Half the Church

A couple years ago I read the profoundly worldview-changing book Half the Sky by Sheryl WuDunn and Nicholas D. Kristof. That book opened my eyes to the huge challenges, obstacles and burdens the women of our world face and moved me to action on their behalf. As I have written previously, I recognized that Kristof and WuDunn were right on target with their statement:

We believe that in this century the paramount moral challenge will be the struggle for gender equality in the developing world.

I also came to realize that a similar statement could be made about women within the Church. I believe that the paramount issue in this century within the Church will also be the struggle for gender equality. So when I saw Carolyn Custis James' new book Half the Church, I knew I had to read it. I had already read her book The Gospel of Ruth and was moved by her examination of that well-known story. Half the Church was just as powerful.

In Half the Church James makes a concise and powerful argument for God's global vision for women. This vision stems from the very beginning of creation, when God created men and women in the divine image.

So God created humankind in his own image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

James would insist that we not skip quickly over these words lest we fail to recognize the profound statement being made here. Both men and women are divine image-bearers. Women are not an afterthought. James writes:

“He gives both male and female the exact same identity – to be his image bearers. He gives both the exact same responsibilities when he entrusts all of creation to his image bearers, calling them to be fruitful and multiply and to rule and subdue the whole earth.”

From this basis James examines Scripture and builds a strong case for not only the equality of men and women, but for the fact the without both genders the Church cannot fulfill the mission of God. Women weren't created to be the “helpmeets” of men. Women were created to bear the image of God alongside men, so that together we can accomplish God's purposes. She makes the point more than once that by placing women in a subordinate position, the Church has crippled its own ability to bear the divine image. The Church is trying to carry out its mission with only half of its potential strength. By failing to appreciate and live in accord with the fundamental nature of creation – in which men and women both bear equally the divine image – the Church has sold the Gospel of Jesus Christ short.

“At the heart of this discussion is the very real question of whether the gospel's message for women is merely a kinder, gentler version of the world's message. Are we only dealing with a sliding scale, where our beliefs move women to a safer, more acceptable zone of human value, or does Jesus bulldoze that system and reconstruct in its place a radically different gospel way of valuing women?”

I find it profoundly tragic that this book needs to be written. The truth that James argues should be inherently apparent and practiced throughout God's Church. Sadly this is not the case and has not been throughout the Church's history. Although Western culture has made significant strides in affirming the value of women, much of the Western Church still lags far behind. For this reason James' book is necessary. Although she writes it for women, I think it has great value for and needs to be read by men as well. We need to have our thinking about women in the world and particularly in the Church radically transformed. James has laid out a good fundamental argument to help stimulate that transformation. I would love to see this book used in mixed small groups so that God's children, men and women together, could talk about these important issues and together initiate changes that will unleash the half of the church that currently finds themselves restricted, hindered and undervalued.

Masters, Servants and the Kingdom of God

My wife and I have enjoyed watching the British television series Downton Abbey. The show, for those unfamiliar with it, follows the life of the Crawley family and their servants during the early years of the twentieth century. The series begins at the time of the sinking of the Titanic and ended its second year at the beginning of the 1920s. A third year is currently being produced for release in the UK this fall and, presumably, in the US in 2013.

The show highlights a period of time in which an aristocratic family such as the Crawleys (the Earl and Countess of Grantham, according to the program) lived on large country estates and were attended to by a host of household servants. Downton Abbey depicts aspects of the lives both of the family and of many of their servants, giving us some insight into the differences in life between the upper class and their servants. I do not argue that the program shows exactly how life would have been, especially for the servants, but it certainly gives some good indications of it and clearly demonstrates that significant social and lifestyle differences existed between the servants and their masters and mistresses.

This distinction between servant and master as shown in Downton Abbey came to mind today as I was reading from Luke 12. In verses 35-40 Jesus speaks about the need for servants to be ready for their master's appearance. In the television program we saw regularly how the household staff had to be prepared to respond to the needs and requests of the master and his family at a moment's notice. Failure to do so would have been considered poor work and quite possibly grounds for dismissal.

But my thoughts were particularly captured by verse 37, which in the latest NIV translation reads:

“It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.”

I had never noticed the aspect of this verse that I have highlighted here. Did you catch it? Speaking of his kingdom and the coming of the Son of Man, Jesus describes a situation in which the roles are reversed. The master, who would normally be dressed and waited upon by the servants, dresses himself, seats the servants at the table and waits on them. This is radical. I cannot imagine that this would have ever happened in an aristocratic household in our world. In Downton Abbey the Crawley family strives to treat their servants well, but they certainly never reverse roles with them. In fact, in one episode the servants are given time off on Christmas Day to celebrate among themselves, leaving the family to serve its own drinks and care for themselves for several hours. One visitor, a very wealthy businessman, complains about this state of affairs because he considers it beneath himself to have to serve himself in any way, especially while the servants are allowed time to make merry. His response strikes me as far more common in our world. The powerful, the elite, the masters demand to be waited upon and the servants do the waiting. But not in God's kingdom.

If we pray for, long for and strive to see God's kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, what does a verse like this imply for the way we live? Certainly it tells us something of the amazing relationship between ourselves and the Master, God and that in itself is worth reflecting upon. We are to be formed into the image of the Master ourselves, so what does this mean concerning how we live on a daily basis, especially those of us from the West who have long been in the position of master rather than servant on a global scale. What does it mean in terms of our churches, our social organizations and our families? Are we willing to step down from our position of master, whether it be master in our family, in our workplace, in our church or anywhere else, and serve those whom we normally expect to serve us? (And are we even aware that we have such expectations?)   

Transforming Power or Foolishness?

I wrote the other day about Paul's call to adopt the attitude of Christ, the attitude of humility and servanthood. In thinking further about the implications of this, I wonder if we are also tempted to not adopt this attitude because we fear that it won't really be "marketable." After all, the world around us seems to respect prestige, power and success. The world doesn't idolize the poor, the downcast and the suffering. We feel pity for them at best. But we don't have magazines and television programs devoted to following their every move in life. So, we could argue, if we are going to reach the world for Christ, we must present him in terms that are appealing. We must emphasize his power, or his blessing, or his ability to help us succeed. But will such a message really transform the world? Will it transform peoples' hearts? Paul didn't tell us that we need to adopt the attitude of the world and its values. He told us to have the attitude that Jesus had.

Paul also reminds us that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. While I am all for removing unnecessary obstacles to the Gospel, I am utterly opposed to presenting a message that panders to our cultural weaknesses. I think part of the power of the Gospel lies precisely in its call to be radically counter-cultural (and this not just for western cultures, for the call to humility and servanthood may well be even more counter-cultural in many Asian societies). This power, however, is not normally one that produces quick results. A Gospel of humble servanthood will often be rejected, precisely because this is not the ideal for which most societies strive. Rather, the power of humble servanthood, combined with radical love, is like the leaven of which Jesus spoke. It works its way into the society and slowly transforms it, one person or family at a time. We may impress others through displays of power and wealth. We may even win some converts in this manner. But we will not really be agents of transformation.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus...

The Right Attitude

I often return to Paul's words to the Philippians in the first several verses of chapter two. I should in fact return to them more often than I do. I think that Paul reveals fundamental truths in these verses that are key to our understanding both of discipleship and of the very nature of God. In these verses Paul sets the standard for us: "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." And what was his attitude? Paul tells us that it is an attitude of humility and servanthood. It is a conscious choosing to give up our rights and privileges. In the book I have been reading the authors remind us:

"Our God is a servant God. It is difficult for us to comprehend that we are liberated by someone who became powerless, the we are being strengthened by someone who became weak, that we find new hope in someone who divested himself of all distinctions, and that we find a leader in someone who became a servant."

Are we comfortable with a God like this? Or do we prefer a God that fits better with our preferred lifestyle? I think most humans, not just westerners, like the idea of a God who is powerful and mighty. Certainly our God is that--Scripture clearly affirms this. But Scripture also clearly tells us that our mighty God chose to demonstrate his strength and his love in the most shocking of ways, by emptying himself and become a humble servant to the people he created. Do we really allow this reality to challenge us and inform our way of life?

"Jesus' compassion is characterized by a downward pull," writes Nouwen. "That is what disturbs us. We cannot even think about ourselves in terms other than those of an upward pull, an upward mobility in which we strive for better lives, higher salaries, and more prestigious positions. Thus, we are deeply disturbed by a God who embodies a downward movement."

Several years ago I made a career change, just at the time my career seemed to be moving into a truly upward path. My wife and I had recently purchased our first home and for the first time in our married life we actually had some disposable income. At that point God directed us to leave this behind and move into a new area of ministry. It was not, overall, a difficult choice, because we were being called into something we were passionate about. But leaving the things of this life behind did cause some distress. I looked around at my friends and acquaintances and saw that most of them were on the ladder of upward mobility, while my life was clearly on the path of downward mobility. I wrestled with this for a long time until I understood that this path reflected the one God himself followed. I am not saying that this makes me a more righteous person. I still at times struggle with longing for the things other people have. Renouncing the path of prestige and upward mobility is a daily decision I must make. But I have the privilege of choosing a path that allows me to place value on more important things. I think that we as Christians in the affluent West would do well to meditate regularly on these verses and allow them to reshape our understanding of God and our lifestyle choices. Imagine the impact we could have on this world if we radically embraced a lifestyle of servanthood!

I cannot begin to claim that I have realized the attitude of Christ that Paul writes about it. I often feel as though I have only just begun to see this in my life. But I am young. I have many years left to continue to grow. I want to keep these verses before me though so that I will grow in the right direction, the direction of humility and servanthood.

Dishes and God's Grace

Our children share the responsibility of washing the dishes in our house. They alternate days, because they found it too difficult to work together. They don’t like this chore and complain about it regularly. Yesterday was Teresa’s day and after much footdragging she finally went to the kitchen and did them just before Sharilyn began preparing dinner. As she worked on dinner, she needed several items that Teresa had just washed. But when she pulled them from the drying rack, she found that they were not really clean. We discussed how to deal with this. At times we have made the children rewash individual items that they didn’t wash properly. This time we decided that she should have a second day of washing dishes to help her recognize the importance of doing the job well. This morning when I put away the rest of the dishes though, I didn’t find any other poorly-washed specimens, so it seems that her failure was limited to a few specific items that are harder to wash.

This afternoon while enjoying a cup of tea in the gentle afternoon sunshine that streamed into our kitchen, I began to consider washing up some of the dishes myself. Normally washing dishes is not my job, but occasionally I will do it voluntarily as an act of kindness and to demonstrate servanthood to my children. They have a difficult time with the thought of doing any unpleasant task they are not obligated to do. So I hope by occasionally stepping in and relieving one of them of a required task, they will see an example and choose to emulate it. So far this hasn’t been highly successful.

As I contemplated whether to wash dishes for my daughter, I began to wonder whether I would be sending the right message today. After all, she was supposed to do them to help her learn to do a job correctly. Would my doing them show her gracious servanthood, or would it show her only that she could get away with being unthorough? I thought about the fact that she probably wouldn’t even receive my labor with thankfulness, because she rarely says thanks for any favor we do for her. Because of this I started to lean against doing anything for her. But then God interrupted my thoughts. He asked me to think about this in light of his love and grace. Does he stop showing grace to us simply because we fail to thank him for it? Does he stop loving us because we don’t respond the way we ought? Thankfully he doesn’t!

Considering this question further I realized that one of the main reasons we fail to receive grace as grace, be it from God or from others, is that we believe in our hearts that we deserve it. I operate as if I believe God must treat me with love and kindness, so when he doesn’t I’m put out and when he does I take it for granted. I see the same thing in my daughter. She doesn’t respond with thanksgiving to my acts of kindness toward her because she feels she deserves them anyway. She may not express appreciation for me washing the dishes in her place because she feels it was unfair for her to have to do them in the first place. Once again I see my relationship with God reflected in my relationship with my children.

I understood that my decision to wash or not wash should not be dependent on the likely response of my daughter. But I still didn’t have an answer to my original question concerning the balance between showing servanthood and teaching responsibility. I don’t know that one can make a hard and fast rule about this. I think it must depend on how the Spirit leads in each situation. Some parenting methods overemphasize discipline to the detriment of demonstrating loving service, while other methods overemphasize grace to the point of encouraging irresponsibility. I want to find a balance that displays both in healthy, proper measure. In the end I decided to wash part of the pile of waiting dishes. Our drying rack cannot hold that many dishes anyway, so to attempt to do them all would have meant stacking them in unwieldy towers on the drying rack. I left the items that Sharilyn had found unacceptable yesterday, so Teresa will still need to follow through on her responsibility to do those well. But maybe she will also see an example of undeserved kindness that will enter her mind and heart and eventually bear fruit. She hasn’t discovered my work yet, so her response remains to be seen.

Roles

I found myself on my hands and knees yesterday morning scrubbing the kitchen floor following a small spill of sticky mandarin juice as the kids packed their lunches. This prompted me to think about the whole idea of men’s and women’s roles in society. Some people would say that these roles are quite distinct, while others would say there aren’t really any distinct roles for men and women. Rather it’s all just culturally based. I fall somewhere in the middle. I do think God made men and women different and there are certain things that we each seem to do better in general. But I think we must be careful about prescribing any role for either men or women, because God also makes each one of us unique and our gifts and abilities are not determined by our gender.

Here in the West we have moved a long way toward eliminating the prescription of certain roles as “men’s” or “women’s” and I think that overall this is a good thing. I’m not saying that there is perfect equality, but compared to many other cultures men and women here are far more balanced in their roles. I imagine that most American women are happy to have husbands who actively help with household chores. (Ladies, correct me if I’m wrong.) My wife certainly doesn’t object when I scrub the floor as I did this morning, or when I clean the bathroom or wash the dishes. Are there women out there who would object to this or see it as somehow “unmasculine?” But I’ve lived in other cultures where the men still would never dream of demeaning themselves to do such labor. Interestingly enough, in those cultures I see that most of the time women work far harder, often working outside of the home during the day, then returning home and doing all the housework as well. One day I was sweeping the walk in front of our gate when our neighbor, another American living there, came out and informed me that I was shaming my wife before the neighbors. Apparently only women should sweep around the house and my doing so made both myself and my wife look bad. In other situations I’ve heard of, people must haul water some distant from a well, lake or river. The full pails are heavy, but this too is always women’s work. When the husband of a foreign family living in the community carried water for the family they received a lot of criticism for this.

In such situations I really struggle with my response. I desire to serve my wife and my family by helping around the house. I believe that this is what a godly man does. But what should I do when my desire conflicts with the cultural understanding of what a man should be like? I personally try to discern in each situation what is best, but I hope I err on the side of being a servant rather than being a “real man.” I usually cannot directly challenge the cultural norms. But I believe I can offer a different model for them to consider and, when the situation allows, defend that model as a godly one. I am not claiming that our Western model is inherently better or more godly. But in terms of the balance between roles, I think that the model of a man who is a servant to others is certainly preferable and consistent with God’s teaching.