It always takes me by surprise when some aspect of my faith: my belief or disbelief; my agreement or disagreement with what I believe to be the general understanding, if not the clearly defined teaching of the Church, comes unexpectedly into clearer focus.
Such is now the case as a result of feelings generated by my recent meeting with Nancy (previous post) and by the recollection of particular qualities in other women who have figured in my faith journey, contrasting abruptly with the following words of St Paul read while randomly dipping into the Bible a few days ago; words previously skimmed with a thoughtless disregard as I have never taken them to be relevant in today’s world. This time, however, the words spoke loudly and deliberately from the page. I have learned to be attentive at such times.
‘As in all the churches of God’s holy people, women are to remain quiet in the assemblies, since they have no permission to speak: theirs is a subordinate part, as the Law itself says.’ (1 Corinthians 14:33,34)
I cannot imagine how some of the Christian women I have met, have know, and know today, feel when they read or hear such words.
What I do know, without any shadow of doubt, is that whatever the official line of the Church of which I am a committed life-member, and whatever the stated beliefs of other individuals whose opinions I trust and value, such verses from scripture are not to be taken as God’s instruction to His people in today’s Church. The Christ who is risen and dwells among us today in the ever-present form of the Holy Spirit, as well as in the intangible but undeniable form of the timeless wanderer of Palestine, Jesus: the constant Companion who has trodden life’s paths with others as He once trod them with me, expects us to have matured in our understanding over the last two thousand years. We are human; we are men and women; all that has changed over the last two millennia is proof of our advance in ability and understanding, while the frightening advance of evil that is entwined in those changes is also proof of our weakness and inherent vulnerability. Jesus knows our potential and our weakness: He has been there through His being here as a man, in the world, among men and women. He understands us, men and women both. He knows us.
My faith – not the apparent black and white of what I am supposed to believe through having been told, but the beliefs born of my awareness of God’s presence in my life: His promptings, His touch, and the ever present teaching and direction of His Spirit through my conscience – tells me, teaches me, leads me, shows me where I must look for certainty, where doubt, and where I should not look for anything, placing all my trust in Him and every corner of my life completely in His hands. I feel that my certainties come from Him and my continuing doubts live because I do not hear Him well enough: they live because my weakness and my sinfulness also live.
My certainties include my appreciation of the contributions made by women in the Church, and I shall always be willing to speak with them and for them as they strive against attitudes which do not come from the mind of God.
Women today need not ‘remain quiet in the assemblies’, since they require no permission to speak: theirs is no longer a subordinate part. Those who insist on trying to maintain the validity of every word in the Bible for today’s world are not allowing the Spirit of God to speak into their hearts, minds and souls. Wherever their supposed guidance comes from, it is not from our paternal and maternal parent, our Father God; it is not from Jesus, and nor is it from the Holy Spirit, both of whom are extensions of the Father and do only as He wills.
Deep within myself I know this, and having acquired my certainty in ways that are undeniable, I believe I know this as we all should know it: as a human being, as a member of the human family, and as a member of Christ’s Church as He would have it be. In this context, it is purely coincidental that I am a man.
I am a member of Christ’s Church, listening and watching for His return after two thousand years of waiting, and I would hope that when He does return He will find all of us, women and men, standing beside each other as equals. Until we achieve that end within His Church we shall never be ready for the reality of Christian unity, and we shall not be prepared for the day of our Lord’s return.
Much has been said and written about St Paul’s attitude to women, and, misogynist or not, (I believe not), his words are unavoidably there as part of his beliefs and teachings. If we believe the Bible to contain only inspired writings which are to be received as the Word of God, we have no way of avoiding or excluding their presence from our spiritual lives unless we include ourselves (if we dare be that honest) among the innumerable members of what is, in effect, the largest Christian denomination of all: the selective, live by this rule, bend that one, ignore the other, suit myself, ‘pick-and-mix’ Christians. Though non-existent as a coherent and communicating body, with their numbers including those who would never admit to sharing much in their backgrounds, denominational territory and rigidly protected grasp on the truth, these self-proclaimed Christians, collectively, though inadvertently, constitute a vast but nebulous ecumenical movement. They are bringing members of the various groups closer to each other by dissolving the barriers, though the resulting paths which would allow access between persons are so convoluted that they will not be seen, let alone be found and successfully followed. The barriers still separate as do the towering hedges of a maze, but there is a way of getting to the other side of every barrier; in the maze we know it, however confusing it may be, while in our selective acceptance and rejection of scripture, of dogma and of expectations, we never recognize our enabling of a mutual accessibility. That recognition would send many of us scurrying back to the denominational corners we had never knowingly left, where our spiritual worlds would carry on the same; we would still pick and choose but with a greater certainty that ecumenism is a very unhealthy idea; it is not for us: it is not for me, for him or for her; it is not for real Christians: my sort of Christians: my denomination: my church.
In spite of this hidden undercurrent of increased compatibility, this is a widespread weakening of what it means to be a Christian, and is, in fact, no friend of Christian unity. It is a movement towards the further splintering of an already fragmented Christianity; a progressive spread of the effects of allowing individuals to decide for themselves in matters of faith, biblical interpretation and adherence or otherwise to church teaching. It is the faltering and weakening, but still destructive outcome of protest upon protest; of difference upon difference; of division upon division: the inevitable outcome of prolonged and expanding Protestantism. Unity is impossible in such circumstances, and ecumenism will never blossom without the Catholic Church. (One does not have to look far to find those who regard ecumenism as a Catholic plot which is slowly seducing members of Protestant churches and their derivatives into moving closer to the Roman Catholic Church; something they insist should be avoided at all costs by every non-Catholic: in their thinking, by every ‘real’ Christian.)
What is as meaningful today as when it was first written is not what Paul had to say about the place of women in the Palestinian world of two thousand years ago. It is everything else: all that our Lord has said, and continues to say through him in his letters to the early churches. The very fact that his teaching rings true for Christians in today’s very different world is witness to the inspired nature of his writings. Those brief passages based on what was to become relegated to the past through his own teaching as much as anyone else’s, can so easily be laid aside as belonging to the world Jesus came to change, to supersede and to redeem. The quotation I reacted to so strongly begins and ends with the reason for Paul’s inclusion of it in his letter: ‘As in all the churches of God’s holy people ... as the Law itself says.’
Jesus brought us into new territory: into a new world and a new covenant. The Law belongs to the old world; to Paul’s old world. The Law and the old covenant are behind us if only we will let go of them. And who is this ‘we’? One answer of course is the Jewish people with their adherence to the Law and to the old covenant, but within Christ’s Church it is for the most part people like me. Not every member of the human race: man, woman and child, but men like me. The entire responsibility for the unwarranted continuation of the subjugation of women within the Church rests with every man who has ever called himself Christian while occupying a place of influence within the body of Christ. The responsibility rests with me.
My regret and my sense of shame end here.
May the very last words of the Bible echo within the hearts of every man and woman long after each closing of the book.
‘As in all the churches of God’s holy people, women are to remain quiet in the assemblies, since they have no permission to speak: theirs is a subordinate part, as the Law itself says.’ (1 Corinthians 14:33,34)
I cannot imagine how some of the Christian women I have met, have know, and know today, feel when they read or hear such words.
What I do know, without any shadow of doubt, is that whatever the official line of the Church of which I am a committed life-member, and whatever the stated beliefs of other individuals whose opinions I trust and value, such verses from scripture are not to be taken as God’s instruction to His people in today’s Church. The Christ who is risen and dwells among us today in the ever-present form of the Holy Spirit, as well as in the intangible but undeniable form of the timeless wanderer of Palestine, Jesus: the constant Companion who has trodden life’s paths with others as He once trod them with me, expects us to have matured in our understanding over the last two thousand years. We are human; we are men and women; all that has changed over the last two millennia is proof of our advance in ability and understanding, while the frightening advance of evil that is entwined in those changes is also proof of our weakness and inherent vulnerability. Jesus knows our potential and our weakness: He has been there through His being here as a man, in the world, among men and women. He understands us, men and women both. He knows us.
My faith – not the apparent black and white of what I am supposed to believe through having been told, but the beliefs born of my awareness of God’s presence in my life: His promptings, His touch, and the ever present teaching and direction of His Spirit through my conscience – tells me, teaches me, leads me, shows me where I must look for certainty, where doubt, and where I should not look for anything, placing all my trust in Him and every corner of my life completely in His hands. I feel that my certainties come from Him and my continuing doubts live because I do not hear Him well enough: they live because my weakness and my sinfulness also live.
My certainties include my appreciation of the contributions made by women in the Church, and I shall always be willing to speak with them and for them as they strive against attitudes which do not come from the mind of God.
Women today need not ‘remain quiet in the assemblies’, since they require no permission to speak: theirs is no longer a subordinate part. Those who insist on trying to maintain the validity of every word in the Bible for today’s world are not allowing the Spirit of God to speak into their hearts, minds and souls. Wherever their supposed guidance comes from, it is not from our paternal and maternal parent, our Father God; it is not from Jesus, and nor is it from the Holy Spirit, both of whom are extensions of the Father and do only as He wills.
Deep within myself I know this, and having acquired my certainty in ways that are undeniable, I believe I know this as we all should know it: as a human being, as a member of the human family, and as a member of Christ’s Church as He would have it be. In this context, it is purely coincidental that I am a man.
I am a member of Christ’s Church, listening and watching for His return after two thousand years of waiting, and I would hope that when He does return He will find all of us, women and men, standing beside each other as equals. Until we achieve that end within His Church we shall never be ready for the reality of Christian unity, and we shall not be prepared for the day of our Lord’s return.
Much has been said and written about St Paul’s attitude to women, and, misogynist or not, (I believe not), his words are unavoidably there as part of his beliefs and teachings. If we believe the Bible to contain only inspired writings which are to be received as the Word of God, we have no way of avoiding or excluding their presence from our spiritual lives unless we include ourselves (if we dare be that honest) among the innumerable members of what is, in effect, the largest Christian denomination of all: the selective, live by this rule, bend that one, ignore the other, suit myself, ‘pick-and-mix’ Christians. Though non-existent as a coherent and communicating body, with their numbers including those who would never admit to sharing much in their backgrounds, denominational territory and rigidly protected grasp on the truth, these self-proclaimed Christians, collectively, though inadvertently, constitute a vast but nebulous ecumenical movement. They are bringing members of the various groups closer to each other by dissolving the barriers, though the resulting paths which would allow access between persons are so convoluted that they will not be seen, let alone be found and successfully followed. The barriers still separate as do the towering hedges of a maze, but there is a way of getting to the other side of every barrier; in the maze we know it, however confusing it may be, while in our selective acceptance and rejection of scripture, of dogma and of expectations, we never recognize our enabling of a mutual accessibility. That recognition would send many of us scurrying back to the denominational corners we had never knowingly left, where our spiritual worlds would carry on the same; we would still pick and choose but with a greater certainty that ecumenism is a very unhealthy idea; it is not for us: it is not for me, for him or for her; it is not for real Christians: my sort of Christians: my denomination: my church.
In spite of this hidden undercurrent of increased compatibility, this is a widespread weakening of what it means to be a Christian, and is, in fact, no friend of Christian unity. It is a movement towards the further splintering of an already fragmented Christianity; a progressive spread of the effects of allowing individuals to decide for themselves in matters of faith, biblical interpretation and adherence or otherwise to church teaching. It is the faltering and weakening, but still destructive outcome of protest upon protest; of difference upon difference; of division upon division: the inevitable outcome of prolonged and expanding Protestantism. Unity is impossible in such circumstances, and ecumenism will never blossom without the Catholic Church. (One does not have to look far to find those who regard ecumenism as a Catholic plot which is slowly seducing members of Protestant churches and their derivatives into moving closer to the Roman Catholic Church; something they insist should be avoided at all costs by every non-Catholic: in their thinking, by every ‘real’ Christian.)
What is as meaningful today as when it was first written is not what Paul had to say about the place of women in the Palestinian world of two thousand years ago. It is everything else: all that our Lord has said, and continues to say through him in his letters to the early churches. The very fact that his teaching rings true for Christians in today’s very different world is witness to the inspired nature of his writings. Those brief passages based on what was to become relegated to the past through his own teaching as much as anyone else’s, can so easily be laid aside as belonging to the world Jesus came to change, to supersede and to redeem. The quotation I reacted to so strongly begins and ends with the reason for Paul’s inclusion of it in his letter: ‘As in all the churches of God’s holy people ... as the Law itself says.’
Jesus brought us into new territory: into a new world and a new covenant. The Law belongs to the old world; to Paul’s old world. The Law and the old covenant are behind us if only we will let go of them. And who is this ‘we’? One answer of course is the Jewish people with their adherence to the Law and to the old covenant, but within Christ’s Church it is for the most part people like me. Not every member of the human race: man, woman and child, but men like me. The entire responsibility for the unwarranted continuation of the subjugation of women within the Church rests with every man who has ever called himself Christian while occupying a place of influence within the body of Christ. The responsibility rests with me.
My regret and my sense of shame end here.
May the very last words of the Bible echo within the hearts of every man and woman long after each closing of the book.
‘May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen.’
(Revelation 22:21)
