“Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.” 1Timothy 2: 11-12
When I was a kid, the old shed in our back yard needed to be replaced. A couple living in our neighborhood offered to help my dad. So my dad, a lady named Charlene, and Charlene’s husband went out back to take apart the shed. They removed the hardware connecting the walls to the roof. Then the three of them pushed up on the roof to lift it and carry it off the walls of the shed. Now, Charlene is a tall lady. As they all three lifted the roof, Charlene lifted higher than the men and then said, “I’ve got it! I’ve got it! Move Back!” So my dad and Charlene’s husband backed out of the way and let Charlene detach and carry away the roof on her own.
Just last week I had a conversation with a man who repeatedly told me how literally he reads the Bible and how so many pastors have told him that healings and miracles ended with the first generation of Jesus’ disciples. He said he believes God is still at work—that Jesus still heals. And then he said some more things about reading the Bible literally. I asked him what he thought about female preachers since the Bible includes statements about women being silent in church. He said he didn’t believe in it. He said that women can be good teachers, but they don’t have the strength to deal with difficult situations. “They don’t have the strength to go out in the field—to go somewhere like Africa and do the hard work out there.”
The Bible does include passages about women being silent in worship, but it also includes stories of women hosting new churches in their homes, a woman stabbing a guy in the head with a tent peg (true—check out Judges 4), women sharing the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, and numerous other examples of female leadership and strength. The Bible is the foundation of our knowledge of who God is, what God is about, and who we are in relation to God. But God has done much, much more in and through the world since the writings of the Bible were composed. Healing and miracles did not end with the first disciples, and God’s ever creative ways of using both men and women in the work of sharing God’s love are not restricted to the examples we find in the Bible. In Christ, we are all one—all equally loved and all equally called to the service and love of God and neighbor.
You almost got the story right Julie. I think they tried to remove the shed roof from the sides but couldn't. Carlene lifted the roof with all 4 sides of the outbuilding connected and moved it to a flad bed trailer! What a woman!
ReplyDeleteI do think God can use both men and women to serve Him in many ways. I watched you Julie as you received your call from God to preach. It was real and not to be denied. We should always be listening for how God wants us to serve him no matter who we are.