IT'S BUDGET TIME!

It's that time of year again... I get to plan our youth and college budgets. This wouldn't be a huge deal if I didn't HATE money and math and things of the like. It makes it worse that I can't go off of the same budget I used last year because we have to make cuts. It's enough to make the left side of my brain explode.

I think we should all take the advice of my college Sunday school teacher's son Luke, who is about 4 or 5 years old. Scott is on the policies and procedures committee of our church, and Luke gave him this advice: "You should make a rule that all things in stores... should be free!" Luke, wiser words have never been spoken, my friend. If only everybody else thought like you....

Budget planning also drives me nuts because we spend SO MUCH money on different programs and activities within our church. If we spent a quarter as much serving our community as we spend on ourselves, we might be doing something right. It's insane how much we spend on petty things within the church (i.e. flowers or anniversary activities), and then we wonder why we're hurting on budget.

Since I wrote this mini-rant, now I have to put my own money where my mouth is (ha-ha, get it?) and use the youth budget in such a way that might honor God. Ouch. I wasn't thinking that way beforehand. Before, I was thinking about our own programs and what not. How can I use our budget to serve others, and how can I use our budget to help our students serve others instead of just spending money on self-absorbed and self-interested programs? This is going to take some thought.

God works in funny ways sometimes. I didn't even plan on writing any of this. I really just wanted to complain about budget stuff, but God used my own writing to convict me. Didn't see that coming.

CELEBRATING 50

This marks my 50th post since moving to blogger! In celebration of this feat, I will count down my top 5 posts of all-time. Ratings are completely subjective and chosen based on the ones that I like. Here goes...

5. BIG MISTAKE:
This post was fun. Everybody and their dog is getting married these days. And now I can add Carolyn and Stephen to the list... it keeps growing.

4. DEAR ANONYMOUS,:
This was my response to an anonymous letter I received from someone in our church that I thought was a little backhanded. I would probably change the way I wrote this one if I had to do it over. My tone is a little arrogant in this post. I was angry at the time.

3. TOP TEN: GREATEST SUPERHERO MOVIES:
This was right around the time that Superman Returns came out, so I got on this Superhero bit. I'm a nerd. I made this list before I saw M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable, and that movie would definitely make it in my top 5.

2. TAKE UP YOUR CROSS:
My most recent post on the list, and it's why I love seminary.

1. THE DOGS OF WAR:
This was my first real post and still by far my favorite. This is my current take on the whole pacifism/just war/violence issue. I'm always open for new arguments, though. I think it's my favorite, though, because a famous person commented on it. You'll have to look to see who - I'm not giving it away that easy.

WOMEN IN MINISTRY: AN EGALITARIAN COMMUNITY

I believe that the early church community held a radical view of male and female equality. We can see through Jesus' ministry that he didn't make any distinction between anyone. Whether they were rich, poor, male, female, sick, healthy, Jew, Samaritan, or anything else, if they wanted to follow Jesus, he was all for it. The only condition was that they had to really want it. We can see this all through the gospels. Jesus didn't hold anything back for anyone based on social status or apperance. The only thing that Jesus looked for was the heart, and I believe that the early church held this view, too.

In Galatians 3 Paul writes:

[27] for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

In other words, the message of the gospel is all inclusive. If you want it, you can have it.

Then in 1 Corinthians 11 Paul writes:

[3] Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. [4] Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. [5] And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. [6] If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. [7] A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. [8] For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; [9] neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. [10] For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head. [11] In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. [12] For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.

On the surface it may seem to some that Paul is distinguishing between man and woman. But if you look deeper into the passage you notice that Paul is advocating for men and women to support one another, to follow God together. He says in verse 12 that everything comes from God. Male comes from female and female comes from male. In the kingdom of God, gender doesn't matter. Also notice in verse 5 that he recognizes that women pray and prophesy. For the early church the word prophesy basically means to speak the truth, to preach. Then in verse 10 he says that a woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head. So, we can see from this passage that Paul doesn't think that women in general ought to be silent and stay in the kitchen. Women and men have an equal role to play in the church.

I've only given 2 passages on gender equality, but there's plenty more. I think it's evident from the New Testament that the church was a community that viewed everyone equally. This begs the question for those who think that women shouldn't be in leadership...

If the church is a community of equals, then why are men more qualified to be leaders than women? Why can't a woman be a pastor?

I don't think there is an adequate answer. The only answer I've found is in 2 passages of scripture in the New Testament. And as I've mentioned in a previous post, those 2 passages are widely taken out of context. Next week I'll tackle the first of these passages - 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, and then I'll tackle 1 Timothy 2:9-15.

Stay tuned.

TAKE UP YOUR CROSS

This is why I love seminary. It's because I learn stuff like this every day...

In my Scriptures 3 class (the gospels and Acts) with Dr. Hulitt Gloer we're going over the time period of Jesus. We briefly sketched out a history from the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC to the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in 70 AD. In a nutshell, the Jewish people were fed up with political domination and oppression by the first century - the time of Jesus. Around this time, many Jews started to look for hope in an apocalyptic sense. In other words, they lost hope in the world around them, and they expected God to come down and intervene on their behalf. They were expecting a Messiah to set things right, to bring in God's holy rule.

During the 1st Century and even beyond, there were numerous Messianic movements. You couldn't go far without somebody saying, "Follow me, I'm the Messiah." For the Jews, it was great political turmoil, and for the Romans who ruled over the Jews, it simply was annoying. Of course, all of these movements were absolutely mowed down by the Romans.

Here's the part that blew me away in class the other day:

Around 6 AD one of these Messianic movements was headed by a man named Judas of Galilee (not to be confused with Judas Iscariot). He started a revolt, and it was absolutely obliterated by the Roman army. But the Romans didn't just quelch the rebellion. They crucified about 2,000 men all in the region of Galilee. 2,000! That's a lot of dead bodies, and Galilee is not a big territory. Obviously, the Romans were making a statement - don't jack with us.

Now, most scholars think that Jesus was actually born around 6 BC - 2 BC, not 0. So, if Jesus was born that early, that means he was probably between 8 and 12 years old. Jesus lived in Nazareth, at town in the region of Galilee. Chances are that Jesus as a young boy saw all of these people, his countrymen, crucified like they were nothing. Chances are that this image was ingrained in his head as a kid. That had to make a massive impact on him as he grew up in the political turmoil of his day.

It made me think about when Jesus said to take up your cross and follow me. What was he thinking about when he said that? People, following Jesus isn't pretty. It's not fun, and it's not always happy. In fact, sometimes it sucks. So why do we do it? It doesn't make any sense to make him Lord over our lives. It's so much easier to just forget about it and move on. OR - another question. Do we really take up our cross and follow him like he meant? Do we really give it all up to God? Or, do we pick and choose what makes sense for us in America where we can sacrifice a little bit and still live fat and happy.

Now I give my time, I give my tithe, I serve in the church and sometimes in the community as a whole, but is it enough? Is it ever enough? What is enough?

Jesus already showed us what enough is on the cross.... Everything.

Seminary... this ain't Lifeway.

WOMEN IN MINISTRY: THE LADIES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

Those who try to suppress women leadership within the church often ignore or forget the major role that women played in the New Testament and the early church. Let's look at a few examples...

Many scholars think that Mary Magdalene played a major role in church leadership in the very beginning of the church. Some scholars believe this in part because of her role in the gospels and in part because she is mentioned in other noncannonical texts(ancient writings that aren't in the Bible). This seems to suggest that although Mary wasn't mentioned in the New Testament after the gospels, she did play an important role in founding the church. For a lot of people, though, the fact that Mary is listed in nonbiblical writings doesn't really mean anything because it's not scripture. So, we'll move on to writings within scripture.

Priscilla is mentioned in Acts 18, Romans 16, 1 Corinthians 16, and 2 Timothy 4. The interesting thing about Priscilla is that she was married to Aquilla. Usually in ancient texts when an author mentions a married couple, the author will write the male's name first (in Romans 16:7 Paul mentions Andronicus and Junias - probably a married couple), but in many of these passages Paul writes about Priscilla and then Aquila. He mentions the woman first! Why would he do this? I think that this is because Priscilla played the more important role in the story. In Acts 18 we learn that Priscilla and Aquilla welcomed Paul in Ephesus as he went through his missionary journey, and we can definitely tell that Paul greatly appreciated their ministry because he mentions them 3 different times in 3 different letters in the New Testament. I can't help but notice Priscilla's importance through these passages, and I can't help but think that she was definitely a leader within her church.

Then, in Romans 16, Paul gives a long greeting to different members of the church at Rome. 4 of the first 7 people he mentions are women...

[1] I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchrea. [2] I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me. [3] Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. [4] They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. [5] Greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia. [6] Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. [7] Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.

Notice that the first person he mentions is a woman, and he calls her a deacon! Then we see Priscilla, probably the same person as in Acts 18, then Mary, and then he mentions that Andronicus and Junias are apostles. He calls a woman an apostle! His list goes on in Romans 16 and there are several men and women that he mentions. It seems to me that in this list there is no distinction between men and women. It seems that men and women play an equal part in the church that Paul is writing to.

If we move on to Philippians 4, Paul is writing to correct a problem within the church. Apparently, two ladies named Euodia and Syntyche aren't getting along so well...

[2] I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the
Lord. [3] Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have
contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest
of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

I love that Paul isn't shy, and he's not afraid to confront a problem when it hinders the church. He straight up calls these women out in front of everybody so that they can fix the problem. Notice, though, that the problem is not that there are women leaders. The problem is that they are leaders who can't see eye to eye. It wouldn't matter if they were men or women. How do you know that they are leaders and not just regular people causing problems, you ask? Look at verse 3 - he says that these women "contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest...." These women worked alongside the apostle Paul. They were involved in the ministry of God.

Just from these examples, I think that it's plain to see that women had leadership roles in the New Testament church. Next week, I'll take a look at a few passages that focus on the fact that the church is meant for everybody and discuss what implications that has for the nature of leadership.