Happy Sunday

We have been invited to visit a new church today.  Our old neighbor and her son attend and I am excited about the boys having a chance to hang out with Joey again, so we are joining them this morning.  Afterwards - there is a picnic.  And then who knows.  I hope everyone is having a happy Labor Day weekend.  It's looking pretty happy altogether for us. 

Tomorrow morning we will go to the Colorado Balloon Classic, and I hope to get some decent photos.  The weather last night was wet and cold, so we didn't go out, but there is supposed to be a balloon glo tonight at 8 and I'd like to do that too. 

The Image of God ...

Conflict erupts between members of the household of faith in spectacular ways, and is reflected by deep waters filling a vast theological chasm..  Recently a number of national news organizations picked up the story of Mary Lambert, an 81 year old grandmother who has been teaching Sunday School in her local church for over half a century.  She received a letter from church elders dismissing her from her position stating that church leaders had adopted a "scriptural" approach to Sunday school teachers and quoted a verse from 1 Timothy which says in part "I do not permit a woman to teach."

Whether a woman should be "permitted" a leadership position in church is an issue that has divided local congregations and split entire denominations of believers.  I've experienced the "biblical correctness" of a pastor determined to keep women in their place.  And I've spent a great deal of time trying to understand that viewpoint.  For an excellent presentation of the conservative side you might check out Wayne Grudem's work on "Evangelical Feminism and Bibilical Truth" the entire work is available online here. 

And for a list of resources supporting women in ministry, you might want to go here.

It's not a simple question to sort out but underneath all the big words and biblical exegesis, I think it comes down to a question of what we understand about God.  What do we believe about the gender of God and the image of God.  Is God a man? 

I love to refer to God as "she" in part because I get that thrill of courting the dangerous.  But in part because I love my understanding of God as something bigger and more encompassing than either gender.  In Genesis, I read, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them."

How awkward to be confronted with Someone who is beyond gender, and to have to describe that in language that rather insists upon gender.  I think the author did a pretty good job considering those language constraints.  In order to reflect the image of God, it was necessary to create a race.  Both man and woman are the image of God.  Neither can reflect God without the other. 

(I've been so preachy this morning I'm kind of feeling a need to pass the plate and lead us all in a closing hymn ... o_0.  Take it for what it's worth.  God and I will be having a tea party later, and I think we're both planning to wear dresses.)