Last night I started reading the first book I’ve ever checked out of the library (at least since we’ve moved here) – Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. The book immediately captivated me and as I sit in my office this morning, I dream about being able to read again. Nine more hours till I get to re-enter into the adventure… nine more hours.
While I wait, and as I work, I think about what I’ve read so far. In the two chapters I’ve had the pleasure of reading, the book talks about the captivating effects of culture. Like an animal forced to move forward in a stampede – so the movement of culture can make us face a direction we didn’t exactly choose. It talks about how culture whispers to us constantly – a voice so consistent that it disappears into the background. Like a constant buzzing – it is always there, just under the radar of our consciousness.
My thoughts wander to a news update I heard this morning as the alarm went off. It was a report from Texas about the upcoming elections. The reporter was interviewing a few people from one of those massive mega churches. When asked about who they would vote for, the Christians remarked, “Well of course we’re voting for Huckabee because he’s a Christian.” After a few more seconds, and a few more comments directed at Hillary and the roles of women in leading, I couldn’t stand it anymore and had to turn it off. I calmed myself by imagining that if I silenced my radio it somehow silenced it to the rest of the world.
Now back to culture – I ponder the relationship between Jesus and culture. He was magnificently relevant yet counter-cultural at the same time. The more I learn about him, the more I admire his mysticism and genius. The church, or rather the body of believers that follow Jesus, have a difficult model to imitate. When I think about the Texas mega Christians I can’t help but think they missed it – they thought that creating their own sub-culture apart from the “worldly” one would be sufficient… but, in my opinion, it only led to estrangement and alienation of others different from them. I say this, realizing how tempting it is to do just this – to create a safe place, a refuge – to keep moving forward with culture yet feel protected by your own walls. I could easily fall into making the same choices – but my location and my experience have led me down a different path from them. Indeed, I’m sure I’ve created my own walls around different subjects and for different purposes – but we’ll save that discussion for another day.
So what does this look like – how will we do it – be magnificently relevant yet counter-cultural? I don’t think I can figure it out today, or on my own accord, but I’m excited for the journey.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Women of the church
Here I go again, causing trouble. I promise, it's not intentional. And I am not the least bit angry as I write... and I am definitely not trained in "writing" so please be gracious with me as I engage this conversation...
To start, the topic of women leadership has been on my mind A LOT. It seems to come up in a lot of my conversations and it is always in the back of my mind as I process thru different areas. Shortly before the holidays, I ran across this book, Microtrends, and I had to read it. The reason I mention this book is because it backs up the increasing sense of urgency I've felt around women leadership/involvement. The book immediately starts out by talking about the rising number of single women in the United States - and how they outnumber men 53 to 47. It goes on to talk about women outnumbering men in fields like law, public relations, and journalism. Women outvoted men 54 to 46 percent in the 2004 presidential election. Women outnumber men in college by about 57 to 43 percent. And it doesn't stop there - single women were the second largest group of home-buyers in 2005. It goes on to talk about the large percentage of women that own or manage their own business, how women purchase more cars than men... and on and on. Basically, if we look at the statistics, the United States of America is quickly becoming all about women. Women owned, managed, designed...
I fear that if women leadership/involvement is not made a serious priority - the church will lose relevance with over half of the United States.
I'll conclude sharing one thought - this is one of the most liberating thoughts I've come across so far concerning women and God - and the main reason I've become increasingly concerned that men misunderstand who God is.
In the introduction to the book, The End of All Religion, Bruxy Cavey says "I should also take this opportunity to mention that I use the male pronouns "he" and "him" in reference to God with both regret and conviction. The Bible does not teach that God is male. God is Spirit, within whom maleness and femaleness both find their origin and identity (see Genesis 1:26-27; John 4:24). And here we encounter the limitations of language. English, like the original languages of the Bible (Hebrew and Greek), does not provide us with a gender-inclusive, singular, personal pronoun. And I don't want to refer to God in impersonal terms. (He is not an it.) Therefore, I use male pronouns because of my conviction that God is personal, not because I think he is male. Further, I wish to align my syntax with the ancient languages."
To start, the topic of women leadership has been on my mind A LOT. It seems to come up in a lot of my conversations and it is always in the back of my mind as I process thru different areas. Shortly before the holidays, I ran across this book, Microtrends, and I had to read it. The reason I mention this book is because it backs up the increasing sense of urgency I've felt around women leadership/involvement. The book immediately starts out by talking about the rising number of single women in the United States - and how they outnumber men 53 to 47. It goes on to talk about women outnumbering men in fields like law, public relations, and journalism. Women outvoted men 54 to 46 percent in the 2004 presidential election. Women outnumber men in college by about 57 to 43 percent. And it doesn't stop there - single women were the second largest group of home-buyers in 2005. It goes on to talk about the large percentage of women that own or manage their own business, how women purchase more cars than men... and on and on. Basically, if we look at the statistics, the United States of America is quickly becoming all about women. Women owned, managed, designed...
I fear that if women leadership/involvement is not made a serious priority - the church will lose relevance with over half of the United States.
I'll conclude sharing one thought - this is one of the most liberating thoughts I've come across so far concerning women and God - and the main reason I've become increasingly concerned that men misunderstand who God is.
In the introduction to the book, The End of All Religion, Bruxy Cavey says "I should also take this opportunity to mention that I use the male pronouns "he" and "him" in reference to God with both regret and conviction. The Bible does not teach that God is male. God is Spirit, within whom maleness and femaleness both find their origin and identity (see Genesis 1:26-27; John 4:24). And here we encounter the limitations of language. English, like the original languages of the Bible (Hebrew and Greek), does not provide us with a gender-inclusive, singular, personal pronoun. And I don't want to refer to God in impersonal terms. (He is not an it.) Therefore, I use male pronouns because of my conviction that God is personal, not because I think he is male. Further, I wish to align my syntax with the ancient languages."
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