Readings: John 4: 7-9a; 27-29, 39a Mark 14: 3-9
Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations
of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our rock and our
sustainer. Amen
In beginning this
sermon, as part of a service focussing on women, I have to admit to not knowing
where to start, which line to pursue, what to applaud and how much to get
stroppy about.
You see, I have
had multiple conversations recently about women in the church, in leadership
especially.
I have always been
a feminist – but my definition might not be yours and I stopped calling myself
that as a defining characteristic years ago.
We are in a year
of women finding their voice against inequality and abuse in employment
situations and some men being called out for their blatant degradation of women
in those contexts.
We have the horror
stories of women maimed, abused, de-valued, enslaved across the world – for
there are many stories indeed where despicable acts of violence are perpetuated
on vulnerable women.
It is easy to
understand when the anger takes hold of some people after an eternity of male
entitlement and power over women – is that the best way to respond?
But whichever path
we go down today we can’t ignore the fact that we have to challenge the
continuing inequalities in our societies and the way they deny women and men
the full richness of all humankind living in the way of Christ.
For now we
concentrate on gender – remembering that there are many other differences that
are used as excuses for inequality and injustice.
So what does
gender equality actually mean today – in a world where we recognise more than
just male and female and where, some of us at least thought we had fought and
won the battle for woman’s rights last century?
And especially what does it mean in this church that we are all part of
and the faith that we live in?
Some of you will
know that I have been part of a group gathering research on the role of women
in leadership within the PCANZ – the stories that come out of that are mostly
very positive – but there are others that are of real concern – of being shut
out, treated as second class citizens, of the parenting questions that are not
asked of men.
KCML has had two
of the last three intakes all males. As were two of the three intakes when I
was there. And my intake was eight guys
and three women. Why the imbalance?
Currently
leadership roles in the church are overwhelmingly men – the last female
moderator was in 2009 (five since then) and the current moderators of
Presbytery and Synod, out of 10 positions, 2 are women. Is it because women are not putting their
names forward – if so why not? I hope
that it is not because they are thought still to be less capable or designed
only for the home and hearth.
For this is still
a prevalent attitude in many parts of the western world – there is that excellent quote from Helen
Clark after her UN experience seeking the role of Secretary General: “No-one should get a job because they are a
woman. They should get the job because
they’re the best person, but being a woman should not count against them.”
So into this
minefield let us introduce Jesus. Jesus
who counted women and men as his disciples, who recognised the strengths of
each, the wholeness that both together brought to ministry, who raised up the
value and dignity of women when the world preferred to subjugate them. Our Christ–led church should be the last
place to deny the equality of women, don’t you think?
The story of the
Samaritan woman at the well is a classic example of Jesus overturning the
expected behaviour – his disciples were aghast that he was speaking with a
woman of Samaria. And at that point you
want to ask – are they more aghast that it was a woman or she was from
Samaria? The next words seem to indicate
which it was – ‘they were astonished that he was speaking with a woman.’
The fact that this
was a woman was the shock factor to the disciples but not, I suggest, the
primary focus for Jesus. He saw a person
struggling with life and belief and welcomed her into the kingdom and into
ministry for his sake.
Yet through this
ordinary, wrong gender, somewhat flawed person speaking the truth of Jesus,
many in her city came to believe in Jesus. We don’t know if her somewhat
sullied reputation or her being a women was more off-putting to those she
shared Jesus message with but despite both, she spoke with such passion and
belief that she convinced many in the city - perhaps more so because she was an
unexpected teller of truths. Jesus had
found a new disciple and her proclamation changed a city. You go, girl.
The woman who
poured fragrant oil over the feet of Jesus teaches us a different lesson - how
important it is to hear all the voices of the disciples, women as well as men,
tangata whenua as well as pakeha, pasifika as well as refugee, children
alongside our elderly, the marginalised into the established. We hear that everyone in the room with Jesus
– we tend to assume it was all men but may well not have been – had grasped an
important aspect of Jesus teaching – that of sharing their physical wealth with
the poor – but needed to learn from this unexpected visitor that there was
another approach to mercy and love – the anointing of Jesus was an extravagant
act of welcome and understanding, of peace and healing – for Jesus. Her action, her voice offered a new
understanding of living in faith.
The words of James
K Baxter from Wednesday night worship come to mind - ‘Truth’
— he said, and — ‘Love’ — he said, But
his purest word was — ‘Mercy.’ We need
all the voices in the room and beyond for us to grasp the fullness of Jesus
mission in this world, not just the women but the culturally different, the
dreamers and the systematic theologians, the doers and the healers and the
listeners – our voices are all needed to bring about the kingdom of God.
And finally, for
today, the way we interpret and use scripture needs to be closely looked at for
where it encourages the continuing sidelining of women in our faith. It’s not just about being inclusive in our
translations but also about hearing the stories that aren’t told or glossed
over. John Bell[1]
speaks of the time when he was part of a preaching weekend at a well-known
church where the lectionary reading in the morning was from Exodus 1 – where
Joseph and his brothers had died and the treatment of his people under the new
Pharaoh went from bad to worse. That
evening the reading was Exodus 2 beginning at a grown up Moses. John was preaching in the evening and began
his sermon by saying something like: ‘I am sorry to tell you that somewhere
between this morning’s service and this evening’s service, five middle-eastern
women have gone missing in the sanctuary.’
People did
apparently start looking around rather anxiously – until he filled them in –
they were the part of the Exodus story missing from the set readings. Verses that talked about Shiphrah and Puah,
the Hebrew midwives who defied Pharaoh and let the infant boys live by all
sorts of clever ways, the mother of Moses who fashioned a floating cradle for
him, his sister Miriam who stayed with him and devised a clever plan to reunite
him with his mother when he was found by Pharoah’s daughter, who herself not
only chose to let the child live but also raised him as her own. Bell thought about these five audacious women
who had saved the life of Moses – so that we could hear the words ‘One day, when Moses had grown up…’ He completely acknowledged that there are
plenty of audacious men in scripture and who are great models for our lives –
but their stories normally get told – the stories of the women are not so well
known. And so he wrote the song we are
going to sing in a few minutes
I want to finish
with an affirmation of faith that reminds women and men that Jesus taught and
lived equality – that through Christ there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is
no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of us are
one in Christ.[2]
We believe in
Jesus Christ the liberator of this world
Who broke the
culture of silence and affirmed and advocated for the status of women in
society.
Who called us
to follow his footsteps
To resist all
the exploitative and oppressive systems to build a human community.
We believe in
the holy spirit that empowers us to stand firm
Who renews and
restores the integrity of the creation
Help all people
to grow together towards wholeness of life. Amen.
Margaret
Garland
No comments:
Post a Comment