Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Strange News

Sometimes Yahoo Strange News is more sad than strange: Church fires teacher for being woman . (Okay, so it's probably pretty strange to most of the world.) I'm sure there's more to it than that, but making headlines like this sure doesn't make the offense of the cross any more palatable. I suspect this church needed a little peacemaking, and hitting her over the head with a KJV Bible (stereotype? yes!) provided an expedient substitute.

I'm so thankful that I am part of a church that adheres to (what I believe is) Scriptural teaching regarding the roles of men and women in the church, but that in no way denigrates women. Every Sunday morning, I am surrounded by strong women whom I would do well to emulate. They don't look squashed, and in fact they have an articulate voice and a strong influence on the life of our church. I think part of this is because I am in a church that is also filled with strong men. They are godly, wise, secure and they are peacemakers, so a strong woman is neither a threat nor a problematic question.

The Church would do well to raise up more of both strong men and strong women, especially in a culture where the godly version of these is out of fashion.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is such a hard issue to tackle, and in fact it's pretty stupid to say you are going to "tackle" an issue like this. I remember when we were in the "Women in minstry" class together at WTS, and I wondered how hard it must have been for you. Anyway, just to help me in my own understanding, what exactly is your church's stance on this issue? Your post wasn't too clear.

By the way, it's been a while, hope you're doing well.

JB