Lift Up Your Hearts!

Half the Church: Recapturing God's Global Vision for Women by Carolyn Custis James (Zondervan, 2011)

I've reviewed three of Carolyn Custis James' books before (When Life and Beliefs Collide, The Gospel of Ruth, and Lost Women of the Bible); this is her most recent and I'm happy to say our library added it to their shelves at my request.  I'm not even going to attempt to rank the four, but just say that Carolyn James isn't losing any steam.  She continues fleshing out her discoveries concerning a Biblical view of the role of women, not only in the church but in all creation.  This time her vision was inspired and enhanced by her reading of Half the Sky (Kristof/WuDunn).

As usual, and despite her own assurances to the contrary, I think James underestimates both the difficulty and the importance of full-time, long-term motherhood, and is in danger of heaping still more burden and guilt on those who are already struggling.  I truly get her position that  "marriage and babies" is an insufficient—downright paltry—vision of God's overall plan for his daughters, implying that the young, the old, and those without husbands or incapable of bearing children are second-class citizens in God's Kingdom.  However, I believe that a vision of childrearing as only a short interlude in one's life is also deficient, and that James misses important contributions of those who have committed to large families (now defined as more than two children), childrearing as full-time work, and homeschooling.  She also appears not to understand how difficult and intellectually challenging it is to do well in such a profession, and how little such people are respected by society (including most churches). 

But that is not James' battle, and one cannot cover all bases in every book.  What she does cover, she handles superbly.

As usual, here are a few random quotations, to give you a feel for Half the Church, and to remind my future self of what's inside.

Literary experts tell us every good story has conflict. ... In fact without conflict a story has no plot. ... Which made me wonder, if God is the master storyteller—the creator of story—and if conflict makes the story, is there conflict before Genesis 3?  ...  If humanity had never fallen into sin, would we be living in a plotless story now?  For that matter, will heaven be plotless?  Is conflict only and always destructive and the result of fallenness?  Or is there a healthy, necessary, constructive variety of conflict that creates a gripping plot and is designed to make God's image bearers flourish and grow?  (pp. 66-67)

Conflict brings out the leader in us, transforms our lives from the mundane to the cosmic, and by God's grace forges us into more compassionate, selfless leaders.  Conflict in our stories isn't in the way; it is the way—to becoming better leaders, better image bearers, to creating a better story—to the fulfillment of the Story.  (p. 97)

I saw a billboard the other day that simply said, "God is not angry."  I get the point:  it was put up by a church wanting to emphasize God's grace to a hurting world, and no doubt frustrated by those who view tragedies as God's punishment.  But it's missing so much.  My immediate reaction?  "What?  God looks on child abuse and sex trafficking and mass murder and is not angry?  What kind of a god is that?"

People speak of the "angry God of the Old Testament" without considering why he is angry.  Yet anyone reading the Old Testament prophets who speak for him will quickly discover that God is outraged by injustice—when the powerful prevail over the powerless and the privileged over the disadvantaged, when his image bearers are, in any way, dishonored.  (p. 163)

From the beginning of my ministry, I made a conscious decision not to take a public position on the ordination of women.  My focus has been on calling women to go deeper in their relationship with God (instead of trying to subsist spiritually on a light theological diet)/.  My work centers on women in Scripture who are strong female role models of courageous gospel living, and on casting a vision for twenty-dirst-century women and girls that extends from the cradle to the grave, irrespective of their preferred debate camp.  We are God's image bearers, ezer-warriors for his gracious kingdom, and full-fledged members of the Blessed Alliance.

From what I can see, women and girls are a rich and largely untapped goldmine—a powerhouse of blessing, and gifts for the church, of strength and wisdom for our brothers, and of enormous good for the world. ... Taking sides in the debate seemed an unnecessary distraction that would take me off mission and cost me half my audience—something I am unwilling to do.  (pp. 159-160)

Our strengths and gifts are not worth much if we allow them to lie dormant.  To be honest, it's actually dangerous to think God created us to lean on others.  If we do not hone our gifts and live on the ready instead of in a default mode of looking to others, in a crisis or under pressure we are at a loss to use our voices, make decisions, stand our ground, or take the initiative that our circumstances demand.  This isn't theory, for even as I write these words I know several women who at this very moment are overwhelmed because the person they have always depended on is gone or unable to take care of things.  (pp. 94-95)

The Proverbs 31 woman is introduced as a "woman hayil"—the same Hebrew word used for Boaz and signifies "strength" and "power" like that of an "elite warrior similar to the hero of the Homeric epic."  The meaning, however, gets lost in translation, for whenever hayil applies to a woman in the Bible, translators have opted for softer English words ("virtuous," "excellent," "capable," or "noble character").  These words don't begin to do justice to the meaning.  (p. 129)

James is at her best when talking about what she calls the Blessed Alliance:  men and women, the two halves of God's Image on earth, working together, side by side, to accomplish God's purposes, each part being essential to healthy and effective enterprises.  In marriage, yes, but ever so much more than that:  indeed, in everything.  Without both male and female we cannot possibly reflect God's image and fulfill his vision.

God designed the world to stand on two load-bearing walls.  The first load bearing wall is God's relationship with his image bearers.  Without this vital relationship, we are cut off from our life supply—homeless, stranded souls in the universe, left to guess at who we are and why we are here.  The second load-bearing wall is the Blessed Alliance between male and female.  According to Genesis, male/female relationships aren't simply necessary to perpetuate the human race and make life pleasurable and interesting.

Male/female relationships are strategic.  God laid out his game plan in Genesis, and the team he assembled to do the job was male and female.  men and women working together actually predates men working with men and women working with women.  It would be one thing if God confined this male/female team to home and family and then mapped out the remaining territory into separate spheres for men and for women.  But he didn't do that.  Their mission—together—is to rule and subdue the whole earth on his behalf.  Men and women together.  Our relationships with God and with each other are the load-bearing walls of God's original design.

This foundational truth elevates the seriousness of the Blessed Alliance well beyond men "making room" for women and trying to tweak the system here and there to keep us happy.  Much deeper kingdom issues are at stake than resolving debates over disputed passages, deciding who's in charge, resolving conflict, defining his and her roles, and dividing the proverbial pie so everyone gets their fair share.  God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone." This statement means our brothers cannot be the men God created them to be or do the job God is calling them to do without their sisters.  Together, we are God's preferred method of getting things done in the world.  He created his image bearers male and female, blessed them, and spread before them the global mandate to build his kingdom.  (pp. 138-139)

The Enemy's first assault was beyond brilliant and wildly successful.  With a single temptation—firing one shot—the Enemy targeted both load-bearing walls.  It was a direct hit.  One lethal blow brought down the twin towers of God's kingdom strategy.  (p. 140)

I include the following quote strictly for my wonderful, spelling-challenged daughter, who repeatedly writes "unphased" when she means "unfazed."  You are in good company:  it happens to excellent writers with professional editors, too.

Ruling and subduing remind us of our noble calling to care for all creation, but somehow we remain unphased. (p. 52)

And just so I can end on something relevant to the book itself—indeed, it sums up Half the Church quite well:

We must not forget that it is still "not good for the man to be alone."  Men are impoverished and hampered in fulfilling their God-given callings without the honest, full collaboration of their ezer-sisters.  Kingdom opportunities are missed and suffering spreads because not everyone is on high alert or accepts responsibility for what is happening in our world.  It is not godly to hold back our gifts and to know less (or pretend we know less) so that men can lead.  When women bring less of themselves to the task at hand, men are overburdened and we squander our gifts.  (p. 164)

We're currently undergoing some home phone renovations, so if you need to contact us, please do so via e-mail, cell phone, Facebook, or here.  Thanks for your patience.

UPDATE 2/19:  The home phone is working now (thanks, Lime Daley!) but we'll be making changes now and then over the next week, so you can still resort to the above contact methods if necessary.  (You know I prefer e-mail most of the time, anyway.)

Our anthem, February 16, 2014:

Come, Christians, Join to Sing arr. Carlton R. Young

(Sorry, still no acceptable YouTube version.)

Thanks, Jon, for finding this.  From where I sit (the office next door) this is enough like Porter's frequent phone meetings to have me (almost) rolling on the floor laughing.  (No, I will not say ROFL.)

Our anthem for Sunday, February 9, 2014.

 The Lord's Prayer (Benjamin Harlan, Harold Flammer A8674)

I'm sorry for the lack of YouTube video, and even sorrier that you don't get to hear our own talented cellist, but you can hear the anthem, complete with cello part, at the JWPepper link above.

"I don't want to eat" has almost never been a problem in our family!  Nonetheless, this article on ending mealtime battles caught my eye, and it has some wisdom in it, so I'm passing it on.  I can sum up what I like about it in a couple of quotes.

It's dinnertime and my 4-year-old son is deep in play. When I announce that dinner is ready he makes his own announcement: "I don't want to eat, Mommy."

I tell him five words that avoid the food battle that he wants me to engage in: "You don't have to eat."

This is the rule in our house but it is followed by a second rule that everyone follows, regardless of wanting to eat or not. I tell him that family dinners are about being with family, and not just eating, so we all have to sit at the table.

What I like most about Ellyn Satter's Division of Responsibility in Feeding, is it gives parents and children very specific jobs in the realm of feeding. Parents are in charge of deciding what is served at meal time, when meals occur and where. Children get to be in charge of choosing what to eat and how much from what is offered to them.

So when my children complain about what I make for them, I always remind them that they can choose not to eat it. And I make sure to include at least one or two items they are likely to accept. This gives them some control, melts away the tension, and makes them more likely to try it....

This strategy puts more onus on the parents to make sure all the food offerings are nutritious:  if the meal on the table includes chips and soda, a strategy of letting your children decide what and how much to eat from the offerings appears a lot less wise.  Nor would I include anything not part of the family meal among the offerings, i.e. no chicken nuggets when the rest of the family is eating chicken tikka.  But letting them choose proportions (including nothing) from a good meal sounds like a reasonable strategy for giving children autonomy within secure boundaries.

I wonder:  if I had not been required to eat a portion of everything served, would I have learned to like vegetables sooner than I did?  Very early on I developed the tactic of swallowing my vegetable bites whole, with great gulps of water, like pills.  (Peas are particularly easy.)  My parents were willing to insist I eat the veggies, but would not go so far as to require me to chew and taste them.  If, instead, they had simply been offered as part of the meal, and I had observed my parents enjoying it all, might I not have tried them now and then, thus developing the taste for certain foods that eluded me until later in life?  I'll never know, but I like this strategy better.

... to point out to our Northern friends that our temperature was a record-breaking 86 degrees today.  Last week was winter.  I guess the groundhog thing doesn't work south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Our anthem for Sunday, February 2, 2014.

God Watches Over You (Joel Raney, Hope Publishing C5581)

Our anthem for Sunday, January 26, 2014.

Down to the River to Pray (arr. Sheldon Curry, Daybreak/Hal Leonard 08743261)

From LarkNews.com, one of the best 404 File Not Found errors I've come across.

In one way or another, we covered a lot of bases with our church music last Sunday.  It was a wild ride.  But that's one thing I like about our church.  From Deck Thyself My Soul with Gladness to Shout to the Lord, from What Star is this with Beams so Bright to How Great Thou Art, from There's a Wideness in God's Mercy to a couple I'll highlight:

First, our choir anthem, Praise His Holy Name by Keith Hampton (earthsongs).

We arrived early at church, and having discovered that the processional hymn was a new one to us, I plunked it out on the piano several times before the director arrived.  It may sound easy, but it is decidedly not if you've never heard it before.  Mercifully, he took it down a whole third from what is written in our hymnal.

I would never have guessed that Lift Every Voice and Sing was an African-American song, much less the "Black National Anthem" as it is sometimes called.  Not knowing the tempo at which it is apparently usually sung (judging by the YouTube recordings I listened to), I took it at a faster clip, and would have guessed it to be a World War I era song, or maybe something from the Salvation Army.  If you listen to it and note that the middle part sounds like the more militant parts of Les Miserables, be assured that this was written in 1899/1900 by James Weldon Johnson and his brother John Rosamond Johnson.

The experience reminded my very much of singing with grandson Joseph, who chooses hymns not by name, but by number, providing an interesting tour through the more obscure parts of the hymnal.  Fun!

UPDATE 11/2/19 Once again, the automated updating of Flash videos to iframe cut out a chunk of the post, but I don't have time to worry about it now.

Nunsense was written in 1985, but neither of us had seen it until Sunday.  We went to the performance at Sanford's Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center because our friend Linda was the music director for the show.  As it turned out, we knew one of the main cast members, too—a friend of Heather's from high school.  She played Sister Hubert and did a fantastic job.  Everyone did a great job, actually, though some had better enunciation than others, so we didn't always get the jokes because we didn't catch all the words.

A few of the jokes were less than family-friendy, but they'd probably go over the heads of anyone who shouldn't hear them, and compared with much of what can be seen today, the show is fitting for—well, for a convent!

Afterwards we had a (too) quick bite to eat at the Willow Tree Café.  German food is not normally my favorite out-to-eat meal, but this was excellent and I'd love to have an excuse to go back.

We had the Gourmet Potato Pancakes and the Sausage Sliders from this menu.  Both were worth repeating, although next time I may want to try the Reisen Bretzen.

If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets, even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.  He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'here lived'.  — Martin Luther King, Jr.

Each Christmas we send out a slew of Christmas cards, and receive slew minus epsilon in return..  (By "slew" I mean about 120; and you wonder why we find postage stamps to be a good investment.)  The trouble is that these cards arrive in the mail at what is usually the busiest time of the year, where we have little time to appreciate them.  If we happen to go away for Christmas, the situation is worse:  we return not only to unpacking and laundry and neglected work, but also to a pile of cards and letters.  It's so easy to slip into a routine:  Slit envelope, check.  Open card, check.  Skim card, quickly read letter, and glance at photos, check.  Enter data (news, change of address, etc.) into our Christmas card database for next year, check.  Toss card and envelope into recycling, check.  Breathe sigh of relief, check.  But that's all wrong.  The cards are meant to be appreciated, photos admired, and newsy letters savored.

Last year I read about a family who saves all their Christmas cards until the next year, putting them in a "prayer basket."  Each day one of the children pulls a card out of the basket and the family prays for the people who sent it.  I found that an admirable idea, but my anti-clutter side couldn't bear the thought of keeping a basketful of cards sitting around all year.  I did, however, institute my own version, and I love it:

At the end of the above-mentioned data entry routine, the envelopes get recycled, but the cards go into my Tickler, spread out over the days.  Thus, each morning I have one or two cards/letters/photos to enjoy in a relaxed fashion.  I pray specifically for the people they represent, illuminated by whatever information I've just read.  Then, and only then, do the cards go into the recycle bin.

Win-win-win.  I receive much more pleasure out of our Christmas mail, people are prayed for, and I enjoy a small decluttering moment every day.