January 4, 2010

Texts:
Job 39 and 40
1 Timothy 2

Timothy
Is this my least favorite chapter in scripture? Possibly. But thankfully, for me, I can read this chapter from the pulpit, unlike the generations of women before me who were blocked from the pulpit because of these verses. Regardless of what I think of the chapter, however, it is still God's word to me, somehow. And through this voice telling women to be quiet and to stop braiding their hair, I catch a glimpse of the women from that community of faith long ago who must have been proclaiming the gospel with braided hair and expensive clothes. Why else would the author tell women to be silent? So maybe that is God's word to me here. Women have been responding to the Good News from the beginning. I'm just one of many in a long line.