Glass Ceilings

This week the SBC decided to take steps backward and push women back into the fifties, if not further. They decided to disfellowship any church in their denomination that acknowledged God’s call on a woman’s life and ordained her. They called out a women who had been pastoring a church for over 30 years! Why now? Why at all? For me it isn’t even about that issue alone. It is the audacity to limit the Almighty. While they may say God would never call a woman to full time ministry or that the spiritual gifts are listed in pink and blue, they actually limit the scope and the creativity of a very big God by putting him in a box.

I am angry. I am confused. I love Jesus. But, I am over “the church” and christian nationalism. I rarely post my views that may alienate or offend people regarding such sidebar issues. I have grown up in churches with very complementarian perspectives. I even vowed to “obey” my husband as the head of our home, although that was in large part because I knew he valued me and supported my call to ministry. Most marriages I know behave as egalitarian even if they say they follow headship roles. While I have had to choose my battles carefully over the years and though I feel the fight in me is gone, I ache as I grieve the ripple effect this will have on future generations of girls and women I love. I also worry for the things this will communicate to men like my son and my nephews. I wonder how this will impact the witness of the church moving forward; it is difficult to see hope and redemption in this.

I do not believe that women are limited in any way. I do not believe that the Bible teaches that. It is not a liability to be a woman. And the bigger picture is that this is one relatively small yet polarizing issue is the tip of the iceberg. There are gender issues, racial injustices, age-ism and more. My prayer is for those still in the fight, for those who daily face those who should not be the enemy, for the truth to win out and the lies of those who push inequality to be crushed by the shards that fall as the glass ceiling shatters.

Lord, give them strength. Give me hope.