So yesterday I am with Michelle and she says to me, "I love
the space we create together." We do create a remarkable and exhilarating space. It was a fantastic word picture for me and has
helped me think through a lot of different things. At some point in the
following paragraphs you are probably going to wonder what on earth this little
quote has to do with all that follows it. If you stick around long enough I
hope you’ll see. Michelle’s word picture was a bigger gift to me than she
realized. It has helped me think about a lot more than what I write about here...
Bob has a blog. I list a link to his blog on my blog, not
because he is one of my pastors, but because I like what he says, even when I
disagree with him or when he speaks over my head. That happens a lot he and his
friends seem to be much smarter than me. I simply pretend to understand so I
don’t feel left out.
So he started this conversation about egalitarianism. He
caught some heat for it, and I was left scratching my head as to why. I don’t
think it is because of his position. That seems to be very solid. In this case
the people that gave him the most grief were the egalitarians. (It would have
been easier for me to understand the complementarians giving him grief but this
was not the case.)
Bob was clear. He believes that gifting and service within
the body is not gender dependent. He is equally clear that men and women are
not the same. I think this has to be the
sticking point in the discussion because there doesn’t seem to be another one
other than the egalitarians feel a little like minorities in this country feel
after years of oppression and prejudice. And they seem to want some sort of
payback for all of the years of misogyny they have had to endure at the hands
of fearfully ignorant men.
But no, I don’t think that is the issue either. Now follow
me cause I am not changing the subject, really…
One of the very cool things about Evergreen is that we don’t
all agree. It is one of our great strengths. One of the downfalls of Evergreen
is that though we don’t all agree we are all similar. I was with friends the
other day and they pointed out many of us are just like Bob. (“What about Bob?”)
We are products of the evangelical and sometimes the fundamentalist church. We
tend toward brightness. Most of us took our fair share of advanced placement
courses. And we are for varying reasons disenchanted and disenfranchised from
the evangelical church.
I have described Evergreen as a youth group that
decided to stay together instead of joining the older generation. Because this
is who we tend to be we carry a lot of baggage that try as we might we can’t
always free ourselves from immediately. I think this women’s issue is one of
those things.
We believe as correctly as it is possible to believe
anything. Our actions are lacking, however. Bob encourages many who have an aptitude
to preach and teach – male and female. Two of our six elders are women though
they hate being referred to as such. I have found that women younger than me
get offended when I refer to them as my elder…trying to figure that one out.
But still there is a push and pull. One of our elders tends to view most of
life through a feminist perspective and I appreciate that about her. Bob is not
in that camp though, and the space we create as a congregation is somehow not
as freeing for the women as anyone would like it to be. (OK, there might be a
few fighting fundies that never have visited our community that would not like
the freedom we already give, but they are not part of this discussion to begin
with).
One of the things about us is that we are intent on creating
sacred space wherever we find ourselves. Sometimes our best attempts fall short
because we haven’t arrived at our glorified state. Sometimes they fall short
because we are afraid. And here is the rub here.
As I read the discussion on Bob’s blog, I was struck by the
fear. I was primarily struck by the fear
of those that struggled with Bob’s Sumnerian position.
Fear seems to permeate
most of the lenses through which we look at life. I think that is why John said that, “perfect love casts out
fear…” Love doesn’t demand equal treatment or even equality. Love doesn’t fear
being trampled on or not getting its way.
As I read the posts and the replies, I was struck that too
often we miss out because the space we create is a space of fear rather than a
space of love. It is a fear of women. Or it is a fear of misogyny. Both are
fears. Both get in the way of love.
Talking to another friend today I learned that this fear isn’t
confined to the church. He is facing a fearful medical board. He hasn’t done
much wrong, but the fear of those on the board is severely limiting him.
Another friend has to face the same fear of the chiropractic board scared about
his earlier felony embezzlement conviction that has very little to do with his
ability to perform his duties as a chiropractor. But we must keep up
appearances.
When we as a church live and create a similar space of fear
we mirror the world instead of the Trinity. We need to take a long look at the
space we create… I happen to be really digging the space I get to create with Michelle right now.
Recent Comments