This is what happens when your system support people have too much time on their hands. Thanks to friends over at Nashville is Talking for pointing out a web site where you can generate your very own seal. Have some fun with it!We were joking about preacher lapel pins and other adornment some time ago... somehow, this strikes me as the kind of design that says, "Hey, let's sit down and have a cup of coffee and talk about this...it is a Baptist thing" (Isaiah 1:18 loosely translated).
And for the other Refugee Baptists, we could adopt Matthew 23:25 (NIV) as our call to arms (and legs): "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence."
7 comments:
I like the seal. Too bad it's not a lapel
pin. It could be really funny.
What do you think Concerned Tenn. Baptists would think of women preachers? I know a couple of ladies who are good Christians, not feminists, just real people, and feel like God is calling them to be pastors.
Would they be allowed to wear the Refugee Bapist lapel pin or should they get a Methodist one? : )
darby1,
Undoubtedly, you know how most conservatives view the roll of women in the church and I'm pretty sure that you are familiar with the litany of their use of scripture to defend their stance on women in positions of authority, particularly preachers. I struggle with what Paul says in the Bible regarding several of those positions. However, if it boils down to what the Bible says and what God calls a woman to be/do, I have no problem in trusting God to know what he is doing. There are some who would consider that comment alone to say that I do not believe the Bible to be "inerrant" or trustworthy. From my belief of what defines me as a Christian, it is a paradox...an uncomfortable paradox that reminds me that the God of my Bible did not stop working once the original autographs were penned. God still does miraculous works in our lives, and if nothing else, reminds us by doing so that he is a God worthy of trust and praise.
If Refugee Baptist lapel pins ever become a reality, anyone who God is calling to cooperate in ministry is welcome to wear this pin...you'll just have to agree that by wearing it that you may never agree completely with your fellow refugees in all matters/details of theology, but you will enjoy the fellowship that God describes as his 'church', the people who know and love Him.
Thanks for your comment. I would be glad to wear such a pin.
It seems as though many people are selective in their scriptural beliefs. Perhaps I am as well, unknowingly. I am unable to undersood why Paul is so often quoted selectively, as he is also the one who wrote to Phoebe the deacon, Lydia, the house church leader and so forth. In Luke 8 we find women amongst the traveling companions of Christ. In Luke 7 Jesus seems to welcome not just a woman over a religious leader, but to welcome a woman seen by others as unworthy.
I also don't understand why some verses are taken out of context while others are not. "Go and sell all your goods and give them to the poor" - why is that not taken out of context and declared as the way all of those named Christian are to live? It is usually interpreted as just for the one guy.
I wrestle with issues concerning women, including women in ministry. I am one of the ladies being called by God to be a minister. I also struggle with that idea because I believe that all Christians are ministers and wonder why it is necessary to set some apart by ordaining them. Aren't all Christians to live daily in service to those they meet?
The Sunday before Thanksgiving my daughter and I were blessed to be able to serve communion to our congregation. Our pastor asked us to do so. We were writing papers for our New Testament class on a book by Marcus Borg and N. T. Wright. Borg proposes that the resurrection of Jesus is merely something in our hearts. Wright believes the traditional view of a bodily resurrection. I had already decided that I would adhere to my belief that the phsyical resurrection of Jesus is, indeed, truth. I had contemplated the implications for our human bodies. When I was able, without being a man, or being ordained, to offer the bread to believers, saying "The Body of Christ broken for you" to each one, I knew in the most profound way that I have ever known that the physical resurrection of Jesus includes all of us who believe in him; just as he clothes us in his righteousness, he clothes us in his immortality. Both are able to one day be fully known. But we are already with him, or him with us, in this righteousness, and in eternal life.
Thanks for this forum that allows me to share my journey.
My daughter is the other lady who is being called.
As a "non-Baptist Christian," a female, and one who generally appreciates Will's take on the Belmont issue, I usually lurk on this blog, but I feel compelled to respond to Darby1's beautiful post above. Sadly, scripture is quoted selectively all the time (the issue you cite about giving away all that you have is a perfect example; the issues about homosexuality, dietary codes, war, etc. are others).
It breaks my heart--and I believe it breaks God's heart-- to imagine that your denomination is failing to "feed" you (to use the language on the seal but to use it in a more metaphorical way... it ain't all about gettin' fed by the mashed potatoes, but that sure is a tasty way...). Anyway, it breaks my heart to imagine your denomination is failing to feed you by discouraging your response to God's call simply because you are a woman. Please know that other women and other denominations have struggled through this issue, so you are not alone, and you may go elsewhere to answer your call. Your call and experience serving communion is a reminder to us that scripture is God's word but not God's final word, and I hope you will find other blessed and fruitful ways to minister--or that you will leave your denomination because, quite frankly, many in power in your denomination have an abusive and dysfunctional attitude about women's ordination. You are in my prayers. Grace and peace to you.
hocma,
Is it too late to claim that the "if you feed them" part of the logo is both literal and metaphorical? *smile*
Thanks for adding your comments.
Peace
Hi Will -- oh yes! You better believe it! I believe getting fed is literal and metaphorical...Hence, the mashed potato joke. But I swear, simply typing the words 'mashed potatoes' made me long for the church suppers we had at my home church :)
Peace to you as well. And thanks for providing a space for reasoned dialogue.
Thanks, hocma, for your kind comments and encouragement. You are helping me through this transitional period of my life. I have completed one and one/half years of divinity study (well, after I write a few more papers for this semester) and have two and one-half years left. I am working toward my Master of Divinity. It is one thing to leave the Baptist denomination; quite another to face the disapproval of family. Most of my family of origin do not hold with women in leadership within the church.I am trusting God.
I ate 2 meals at the Factory in Franklin today, surrounding a Muriel Anderson concert. I didn't have mashed potatoes, but I did have some scalloped ones and some wonderful grilled asparagus.
I already attend a non-denominational church. One of the founding principles of the church is equality of gender. I just haven't joined because my husband is still at the Baptist church (and I have 11 more months serving on one of the Baptist boards). More transition......
Thanks again. I take it you are supportive of Belmont. My son is a student there and loves it. (He overheard a conversation where two professors suggested asking for their Cooperative Program gifts to be returned. Interesting).
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