The Problem with Scripture - women!

I wrote a couple of posts ago about the problem with Scripture and in particularly the difficulty of interpretation.
Last night we had a special church meeting with a potential 'candidate' for the job of pastor. In his 'speech' he mentioned a 'non-negotiable' issue if he were to become pastor of the church. The issue was  women leadership in the church. He would not accept a woman elder because it's not biblical.

So here we find a 'classic' example of interpretation of Scripture. Women leadership was, and apparently still is a thorny issue.

In some of St Paul's epistles he does mention that women should remain silent in church, that they should wear a kind of head covering and also there doesn't seem to be any evidence of women leaders in the Bible. (Except for Deborah &  Esther in the old testament and Lydia and Sapphira in the New Testament...)

However, Paul also mentions how masters should treat their slaves (with kindness of course). Unfortunately these 'slave' passages were used to defend the practice of slavery in the 'good old days' of the Empire but today (I hope) we would agree that slavery is definitely not what God intended.
I believe that the same applies to women. Our understanding of humanity and of God has greatly evolved and our culture is not the same as Paul's. In the same way as we no longer see slavery as biblical I suggest that we should no longer see that 'women should remain silent and therefore no leadership roles' as also not  biblical.

I think Paul was heading in this direction when he wrote:
"For all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

So it's not whether you're a man or a woman that counts but your gifts, calling and character. These should be the criteria to evaluate whether you should be an elder or leader.

I think that if we contemplate the life and teachings of Jesus we would come to the same conclusion.

I'm saddened that I've had to post this.

Alas we are still focusing on the non-essentials.

Mystery Girl with the hat

here's a painting from Rachel Benkemoun a young artist from Lille.

I adore the colours and the manga style.

The Problem with Scripture

I think Richard Rohr is right when he says the follow about Catholic and Protestant weaknesses concerning Scripture:

Thomas Merton said it was actually dangerous to put the scriptures in the hands of people whose inner self is not yet sufficiently awakened to encounter the Spirit, because they will try to use God for their own egocentric purposes (This is why religion is so subject to corruption!). Now, if we are going to talk about Lent being a time of conversion and penance, let me apply that to the two major groups that have occupied Western Christianity—Catholics and Protestants. Neither one has really let the Word of God guide their lives.

Catholics need to be converted to giving the Scriptures some actual authority in their lives. Luther wasn’t wrong when he said that most Catholics did not read the Bible. Most Catholics are still not that interested in the Bible (historically they did not have the printing press, nor could most people read, so you can’t blame them entirely). I have been a priest for 42 years now, and I would sadly say that most Catholics would rather hear quotes from saints, Popes, and bishops, the current news, or funny stories, if they are to pay attention. If I quote strongly from the Sermon on the Mount, they are almost throwaway lines. I can see Catholics glaze over because they have never read the New Testament, much less studied it, or been guided by it. I am very sad to have to admit this. It is the Achilles heel of much of the Catholic world, priests included. (The only good thing about it is that they never fight you like Protestants do about Scripture. They are easily duped, and the hierarchy has been able to take advantage of this.)

If Catholics need to be converted, Protestants need to do penance. Their shout of “sola Scriptura” (only Scripture) has left them at the mercy of their own cultures, their own limited education, their own prejudices, and their own selective reading of some texts while avoiding others. It has become laughable, as slavery, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia have lasted authoritatively into our time—by people who claim to love Jesus! I think they need to do penance for what they have often done with the Bible! They largely interpreted the Bible in a very individualistic and otherworldly way. It was an evacuation plan for the next world—and just for their group. Most of Evangelical Protestantism has no cosmic message, no social message, and little sense of social justice or care for the outsider. Both Catholics and Protestants (Orthodox, too!) found a way to do our own thing while posturing friendship with Jesus.

Interpretation of Scripture is no easy task. I think it was Brian McLaren who helped me when he suggested that all Scripture should be understood in the light of Jesus. The old testament  massacres and other inhumane actions should not be seen as God inspired but rather man's incapacity of discernment - some of the Pauline epistles may also have some incompatible verses - concerning women, authority etc.. Let's face it Paul wasn't God, so he was prone to making mistakes in his judgements and advice.

But Jesus - He's unique - he's the only man who ever walked this planet who fully reflected the character of God (He was and is God!). So if passages in the Old or New Testament seem to contradict the life and teachings of Jesus - consider them as the error of man. His misunderstanding of God's will.

The key is to contemplate Jesus, mediate on his teaching and his life...

                                                       and with the help of the Spirit live it out...

Enlarged Container

I receive daily meditations from Franciscan Richard Rohr. Here's yesterday's:

"Second half of life" wisdom requires prayer and discernment more than knee-jerk responses toward either conservative or liberal ends of the spectrum. You have a spectrum of responses now, and they are not all predictable, as is too often the case with most knee-jerk responses. Law is still necessary, of course, but it is not your guiding star, or even close. It has been wrong and cruel too many times.

The Eight Beatitudes speak to you much more than the Ten Commandments as you grow older. Life is much more spacious now. The boundaries of the container have been enlarged. You are like an expandable suitcase, and you became so almost without your noticing. Now you are just here, and here holds more than enough.

I'm very much into the "Second half of life" both in age and also in experience and outlook to life. I know what Richard means when he talks about knee-jerk responses to life's questions - it's so easy to react in an automatic manner , using the trite responses that we've been taught - but I agree that we need more time to reflect, pray and think through our preconceived and ready-made answers. 

I've found that the longer I've been on this planet the less I see things in black and white, but there's a lot more grey areas. I like Rohr's metaphor of the 'boundaries of the container have been enlarged' - maybe it's not so much 'grey areas' but a life that's played out in 'Technicolor' - or a container that's enlarged - less narrow but more ready to 'hold on to' the ambiguities and the uncertainties - and to see God in the here, in the midst of it all, in all of life... I believe our 'container' needs to enlarge in order to embrace the great big omnipresent God...

He's so much bigger than our finite minds could ever imagine!   

Be

Some of us are extremely nostalgic and hark back to the good old days and how better it used to be. Others tend to look to the future to a time when things will be better.

And the now? If we live in the present, and learn to taste and enjoy the present moment life will be so much fuller so much richer, so much appreciated.

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know that I am.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

psalm 42:10 

Time - SatMix

We had a great evening last night at SatMix. The weather was awful - it had snowed and it was very cold - so my initial  thoughts were "nobody's going to come we can always put the event on it next month" - oh man of little faith! we got a good turn out and some new faces.

I took my camera but unfortunately it didn't leave its case - I was fully involved in the event so I forgot to take some pictures. (So no photo for the blog - sorry about that).

The evening certainly stimulated thought on 'time' -for me  in particularly the concept of living in the present -Meister Eckhart said "There exists only the present instant ... There is no yesterday nor any tomorrow, but only Now ... " 


We used more visuals than our Advent Event (which was a real stripped down evening) - the World Clock was projected throughout, we used poems, quotes and clips from 'Time Machine', and yes we used the Pink Floyd classic 'Time'...
tick tock tick tock...


 

Time

Tomorrow we are putting on another SatMix event in Lille.
The theme is Time/le Temps. I'm looking forward to it. We've come up with some neat ideas. I've enjoyed working on the project. Hopefully the evening will stimulate thought on Time ...