To the women in my life — and in the Body of Christ — I owe you something.
A confession.
And a promise.
For too long, I lived in my head. I thought respect was something I could agree with in theory but ignore in practice. I saw the inequality, the silence, the hurt that many women endured — and I explained it away with theology, culture, or fear.
by John & Marti Fischer
Much damage has been done to women, and as a result, to men as well, in evangelical circles due to misunderstanding the scriptures. The tragedy is not the words of scripture, but the later misuse of them that have excluded women from roles Christ intended them to have.
In this Catch we will discuss Cultural and Biblical Misreadings, Jesus’ Model of Respect, Paul’s Context and Misinterpretations, and A Vision for Renewed Relationships.
This is longer that our usual Catch, but it is extremely important and must not be overlooked. Take it in pieces if you need to and refer to it over the coming weekend. If possible, discuss it among yourselves.
Introduction: Returning Respect to Women
Eve, Sarah, Rachel, Rahab, Ruth, Deborah, Jael, Abagail, Lydia, Mary Magdalene, Phoebe, Priscilla, Junia, to name a few of the women of the Bible.
Question: How can the church today be so divided over the role of women when the Bible is full of stories of influential women who carried out key roles in the history of the human race, the nation of the Jews, and the early church?
by Marti Fischer
Could a greater miracle take place
Than to look through each other’s eyes
For an instant
If we could stand in someone else’s
Shoes and hear what they hear
See what they see
Feel what they feel
Wouldn’t we approach each other
Differently?
Some folks hate the Whites who hate the Blacks who hate the Klan
Most of us hate anything that we don’t understand
– Kris Kristofferson
This is a huge reality today in a time of great division and people gathering in factions or “silos” on the internet. It’s now possible for every ethnic, social or religious group to have its own online identity which supports their biases, beliefs and prejudices. In this type of social environment, it’s very easy to stay in your own silo and disregard everybody else in their silos. What develops, then, are isolated groups who have their own take on reality and the news, and suddenly the picture Kristofferson paints in the two lines above becomes a reality. And how true it is that most of us hate anything (outside of our own group) that we don’t understand.
Jesus was a Capricorn
He ate organic food
He believed in love and peace
And never wore no shoes
Long hair, beard and sandals
And a funky bunch of friends
Reckon we’d just nail him up
If he came down again
Some folks’ world is war torn; some folks’ world is fine
This planet makes no sense to the untrained mind
Some folks hope for fortune; some folks hope to die
We all see our fate through our own two eyes
And when it’s day to me it’s night to someone
And when it’s night you may not want to go on
“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Matthew 8:20
We are stardust; we are golden, and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden – Joni Mitchell
The kingdom of God is made up of refugees.
When you start thinking about refugees in the Bible, it’s hard to find anyone who was not, at least at one time, a refugee.
Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies. Hebrews 13:3
There is no clearer statement of empathy anywhere than what is found in the scriptures. “Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself.” Well wait a minute … they are in prison. How do you get in prison? You break the law. You steal something or kill someone or rape someone and any number of criminal activities. And we’re supposed to remember them as if we were there with them? Why? We’re supposed to have empathy toward criminals?
So far we’ve discovered that empathy is walking a mile in someone else’s shoes — to see the world as they see it, and feel their situation as they feel it. And if this person is important to you, then the things they see and feel will be important to you as well. And it requires you to get out of your own shoes in order to get into theirs, and that’s an important step that we often miss.
