From the Rector…
Last week in a 3-1 margin, the Southern Baptist Convention voted to formally ban women pastors in its denomination. The decision reflects a longstanding conviction within much of the denomination that preaching and certain forms of church leadership are reserved for men. Supporters of this position often point to passages such as I Timothy 2:12 where women are not permitted to teach or have authority over men, or I Corinthians 14:35 where it is shameful for women to speak in church. They would also note that the twelve disciples were all men (they were also all Jewish but that doesn’t seem to fit into their criteria for leadership) and that, though the genders are equal, leadership is ordered differently according to gender roles.
I am not going to spend a lot of time arguing these positions for a few reasons. First, there are a significant number of scriptures that point to women preaching, teaching, prophesying, and leading throughout the Bible. Second, without women, Jesus Christ would not have been born (Mary), revealed to the world as the Messiah (Elizabeth and Anna), or proclaimed as risen from the dead (Mary Magdelene). Third, Paul—who is credited with the letters to Timothy and Corinth—relied on women to deliver and read his letters to local churches. He worked alongside women such as Pheobe, Priscilla, Junia, and others in engaging and empowering them in the life and leadership of the early church.
What interests me is not winning an argument. I’m tired of arguing. I want to grow to live faithfully with people whose convictions differ from my own. I don’t agree with the SBC decision. As an Episcopalian, I believe God calls women and men alike to preach, teach, and serve in ordained ministry. My own vocation is rooted in that conviction. Yet the SBC’s decision does not threaten my relationship with God, nor does it change the way I understand the Gospel or my call to serve the Church.
Since the news broke about the vote, I have seen a number of beautifully written pieces regarding whether women should be allowed positions of authority in church. What I haven’t seen is anyone writing to say that the SBC gets to believe what they want to believe and we Episcopalians get to believe what we want to believe. Neither of these beliefs are better than the other, one is more “right” for one and the other is more “rite” for the other. (Pardon the pun!)
Why can’t we both be right? If you don’t like women in the pulpit, go to a church where they aren’t in the pulpits. And if you don’t like the exclusion of women from the pulpit, come to Ascension—we would love to have you!
In a couple of weeks, I will get to spend some time with my nephew-in-law who is a Southern Baptist pastor and attended the SBC Convention that voted on the ban of women from the pulpit. I don’t know how he voted, though I suspect his views may differ from my own. What I do know is that I enjoy spending time with him and most of my Southern Baptist in-laws. We don’t have to agree on church issues and typically avoid discussing them. Instead, we can laugh and share a meal together and appreciate one another as people all trying to live and love as best we can.
There is something deeply Christian about that. We can hold strong convictions and still recognize the image of God in one another. We can disagree and still choose kindness. We can worship differently and still trust that God is at work in ways larger than any one denomination. It seems to me that is a much better way of being in relationship with one another regardless of what we believe.
Light and Life,
Candice+