Choose to Challenge
Today is International Women’s Day. The theme for this year is “Choose to Challenge”. Their website says: “A challenged world is an alert world and from challenge comes change. So let's all choose to challenge. How will you help forge a gender equal world? Celebrate women's achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.”
Last week I watched a PBS show entitled “Rise Up: Music of the Women’s Movement.” It was so good, I didn’t even change the station when the donate to PBS spiel interrupted the show! Music moves me spiritually, and the story (which started with the 19th Amendment) was affirming, positive, and hopeful. I was so happy to celebrate those achievements. And yet, quite sad at how far we still need to go.
God created me female. It has been my greatest joy, as well as my greatest challenge. God declared “it is good” and humanity declared “she’s less than”. In humanity’s weakness, it felt someone had to be in charge (even though God already was), so since Adam was made first, he must be the predestined leader. Ironically, before the story of Adam and Eve was written, Genesis states that God created them in God’s image, male and female, and God said “It is good”. The first story of the Bible we profess says God is male and female and that is good.
Human language may limit us in describing God, but our behaviors and attitudes do not. I believe to my core God is the combination of all that is good - both feminine and masculine. The balance God has, is what we are supposed to try to imitate. That cannot nor will not happen until we bring balance to our world - one that includes equality based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class. We’re pretty far from this reality.
What feels most sad to me is the lack of equality in the Christian Church. I think Jesus is so saddened. He called all to him, broken, rich, poor, male, female, Jew, Greek. He didn’t differentiate. He didn’t die and rise again for a few people with the right skin color, right sexual organs, or sufficient bank account. He died for ALL people. Period. All people are redeemed through Christ and I think it’s about time we lived that truth out loud, and every where.
I do choose to challenge. I have been a challenger my whole life. I was at my first civil rights protest when I was four. I was taught be my parents about effectiveness and power of non-violent change. I can honestly tell you that the times that I’ve challenged have cost me the most personally and professionally. 30 years ago, I wrote my Master’s Thesis on the Pastoral Care of Abuse Victims. I went before a panel of professors and defended my thesis and conclusions. It was a tough meeting, because I had stated that the patriarchal structure of the Christian Church perpetuates a cycle of abuse. A challenge that didn’t go over well. Yet, for every challenge they returned, I had outside sources, as well as biblical, to substantiate my argument. Not only did they pass me, but they gave me an A-. They also gave me a censure - they removed my thesis from the library. I have been called names like “man-hater”, “femi-Nazi”, “heretic”. And though this has hurt me, my truth hasn’t changed. We are called to love like Jesus did. And as Jesus challenged authorities to make that happen, sometimes we have to do the same. As Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
I believe we truly blessed at Holy Presence. We have a balance I believe is sacred and good. We have faith that has moved mountains, stories of survival and change, love for God and our neighbors - and never once have I heard that there is a neighbor not worth our effort. We are generous, open-minded, forgiving and compassionate. We are courageous challengers - and probably challenging to some:). We are human, with flaws and failures, but we choose to learn from our failures and move on to be a better version of ourselves. And we are not alone. There are many churches out there that are doing the same thing we’re doing. We have come a long way, but there is a long way to go. How do we want to do that?
Rev. Joan
