Women's role
How do we reconcile kindness with speaking up? How can we be both loving and advocating for the marginalized. I have been ingrained in a christian culture where implicitly and explicitly we have been taught to not address issues (mostly across gender lines) and simply believe the best.
Is advocacy unloving? I know it can be done in an angsty self-righteous fashion, but what if it isn't? Can it still be allowed? Let me expand this further, can women expose flaws in male leadership or the functioning of the church? Again what has been implicitly and explicitly shared is that this is not our role. Where does that leave women gifted in discernment, wisdom, and exhortation? I know I have felt a lot of shame surrounding my gifts because they are not quiet gifts. They are passionate ones, ones that you say out loud.
How can we work this out theologically and also try to peel back the layers that cloud the theology? It's uncomfortable for some men to be around strong women. For some, it threatens their masculinity. But this wasn't what God had in mind. It isn't true security and confidence if it can only be attained by excluding another from the conversation. God is in the tough work. He wants us to wrestle and reconcile His word with the reality of what is around us. He is not a "blindly accept" God. There is such thing as privilege. We have to humbly recognize when we have it and be willing to give it up. When you close your eyes and picture God's people or even God himself - is he just like you? Same race, SES, and gender? God is the God of all of us. With that in mind, how does that transform the way we do things? Are we courageous to enough to question if way we have always done it, is the way we should continue?
Is advocacy unloving? I know it can be done in an angsty self-righteous fashion, but what if it isn't? Can it still be allowed? Let me expand this further, can women expose flaws in male leadership or the functioning of the church? Again what has been implicitly and explicitly shared is that this is not our role. Where does that leave women gifted in discernment, wisdom, and exhortation? I know I have felt a lot of shame surrounding my gifts because they are not quiet gifts. They are passionate ones, ones that you say out loud.
How can we work this out theologically and also try to peel back the layers that cloud the theology? It's uncomfortable for some men to be around strong women. For some, it threatens their masculinity. But this wasn't what God had in mind. It isn't true security and confidence if it can only be attained by excluding another from the conversation. God is in the tough work. He wants us to wrestle and reconcile His word with the reality of what is around us. He is not a "blindly accept" God. There is such thing as privilege. We have to humbly recognize when we have it and be willing to give it up. When you close your eyes and picture God's people or even God himself - is he just like you? Same race, SES, and gender? God is the God of all of us. With that in mind, how does that transform the way we do things? Are we courageous to enough to question if way we have always done it, is the way we should continue?
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