Speaking of Women

So one of my friends was wondering if I could explain some scriptures as I interpret them in regard to a very special topic to me: women preaching. It is a very controversial topic in the church as a whole and one that I believe deserves a lot of discussion. I hope to keep the discussion going and maybe contribute to it a bit.

Let me first say that I have no Biblical training as of yet. However, I have done my research on this topic and have worked hard to properly exegete this passage.



1 Corinthians 14: 34-35
Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

The most important things to consider when reading a portion of the Bible is to read it in context with history and culture, with the rest of that chapter, and with the overall message of the Bible.

Let's start with historical context. In that time period, women were treated very poorly. They were essentially property, uneducated, and not allowed to enter the synagogues. Therefore, Jesus talking with women (as a rabbi) was astonishing to the people of his day! He illustrated how much value women had in his eyes, and this value was continued through to the early church. However, the early Christians also understood that they needed to submit to the law. Women were not allowed to speak in public there. Just having the women in the church was a little on the edge, which is why Paul writes "as the law says".

Now in context with the rest of 1 Corinthians. It should be understood that Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth who were having a LOT of problems. Corinth was quite the party central and the...er...rowdiness was leaking into their services. Paul knew that and wanted to introduce some organization. Because women were not educated, they had a harder time understanding what was being said. So their talking would have been more like Grade 9s chatting to their pals in a university course.

The cool thing about this passage is 1) that women were allowed to be a part of the church 2) that if they wanted to learn they could ask their husbands. They were being given the chance to understand the message. Going back to the previous example, it would be like a university student privately tutoring a grade 9 student. In time, the Grade 9 would have a better understanding of what is being taught.

Later in the Bible we are introduced to a woman named Priscilla in Acts 18:24-26, who with her husband "explained the way of God more adequately" to a man named Apollos. She is shown as a smart and well-loved follower of Jesus. In fact, notice that when Priscilla and her husband Aquila are mentioned, her name is usually mentioned first! (See Acts 18:1-4; 18-28; Romans 16: 3-4; 1 Corinthians 16: 19; 2 Timothy 2: 14).

Because women did not have a full grasp of what scripture meant, they were not allowed to teach. (1 Timothy 2:12) It is apparent that Priscilla was one of the few women who learned very quickly the Gospel and so was allowed to teach.

Today's women are educated at the same level as men. There is no reason for a woman to not be able to teach. Indeed, she has many role models in the Bible of women who have stood up for what was wrong.

Esther (Book of Esther)
Deborah (Judges 4-5)
Ruth (Book of Ruth)
Abigail (1 Samuel 25)
(For cultural context into their stories see the Soul Sisters series at http://www.themeetinghouse.ca/)

I just want to leave you with two of my favorite verses. I hope that I've inspired you to take a closer look into this whole discussion and maybe give any girls you know aspiring to be pastors a pat on the back (wink wink)

Acts 2:17
In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. :D

Church Girl

Church girl
You know your bible

You know the answers
Church girl
You don’t know me

Church girl
You know the church
You know the rules
Church girl
You don’t know me

Church girl
You know you’re best
You know who’s lost
Church girl
You don’t know me

Go to all the events
Rallies, concerts, youth group
Memorize all the scripture
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
Volunteer all you want
Choir, food bank, Sunday school
Where’s your heart
You don’t know me

Oh church girl
You know I love you
You know I saved you
But church girl
You don’t know me

In Defence of Imagination

Shining eyes glitter green
Imagine new worlds where things are so clear
Where you see music
Where you touch lightening
Where you taste the stars
Where you hear butterfly wings
And raindrops fall from your fingertips

Laughing mouth blush red
Speak of new realms of beauty, shock, and awe
Where you jump from cloud to cloud
Where you walk on massive cold waves
Where you run without getting weak
Where you kick diamonds across the seas
And light refracts off your fingernails

But what if there’s nothing
Nothing more than what we see
Time ceases as we ourselves
We ourselves become nothing
Well, I won’t have it

There’s more to this universe
All its beauty and clumsiness
Time continues and escapes
Escapes our pitiful knowledge
You see I believe

There are unicorns and monsters
Monsters under the bed and in the closet
There are elves and fairies
Fairies that fly at night and wish on stars
I think that childish notions

Keeps this crazy world on track
Just as the wisest person said
“Become like a child and
You will enter heaven”
And what an imagination He had!

5 Books That Changed Me and Why

I am a reader. I always have been and I believe I always will be. I devour books like they were candies and I get overly excited about what knowledge is hidden in them.
When I was little I loved the smell of books. My mom would come in and find me with my nose (literally) in a book inhaling deeply.
There is something thrilling to me about books, because they have the ability to change life. What I read changes how I think, which in turn changes how I act. So here are five books that have changed how I think and act. It was so hard to pick just five so I may do a sequel post!

Blue Like Jazz
This book must have been recommended by at least five different people. And when I read it, it blew my mind. This guy wrote about God in a way that I had never been able to articulate. He speaks like a poet but questions like a scientist. His honesty is overwhelming and so refreshing. All my questions and doubts were burst out of this book and took new life and inspired a renewed curiosity ion the God I'd grown up knowing about. My copy of the book is well-worn and underlined - I have read it at least five times. It has become like a teddy bear to me. It's a source of comfort to know that other people feel the same way I do.

Favorite Quotes: "Here's what I've started thinking: All the wonder of God happens right above our arithmetic and formula. The more I climb outside my pat answers, the more invigorating the view, the more my heart enters into worship."

Mister God This Is Anna
 I picked this book up at a thrift for for fifteen cents. It was a small yellow paperback that fit perfectly in to the pocket of my purse. I remember curling into an armchair and reading this book. It's the true story of a little girl who befriends a man in London. This girl is incredibly unique. She was abandoned by her parents and has no one in the world but the one she calls "Mister God". She astounds her new friend with her knowledge of philosophy, theology, and the meaning of life. He documents their conversations in this little book. The book is rich with the flavor of England complete with British slang and accents. I saw the world in a way that I'd never seen before in my life. It gave me chills and when I looked away from the book for a moment, everything around me felt so beautiful. This challenged me to become more like a child and really look for the wonder in every-day things. I can't really do justice to how amazing this book is and how I wish I paid more than fifteen cents for it.

Favorite Quotes: "She tried out a smile but it didn't work too well, and with a sniff she continued, "I know what I see and I know what you see, but some people don't see nuffink and - and -." She threw herself into my arms and sobbed. ...Anna's misery was for others. They just could not see the beauty of that broken iron stump, the colors, the crystaline shapes; they could not see the possibilities there. Anna wanted them to join with her in this exciting new world but they could not imagine themselves to be so small that this jagged fracture could become a world of iron mountains, of iron plains with crystal trees. It was a new world to explore, a world of the imagination, a world where few people would or could follow her."

The Irresistible Revolution
This book, much like Blue Like Jazz was highly recommended and is now well-worn. There are some books that you read and it feels like they hit you in the heart - with a 2x4. This is one of those books for me. In it, a guy talks about how he grew up in a very evangelical upbringing and how he felt incredibly convicted of this. These convictions led him to places he never would've imagined; in Calcutta with Mother Teresa, in Iraq amidst bombings, and on Wall Street dumping $10,000 in coins and bills. He believes that Jesus calls us to something crazy. He believes that when Jesus says to give your money to the poor - He meant it. He believes in the power of community and love. This challenged everything I had grown up with. It has established within me a sense of being uncomfortable with money and politics and comfort.

Favorite Quotes: "I learned more about God from the tears of homeless mothers than any systematic theology ever taught me." "Over and over, when I ask God why all of these injustices are allowed to exist in the world, I can feel the Spirit whisper to me, "You tell me why we allow this to happen. You are my body, my hands, my feet.""

The End of Religion
The guy who wrote this book speaks at a church that I have grown very fond of. His church publishes his talks as podcasts and I cannot begin to explain how much I've learned from them. So I found out that this guy had written a book and I got excited. And for good reason. This book is an approach to Jesus that was so different from how I understood Him. And I think it would be hard to find a book (other than the Bible) that talks about Jesus more and with as much passion as this one. This guy puts everything very simply and with humor and excitement. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who is sure of their religion or someone who really just wants to see religion end. I think both groups will be surprised by this book.

Favorite Quotes: "For too long, people have assumed that religion is how we connect with God and relationship is how we connect with people. The original lesson of the Bible is that our connection with God should be a lot more like our relationships with other people - intimate, unscripted, authentic."

The Great Divorce
When I was a little girl, I read all of the Narnia series. I loved it. Aslan was the most powerful and iconic figure in my little world of literature. Then when I was 14, I read CS Lewis' Mere Christianity. It was sort of a transition point to adolescence I suppose. While I didn't fully understand everything in the book what I did understand got me excited about theology. I began reading other works of CS Lewis and a year or two ago read this book. It is a small book only 160 pages long, but a beautiful masterpiece nonetheless. It is an allegory of heaven and hell as seen in the eyes of Lewis. I think of what is said in this book often. The imagery used is powerful and while some may disagree with his views on purgatory and his description of hell, his illustration of humanity is so very intriguing.

Favorite Quotes: "Hell is a state of mind — ye never said a truer word. And every state of mind, left to itself, every shutting up of the creature within the dungeon of its own mind — is, in the end, Hell. But Heaven is not a state of mind. Heaven is reality itself. All that is fully real is Heavenly."

Story-Telling

I have what I like to call a blogosphere. It’s much like a great big hall with over twenty different windows. I can walk up and down this hallway as much as I like. Once or twice a day, someone will pop from behind a window and invite me over to hear their story. There are over twenty people who I want to hear from. They each have their very own window where I can peer into their lives. They built it themselves. They wanted to share the big exciting things that are going on and so they built a small window.

They are all very different from me. Some are guys and some are girls. Some are twenty years old and some are much older. Some speak fast and excitedly like they can’t contain themselves. Others carry you away to other realms with long descriptions. Some are funny and full of joy. Others have pain too hard to carry and have heavy hearts. They all have stories.

One of them was abused in the church throughout her childhood and adolescence. She loves Jesus more than anything and you can tell when she speaks to you. She recently started going to Mass and wears a veil. She says it makes her feel closer to God. She tried going to a Protestant church, but felt like she would kill herself. There were too many memories. Her husband cried with her and supported her decision to leave the church. She teaches her kids that there are such things as fairies and elves and laughs with them.

Anther one of them leads a ministry serving Christians who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. He is gay himself. And he believes that is okay. He feels that he can be gay and a Christian. He hopes to find a good guy to settle down with and marry someday. Christians attack him a lot. But, he keeps going and doing what he believes is God’s will for his life. He loves going out with people for coffee, but hates coffee. He does, however, love hot chocolate.

Yet another is a missionary in South America. She has a husband with a very large bushy beard and three teenage boys. She swears a bit and talks very ADD-like. She disagrees with the short-term missions trips that are used by churches. She calls it another form of poverty tourism. She gets some people mad at her too. She honestly doesn’t care what other people think of her. She doesn’t think people should hide who they truly are. She loves God and she will let you know…and she will also want to talk about her theory of asexual unicorn reproduction.

One more is a pastor who left his church two years ago. He is a writer, artist, and cartoonist. He is very passionate about people finding healthy community. He hates how the church has treated people and provides support for Christians who want to transition out of a life within the church.  His cartoons illustrate this with humor and, at times, brutal honesty.

 I love these stories. I like being able to walk down this hall and get out of my own head. I like hearing how things are going for my blogosphere friends. They challenge me on things that were always concrete to me. They give me new ideas on how to live my life.

Their stories make me want to live a better story.

The kind of story that makes other people feel:

Encouraged                  Empowered                   Embraced

I sincerely hope that I can be that story to someone...but if I am, then I'm going to need to work on being a much better story teller. I need to take risks, speak up, and love people more than I thought possible. And if I can do that, then you can too. :)