{"id":1363,"date":"2014-04-23T10:44:44","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T10:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/?p=1363"},"modified":"2014-04-23T10:44:44","modified_gmt":"2014-04-23T10:44:44","slug":"i-cant-change-my-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/04\/23\/i-cant-change-my-spots\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I Can&#8217;t Change My Spots&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Submitted by:<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Rebecca Worl<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The elderly woman caught my attention as I was exiting the church. She gave me a smile and waved me over. Her eyes glistened a bit as she grabbed my hands and put them between her own.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHello dear, I just wanted to tell you, that I was so moved by your\u2026 talk today, it was one of the best \u2013 you know, I ever heard in all my 80 years\u2026 \u201c<\/p>\n<p>I smiled as I could tell she was struggling with the words, I offered a little help,<br \/>\n\u201cThe best\u2026Sermon?\u201d I volunteered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, I wasn\u2019t going to say THAT, you know, after all, at my age I can\u2019t change my spots!\u201d She laughed a little under her breath.<\/p>\n<p>I was puzzled. \u201cSorry, what spots do you refer to?\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I took her hands even tighter into my own and led her to a chair so we could talk. Her sweet spirit and kind words moved my heart, and I could tell we had more to chat about.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, after all these years of believing that women shouldn\u2019t be in the pulpit, I just can\u2019t change how I feel about that. But your \u2013 ,\u201d she hesitated again.<\/p>\n<p>I smiled again and tried one more time, \u201cSermon?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOk, for lack of a better word, yes, your sermon was really one of the best sermons I have ever heard, and it challenged me in my faith \u2013 imagine that, after 80 years of walking with Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I was very humbled and grateful for her generous words, but wanted to push further\u2026<br \/>\n\u201cAh, thank you so much! It was my true honor to bring God\u2019s Word today. I\u2019m so thankful that the Spirit ministered to you. So you are not sure if women should preach, but you think that maybe, I\u2019m an OK preacher though?\u201d I pushed further.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh yes! The best! But that\u2019s just you honey, I don\u2019t know about any other woman out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, if I\u2019m a good preacher, and I am a woman, isn\u2019t it possible that there are other good preachers out there who are women too?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, I suppose there may be\u2026but that doesn\u2019t mean they should be in the pulpit.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cWhere should they be then?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe standing on the floor, or speaking just to women. That\u2019s biblical.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Our conversation didn\u2019t have a chance to go any further, but I walked away with a thoughtful smile. So\u2026 if I can stand behind a music stand, on the floor, and \u201ctalk\u201d, that is \u201cbiblical?\u201d Or if I make sure my audience is composed of the correct gender, then I can \u201ctalk.\u201d But if I stand behind a pulpit and the congregation is mixed, then I shouldn\u2019t be\u2026 what\u2019s the word again\u2026preaching?<\/p>\n<p>I thought of the first person who was entrusted with bearing the Word of Good News within her, a woman, Mother Mary. I thought of the first person who was entrusted with delivering the gospel message, to men\u2026 a woman, Mary Magdalene (John 20:1-18). I thought of the first student of theology and missionary, the woman at the well (John 4:1-39). I thought of the first \u201ctheology professor\u201d who taught and trained a man in the Word, a woman, Priscilla who was the primary educator of Apollos, a preacher \u201cmighty in the scripture\u201d (Rom16:3-5, Acts 18:2, 24-26, 2 Tim 4:19). I thought of the first apostle, Junia, a woman, whom Paul addressed as a kinsman who was \u201cprominent\u201d or \u201coutstanding\u201d among the apostles (Rom 16:7). I thought of the Holy Spirit as He filled, equipped, gifted all people gathered in the upper room, including women (Acts 1:12, 2). I thought of the prophecy of this event spelled out Joel 2:7, and I thought of how the Holy Spirit distributes gifts without bias or preference on His authority (Acts 2:1-21, 1 Cor. 12:7,11, 14:31).<\/p>\n<p>I thought about these things\u2026<br \/>\nAnd I had great love in my heart for this kind and thoughtful woman, and hoped that she would continue to allow the totality of scripture to shape her understanding of God\u2019s work in the world through his sons and daughters. And that maybe she would hear more wonderful sermons from gifted women, and take a closer look at Paul\u2019s theology of women.<\/p>\n<p>I thought of the gift the Spirit gave me, to deliver the good news of Jesus Christ whenever, to whomever\u2026 to recipients whom God knows needs to hear it, male or female. I thought\u2026 I sure do hope I get to do more \u201ctalking\u201d in the future\u2026 For that is what God created and called me to do.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">\u201cThe very first person to be commissioned was a woman. And she was commissioned to go to men to share her testimony&#8230;and then also to give His Word. I know there are some people who will draw a line and say I can give a testimony, but I can\u2019t share the Scripture. But Jesus didn\u2019t make that distinction. He gave Mary Magdalene both commissions, to share her testimony and to give out His word.\u201d <em>Ann Graham Lotz<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">&#8220;That Christ ushered in this new era of life and liberation in the presence of women, and that he sent them out as the first witnesses of the complete gospel story, is perhaps the boldest, most overt affirmation of their equality in his kingdom that Jesus ever delivered. And yet too many Easter services begin with a man standing before a congregation of Christians and shouting, \u2018he is risen!\u2019 to a chorused response of \u2018he is risen indeed!\u2019 Were we to honor the symbolic details of the text, that distinction would always belong to a woman.\u201d <em>Rachel Held Evans<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>Rebecca Worl<\/strong><\/span> is a graduate of Fuller Seminary, with a Masters in Theology, specializing in Biblical Studies. She currently serves in her home church as a fill-in preacher and small group bible study leader. She also has answered the call to be a retreat speaker, and has had a variety of opportunities to speak at women\u2019s retreats around the Covenant Conference. She spends most of her time with her 2 year old and 7 year at home in Maple Valley with her husband, Robert Worl.<\/em><\/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=1363&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Submitted by: Rebecca Worl The elderly woman caught my attention as I was exiting the church. She gave me a smile and waved me over. Her eyes glistened a bit as she grabbed my hands and put them between her own. \u201cHello dear, I just wanted to tell you, that I was so moved by [&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-1363","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>&quot;I Can&#039;t Change My Spots&quot; - 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\/04\/23\/i-cant-change-my-spots\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;I Can&#039;t Change My Spots&quot; - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Submitted by: Rebecca Worl The elderly woman caught my attention as I was exiting the church. 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