{"id":1547,"date":"2014-08-12T15:00:03","date_gmt":"2014-08-12T15:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/?p=1547"},"modified":"2014-08-12T15:00:03","modified_gmt":"2014-08-12T15:00:03","slug":"finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/08\/12\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Voice in a World of Contradictions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2014\/08\/img_9156.jpg\" rel=\"prettyPhoto[1547]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1548\" alt=\"img_9156\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2014\/08\/img_9156-300x300.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2014\/08\/img_9156-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2014\/08\/img_9156-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2014\/08\/img_9156-1024x1024.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Jo Ann Deasy is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church and holds a Ph.D. from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in congregational studies.\u00a0 For the last four years she served as the pastor of Sojourner Covenant Church in Evanston, IL and recently moved to the Pittsburgh area to serve as the Director of Institutional Initiatives and Student Research at the Association of Theological Schools.\u00a0 When she is not working she spends most of her time with her two passions, her almost two-year old son Declan and photography.\u00a0 Yes, she has a lot of photos of Declan!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I recently finished an article for an upcoming book that suggested that perhaps our emphasis on male images of God was hurting the potential of young women to develop a pastoral identity.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t challenging churches that clearly consider God more male than female, who refuse to use any feminine images for God, who believe that being male means you are a step closer to God and therefore allowed to serve as pastor.\u00a0 I was talking about those of us who believe that women can serve as pastors, but still primarily use male language and images for God.\u00a0 It is easy to do.\u00a0 \u201cFather\u201d is, of course, a biblical title for the first person of the trinity.\u00a0 And Jesus was a man.\u00a0 Literally.\u00a0 Not just human, but God incarnate in male form.\u00a0 And trying to use gender neutral language for God can be some cumbersome when you are first learning how.\u00a0 You end up repeating the words \u201cGod\u201d and \u201cGod\u2019s self\u201d a lot.<\/p>\n<p>I spent weeks agonizing over the article.\u00a0 Not because I couldn\u2019t make my case.\u00a0 I had done a lot of research on the matter.\u00a0 Interviewed young women who were so gifted and talented, but couldn\u2019t fathom becoming pastors.\u00a0 Not because they didn\u2019t believe in themselves.\u00a0 Well, actually they didn\u2019t believe in themselves, not any more.\u00a0 Most of them had when they were younger, but then life got in the way.\u00a0 And as they grew older, they couldn\u2019t imagine a life that wasn\u2019t structured around men taking care of them.\u00a0 Even if men had never taken care of them, they still longed for a world where men took care of them, husbands, fathers, pastors, God.\u00a0 And our consistent use of male language for God only furthered this idealized world.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t agonize because I couldn\u2019t make my case.\u00a0 I agonized because I was these women I was writing about.\u00a0 I was so worried about offending all the men who had been my mentors and professors over the years.\u00a0 They had been a mixed bag of support, advocacy, and opposition to women in ministry.\u00a0 And I so wanted to please them all.\u00a0 Like many of the young women I interviewed, I had often squelched my own voice, lost myself in a haze of anxiety and insecurity, as a way of avoiding contradicting those that had been so formative in my life, had done so much for me.\u00a0 If you remain quiet, you can\u2019t be accused of being a trouble-maker, you can\u2019t be marginalized as an angry woman, you can avoid the arguments and questions about your intelligence and your faith.\u00a0 Of course, if you remain quiet, you tend to also avoid living into the call that God has placed on your life, of speaking the truth that God has given you to share with the world around you.<\/p>\n<p>Women have responded in all different ways to this dilemma.\u00a0 Some, like myself and many others, have lost our voice, our courage, have forgotten that God created our minds and bodies, filled us with the Holy Spirit, and gave us truth to speak to the world.\u00a0 You\u2019ll know us when we break out in tears or fits of laughter at inappropriate moments as the inner battle rages within us.\u00a0 Others have learned to yell loudly, to make their voice heard, to speak up regularly.\u00a0 At times they can\u2019t stop yelling, they have had to yell for so long.\u00a0 When you speak loudly and no one seems to hear you, you begin to doubt whether people can hear you and at times whether or not you even exist.\u00a0 After all, how can such a loud voice, such truth, such pain, be ignored by so many people?<\/p>\n<p>Luckily there are many women who have negotiated this dilemma in a much healthier way.\u00a0 They have learned to deepen their sense of self in relationship to God in such a way that they can speak forth all that God has given them without fear or anger.\u00a0 They have had people around them who have consistently heard them, supported them, and believed that their voice was too important to be silenced or marginalized.\u00a0 They have spoken their truth, lived their call, at times making waves and radically changing the world around them, at times simply being faithful disciples, witnesses to the world of God\u2019s call on the lives of women to lead and pastor and be representatives of God\u2019s kingdom in this world.<\/p>\n<p>As you consider the women in your life, the quiet ones, the loud ones, the angry ones, the always happy ones, the ones living out their call with fear and trepidation, with brash courage, with faithfulness, remember that for many there is a battle raging around them and, at times, within them.\u00a0 A patriarchal world, even with all the progress that has been made, can be full of landmines. \u00a0Be gracious.\u00a0 Be vocal in your support.\u00a0 Be demanding that they live out their call and share the voice that God has given them.\u00a0 And use language for God that reminds us all that both men and women have been created in God\u2019s image.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=1547&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jo Ann Deasy is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church and holds a Ph.D. from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in congregational studies.\u00a0 For the last four years she served as the pastor of Sojourner Covenant Church in Evanston, IL and recently moved to the Pittsburgh area to serve as the Director of Institutional Initiatives [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19328],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testimoies-and-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Finding Voice in a World of Contradictions - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/08\/12\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finding Voice in a World of Contradictions - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jo Ann Deasy is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church and holds a Ph.D. from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in congregational studies.\u00a0 For the last four years she served as the pastor of Sojourner Covenant Church in Evanston, IL and recently moved to the Pittsburgh area to serve as the Director of Institutional Initiatives [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/08\/12\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commission on Biblical Gender Equality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-12T15:00:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2014\/08\/img_9156-300x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jeffo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jeffo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/12\\\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/12\\\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jeffo\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e3a410e3ecd495a15ddb19402571710b\"},\"headline\":\"Finding Voice in a World of Contradictions\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-12T15:00:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/12\\\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":972,\"commentCount\":5,\"articleSection\":[\"Testimonies and Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/12\\\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/12\\\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/12\\\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\\\/\",\"name\":\"Finding Voice in a World of Contradictions - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-12T15:00:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e3a410e3ecd495a15ddb19402571710b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/12\\\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/12\\\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/12\\\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Finding Voice in a World of Contradictions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/\",\"name\":\"Commission on Biblical Gender Equality\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e3a410e3ecd495a15ddb19402571710b\",\"name\":\"jeffo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5e01a8d8babf7a1f5038fa9e75c47345bcc22dbb54b4788982c7f033da3a0a52?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5e01a8d8babf7a1f5038fa9e75c47345bcc22dbb54b4788982c7f033da3a0a52?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5e01a8d8babf7a1f5038fa9e75c47345bcc22dbb54b4788982c7f033da3a0a52?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jeffo\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/author\\\/jeffo\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Finding Voice in a World of Contradictions - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/08\/12\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Finding Voice in a World of Contradictions - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality","og_description":"Jo Ann Deasy is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church and holds a Ph.D. from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in congregational studies.\u00a0 For the last four years she served as the pastor of Sojourner Covenant Church in Evanston, IL and recently moved to the Pittsburgh area to serve as the Director of Institutional Initiatives [&hellip;]","og_url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/08\/12\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\/","og_site_name":"Commission on Biblical Gender Equality","article_published_time":"2014-08-12T15:00:03+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2014\/08\/img_9156-300x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"jeffo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jeffo","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/08\/12\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/08\/12\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\/"},"author":{"name":"jeffo","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/#\/schema\/person\/e3a410e3ecd495a15ddb19402571710b"},"headline":"Finding Voice in a World of Contradictions","datePublished":"2014-08-12T15:00:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/08\/12\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\/"},"wordCount":972,"commentCount":5,"articleSection":["Testimonies and Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/08\/12\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/08\/12\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\/","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/08\/12\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\/","name":"Finding Voice in a World of Contradictions - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-08-12T15:00:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/#\/schema\/person\/e3a410e3ecd495a15ddb19402571710b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/08\/12\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/08\/12\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/08\/12\/finding-voice-in-a-world-of-contradictions\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Finding Voice in a World of Contradictions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/#website","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/","name":"Commission on Biblical Gender Equality","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/#\/schema\/person\/e3a410e3ecd495a15ddb19402571710b","name":"jeffo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e01a8d8babf7a1f5038fa9e75c47345bcc22dbb54b4788982c7f033da3a0a52?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e01a8d8babf7a1f5038fa9e75c47345bcc22dbb54b4788982c7f033da3a0a52?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e01a8d8babf7a1f5038fa9e75c47345bcc22dbb54b4788982c7f033da3a0a52?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jeffo"},"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/author\/jeffo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1547"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}