A Woman Responds...

A couple of days following my second message on women and their role in the church (or lack thereof), I received an email from a woman in our church. With her permission, I want to share it - but first give some context.

When Deth began the series, "Neglected Women of Faith," I thought the most compelling aspect of the series was the time he allocated at the end of the message for different women from our community to stand up and share a response. The four-part message series covered the women named in Matthew's genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. Deth told each woman's story and then, at each of the three gatherings, a different woman would respond - 12 in all over the course of the series.

In my two sermons I did less storytelling than preaching/teaching. That is appropriate given the theological and exegetical nature of the passages we referenced. What I missed being able to do is allow space for someone to respond. Which is why I want to share what a woman in our community shared with me. She was a big fan of the messages. I'll say that up front. I am not sharing her email in order to promote myself. I am sharing it to further illustrate the struggles that many women have had trying to live out what God has called them to be and do. She has given me her permission and so with out further explanation her reflections.

"Hey Tim- Yes, I double-dipped on Sunday! :) I REALLY enjoyed the teaching... it evoked a whole host of responses from me and my friends, and I cannot thank you enough! On one hand, I was thinking, 'SEE! The truths I held in my heart were being PREACHED from the front and by a man!' And on the other hand, I am indignant that these passages had not been studied and taught through a culturally contextualized lens! I feel as if so many other passages have, but these have certainly been left aside. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I was a leader in 'the church' for 13 years in Austin... in different capacities: college ministry, church staff, church planter, small groups leader, worship leader, house church and community house leader, etc... and all the while, there was something that never let me be fully free in those contexts. And I, like many others, have had 'the book' thrown at us or have been undermined and insulted because we were women. Gender issues, along with race issues (and class), are still so present in the church. And until they are addressed directly, I guess people don't realize how pervasive they are. It's about a continual renewal of mind and subtle and more obvious changes to come in line with the Galatians passage you are teaching from.

So thank you. It's just liberating and healing to hear what you taught. If you don't mind, could you pass on the titles to the books you were using to study and quote from? My roommates and I were all curious and wanted to read more on it."

If you would like to see a few of the resources I used for those messages, I list them below in a post titled, "Non-Stop Action."