This is a bold statement, but I stand by it – the vast majority of Christians attend churches that believe women are inferior to men. I’m not saying that all of these people are misogynists – in fact, most of them don’t even think about it or think of their church’s behavior as misogyny. But it is. If a church doesn’t believe that women are worthy of being clergy, they are misogynists. You might not like the use of that word in this context, but I dare you to define it in any other way. For example, if you belonged to AAA, and they refused membership to women, what would you call that? If a supermarket refused to sell food to women, what would that be called (other than stupid)? And yes, there are a few random passages that support the submission of women, but there are also a few random passages that support slavery, and I imagine that if your church was pro-slavery, you – as a smart and moral person – wouldn’t attend it.
The Southern Baptist Convention once again voted to expel congregations if they call a woman pastor, and here is what I have to say to them – read the Bible. Not just the misogynistic passages – read the 4th chapter of the Gospel of John. In a nutshell, it tells a story of a 5-time divorced woman who is living with a man she is not married to who comes to the well at noon to get water during a very hot part of the day. Jesus engages her in conversation – a no-no in His time – and she conversates back. She then goes to her hometown and brings a whole bunch of people back to learn about this Messiah she believes she has found. How did she do that? She preached! She evangelized! Jesus broke a bunch of rules and called a woman to preach and evangelize! So, if you don’t think women should be pastors or priests, you are actually denying the teachings of Jesus! Good luck with that! (I know – a lot of exclamation points!)!
From a practical point of view, why would any smart person – or God – reject at least half of the population in this way? Why would any smart person believe that God would create women to be so flawed that they could not do what men try to do every day? You want to attend a church that rejects half of humanity’s gifts, that is totally your choice. I would be disappointed with your choice and question your intelligence and decision-making skills, but I am not the boss of you. I will say this – God’s Spirit (which is feminine in Hebrew, by the way) can call any person, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or any other status, and the Church, while needing to do due diligence in testing that call, needs to accept that. If you don’t accept that God can do this, you are making a huge mistake, because God doesn’t suffer fools – and ignoring God’s call and demeaning God’s creation is foolish. But you be you.
Prayer – Holy God, thank You for creating all people to serve and be called to do ministry. May all of us see the truth in that. Amen.
Today’s art is a 6th century cave painting of the Apostle Paul and St. Thecla in Ephesus. Notice that someone has tried to scratch out her hand and eyes. Historians believe that the equality of size and position show that they were considered equals by the faith community.