Emerging Women

One of the purposes of this blog is to raise awareness about the issues women worldwide face. Unfortunately women continue to be used and hurt around the world. Today CNN posted a special report about the acts of “femicide” taking place in the Congo. Women and girls (like 3 year old girls) are being raped and brutalized – literally destroyed as pawns in an ongoing war for power in the Congo. As tribes and factions compete for control of the country’s resources – diamonds, gold, and cobalt (sold to feed US demand for jewelry and computers) – women are the targets that are preyed upon.

Already having a low status in society, women who are raped are often then rejected by their families. It is emotional warfare that destroys the women and hence the families. Weaker tribes can be more easily conquered. Activists are desperate to get the word out about this ongoing violence against women – but wonder if the world cares enough to come to the defense of dark-skinned African women. Or are we too racist and sexist to even care?

How do you react to these atrocities? Do you think that continuing to advocate for women’s rights could help more people get involved in stopping horrors like these?

“Never leave your partner behind.” From the creators of Facing the Giants.

Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life by Ed Cyzewski just came out, and for those who are interested in approaching God, life, and lived out theology not just from an single access point (for instance, like objective truth) this book posits an interesting perspective with a postmodern sensibility.

Ed agreed to let me pick his brain, and ask him some questions about some ideas from his book, at my blog and your thoughts, comments, questions, or even gripes are welcome.

This book offers plenty of resources for additional reading, which is great too. It brings up things some of us often wonder about…like how do we truly live what we believe in light of what we can really know about God, in history, and in all his mystery….what role can, does, or should Scripture have in knowing God. . . how does the church integrate the global church perspective …where does tradition fit in.. should it? cultral context .. and mission of God and church… lots to chew on and good stuff, especially for a few people to tackle together, I liked the study guide companion for that.

Hope you can participate.
(emergingpa.blogspot.com)

The first response to any crisis is prayer; urgent and honest prayer. Before we turn to money managers and governments, let’s turn to the
Maker of the Universe.

You Have Our Attention, Lord
A prayer by Max Lucado – October 2008

Our friends lost their house
The co-worker lost her job
The couple next door lost their retirement
It seems that everyone is losing their footing

This scares us. This bailout with billions.
These rumblings of depression.
These headlines: ominous, thunderous -
“Going Broke!” “Going Down!” “Going Under!” “What’s Next?”

What is next?

We’re listening. And we’re admitting: You were right.

You told us this would happen.
You shot straight about loving stuff and worshipping money.
Greed will break your heart, You warned.
Money will love you and leave you.
Don’t put your hope in riches that are so uncertain.

You were right. Money is a fickle lover and we just got dumped.

We were wrong to spend what we didn’t have.
Wrong to neglect prayer and ignore the poor.
Wrong to think we ever earned a dime. We didn’t. You gave it. And now, tell us Father, are You taking it?

We’re listening. And we’re praying.
Could you make something good out of this mess?

Of course You can. You always have.
You led slaves out of slavery,
Built temples out of ruins,
Turned stormy waves into a glassy pond and water into sweet wine.
This disorder awaits your order. So do we.

Through Christ,
Amen

God will always give what is right to His people who cry to Him night and day, and He will not be slow to answer them. (Luke 18:7 NCV)

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=f44f74a55853fe9348a2

The following comes from Part 1 in a Q&A with Jani Ortlund on the Gender Blog at the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Jani wrote Fearlessly Feminine: Boldly Living God’s Plan for Womanhood.

GB: How would you define femininity?

Ortlund: Femininity and masculinity lie at the very core of humanity. God created us male and female, so if I don’t understand the difference, it is very hard for me to embrace my own uniqueness. John Piper really helps me with this. He says this: At the heart of true femininity is a freeing disposition to affirm, receive and nurture strength and leadership from worthy men in ways appropriate to a woman’s differing relationships. I take those three words—affirming, receiving and nurturing—as the core of femininity. I affirm those around me. I receive leadership willingly, lovingly, joyfully. I receive others into my sphere, into my home and then I nurture them. From conception all the way through life, we as women are to be nurturers. So that to me is at the core of femininity. Beyond that, throughout all of Scripture, God paints for us a picture of what a woman looks like. From Eve all the way through the book of Revelation, we see women and he says, “This is the kind of woman I honor and lift up and this is the kind of woman I discipline”‘ I want to be on the honoring side, so I look to Scripture for that.

Don’t comments like, ” I receive leadership willingly, lovingly, joyfully” imply that women are somehow excluded from leadership on the basis of their gender? E.g., a female leader is “unfeminine”? What does Ortlund do with women who have the spiritual gift of leadership (see Eph. 4)? Or is this gift exclusive to men?

“From conception all the way through life, we as women are to be nurturers. So that to me is at the core of femininity.”

An accurate statement? A biblically sound model? What do you think?

There’s more. Check out the CBMW Gender Blog here: http://www.cbmw.org/Blog

Jan over at A Church for Starving Artists recently had a great post titled Is Todd Palin Aberrant?. As one man (potentially) chooses to follow his wife to the White House, she asks if this is normal behavior for men. Too often she has encountered the opposite – men ignoring their wife and children’s situations, jobs, and needs to climb the corporate ladder or pursue a (supposed) call to ministry. Read her post – it’s good.

It reminded me of when I studied the history of missions in grad school. One of the great “heroes” of the modern missionary movement, William Carey, was of course prominent in such studies. In typical churchy fashion, he was lauded as a saint for choosing to follow a call to ministry – even against the desires of his family. While I know he did good (from a certain perspective) things like help stop the practice of Sati in India, I’m disturbed by the historical perspective that praises him for ruining his family. Assuming a call from God, he forced his wife, pregnant with their fourth child, to move to India against her wishes. She was miserable there, the child died there from illness and Dorothy suffered a nervous breakdown which some say eventually killed her. Instead of faulting William for not fulfilling the call to love and serve his wife, she is usually portrayed as a hindrance to his ministry. Even the wikipedia entry shows this bias –

Dorothy Carey died in 1807. She had long since ceased to be a useful member of the mission, and in fact was actually a hindrance to its work. John Marshman wrote how Carey worked away on his studies and translations, “…while an insane wife, frequently wrought up to a state of most distressing excitement, was in the next room….”. Carey re-married a year later to Charlotte Rhumohr, a Danish member of his church who, unlike Dorothy, was his intellectual equal. They were married for 13 years until her death.

It fails to mention that Carey had become very close to Charlotte while his wife was alive – preferring to spend time with her rather than with his downer of a wife who didn’t want to be there to begin with. And he is praised as a great missionary – the founder of modern missions. Interesting.

So is society more okay with men pursuing their dreams and passions at the expense of their family than they are with women doing the same? How often do you see entire families up-rooting themselves for the sake of the woman? is it worse or better within the church?