, all I'm told is that based on the sole fact of my gender I am exempt from decision-making, as though "female" is a reasoning-handicap?  When I am counseled to lay aside my calling and dreams thereof, so that I may invest all time and energy into my husband's calling. 

I go, dear one, to the only place one can: to Jesus, the only one who has the words of life.   

And because we are so close to the celebration of Divinity incarnate, I am focusing for the next few weeks on the nativity story.  More specifically, I am purposing to enter into this advent season devoting myself completely to the Magnificat [Luke 1:46-55].  Highly liturgical, perhaps.  But in these nine verses, sung by a newly pregnant teenage girl, I find so much hope and honestly and beauty and high theology that anticipate and reflect the coming of Christ Jesus.  These verses allow me to focus on the fact that before anybody else knew…before Joseph or Herod or Pilot or the Pharisees…a young woman was told about the advent of the Messiah.  This Jewess had no clout, no platform, no worth outside of her immediate family (and even that hinged on her virginity).  Yet, it was to her—and ONLY her—that the angel Gabriel imparted the news that changed everyone’s forever. 

                The Messiah is come.  God’s promise would be fulfilled.  
 
And yet, He did not announce it to a high priest or to judge or king or prophet. 
 
                Almighty God told one woman. 

It was up to her to tell the rest of her world.  Just as it was up to a Samaritan to tell her village; and as it was up to a woman to break tradition, enter the male part of the house and purpose to learn at the feet of the Master, so that she might teach others.  Just as it was up to a woman to announce the resurrection of Christ from the dead, so it was up to this one woman to announce the impending insertion of Immanuel into human history.

Never, ever, ever doubt, dear one, the impact one woman -- in love with the Lord and completely submitted to the Holy Spirit -- can do:

                change all of eternity. 

For the glory of her Lord, her soul will magnify His name.

Amen.      

    

My Editor's Job

If I had an editor, her job would be to take these articles and arrange them into a palatable and organized sequence.  Sadly, that position has not yet been filled.  Likely because it’s more un-paid internship than actual job; but I digress… 

If I had an editor, she would have put this article first.  As a preface to the introduction of a five week study of who Jesus was with the women he encountered; and who they were because of it.  Then would come the clear assertion of who Jesus was and is; then a quick jaunt through history to recall the context in which we find these women.  And then we could meet each one individually and examine what scripture teaches us about her relationship with Jesus.  And discover what that means for us today. 

I’m still a student.  As such, I’ve had the spectacular opportunity to really dig into God’s word regarding topics I’m passionate about.  A topic that is particularly close to my heart is Jesus’s interactions with women, as found in the gospels.  How the living, breathing Lord acted and spoke around living, breathing women in first century Palestine, with all the cultural parameters of that time.  And what that means for us, as a body of believers, today.  After completing this project, I was surprised, not at what I’d found, but that people outside of school wanted to read my paper.  Why? 

Though, during my research as my spirit was stretching out into this new, wide open space I was discovering, I recall driving home, asking God, “why haven’t I heard this before?”  I could feel Him smile.  And though I can’t give a precise reason, I have a hunch that this topic drove me deeper into His word than I’d been before; and it had me climbing up onto his lap with my books, pointing out passages and talking excited about them to Him.   And I am guessing that He, as I do with my own beloved children, delighted in the time we spent together; relished watching me make discoveries that were not new to Him, nor to many other more mature believers; and thoroughly enjoying my deepening love for Him and His Son.  After I was done, I tucked my newfound discoveries away, sure that I had simply uncovered what everyone else already knew.

And yet…

As I listen to dear friends and trusted teachers, I find my head cocking to the side.  I flip to the passages they are talking about and wonder, “Does scripture really say that; or is that just what we’ve been taught for so long that it’s tradition?”  And I felt the certainty I held so close a few semesters ago slipping into the background.  I felt a pull to share what I’d learned.  To not be stingy and hoard the insights I’d been allowed to discover, but to set these treasures out in front of my friends and family, so each may adorn themselves with the beauty that is the Truth of Scripture.*              

Thus, every Tuesday and Thursday for the next four weeks, I’ll provide an article in this series which will examine the interaction of Jesus and a woman found in scripture.  We’ll put aside what we’ve heard about her before.  We’ll turn off that pastor-in-my-head, and look at the passage with fresh eyes.  We’ll listen to what scripture is telling us, through these encounters, about whom Jesus is; and who we are because of it.  I welcome, or more accurately, I ask for your comments and questions.  Leave them in the comment section below, Facebook them to me, e-mail me, tweet them at me.  Drive by my house and leave them taped to my door.  But join me in taking a fresh look at stories we’ve heard taught time and again; open your hearts and minds to a new work by the Holy Spirit.  Let the accounts of these women draw you closer to Jesus and His Father.  And experience the wide-open space in your spirit that is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in you.     

I know the title for this series is hardly a catchy one:

The Women Who Knew Jesus,

but, I’ve heard editors help with that, too. 

* And on the off chance that any of this idea gives you pause, let me assure you: I have had more than one set of eyes on this project (one set belonged to a Distinguished Professor of New Testament, and he hasn’t branded me a heretic yet.  Though, this coming semester of Greek may provide that opportunity).  Thus, let me assure you that what I present is very safely within the bounds of scripture.    

Enjoying this study?  Here's a link to other articles in this series: The Women Who Knew Jesus