Why Even Bother?

 

According to the Ecclesiast, there is nothing new under the sun. 

And the Ecclesiast is right. 

We are dealing with the same issues now that we have dealt with throughout history. 

Our technology is just different. 

And the rate at which we garner information, or misinformation, is faster than ever. 

 

That being said, the SBC’s vote to limit women’s authority from the pulpit last week is nothing new. 

For the past forty years, the SBC has been systematically working to limit women’s authority from the pulpit. 

So why make a big deal of it now? 

Why give thought to it at all? 

 

Because every time the SBC does something like limit women’s authority, 

In a judgmental way, 

In a way that does not allow for God to call whom God desires, 

It gives negative light and negative press to Christianity and those who live in a gospel not of division but of love. 

Their voice is the loudest and it’s demoralizing and demeaning, and it pushes people away from what could be life-changing truth. 

 

And so we must affirm our truth to try to make our voices just as loud. 

And we must try to do something to fight back from blow after blow after blow, 

Knowing that there may be nothing we can do to change hatred or hostility, 

But believing that maybe, somehow, we can influence one person who may not agree with the system in which they are stuck for reasons that are too complicated to unpack without serious time, therapy, prayer, and healing from the Holy Spirit.

 

The SBC has come to a point where it does very little to help perpetuate the gospel that is the freedom and grace of Jesus Christ, but spends its time on issues of the law that divide.

It does very little proclaim that the Kingdom of God has come near in the life and works of Jesus Christ, and 

It does very little to share the gospel of healing, restoration, and reconciliation that Jesus himself bid his disciples share with the world. 

And yet their voice is the loudest, and they are doing real harm, and so we have to make our voices louder.

 

This isn’t a matter of right and wrong. 

 

It’s not even a matter of belief that women can or cannot fill the pulpit.

God is big enough for theological differences and scriptural interpretations. 

 

It’s a matter of arrogance, certainty, human power, judgment, individualism, and control being the face of the gospel of Jesus Christ 

When the gospel of Jesus Christ is actually humility, mystery, God’s power, grace, community and freedom. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is salvation, not damnation. 

 

People are hungering for the good news of Christ. 

People are hungering for love, grace, freedom, belonging, and salvation in this world.

 

So may we be a people who use our voices and our own authority given as followers of the Christ who has empowered us to go, 

To share that good news as loudly and confidently as we can, 

Offering a countercultural way in this never changing world that tries to place authority on man instead of God. 

 

Amen.