Pa & Son: an imaginary conversation

Pa, why don’t we have any women pastors like Aunty Heidi in Costa Rica? She is a Lutheran pastor. What if a woman gets called by the Holy Spirit in our church?

A good question, son. I guess the powers that be feel that her call is not the real McCoy thing and won’t allow her to be a pastor. Maybe they think that women don’t have as much Holy Spirit as men do and so do not get called properly.

Come on Pa, look at Gran. I reckon she got more Holy Spirit than the two of us combined. You talk too much, boy. Besides, the big boys in North Adelaide probably base their decision to refuse a woman to become a pastor on scripture.

Come on Pa, you and I know that if you pick and choose the right verses you can justify just about anything. I remember reading in the “Lutheran” that in South Carolina a Rev R Furman even managed to prove by Scripture passages that it is OK to have slaves!

Well, you got a point there, boy, but really let’s face it, us males don’t really want to be told by little women what to do.

But Pa, it just isn’t right for us males to put a damper on women who get a fair dinkum call, is it? May be we shouldn’t ask what Paul has to say on the subject but rather what would Jesus tell a women when she feels she got a call. I reckon when it comes to women some of Paul’s edicts like “put a hat on”- “be submissive” – “shut up in meetings” – leaves our generation a bit cold.

Yep boy, we all sure say and do things that are pretty lousy when people look at them later. But remember if we didn’t have Paul way back then there would not be a church today and he is also the bloke who said that if your spirit is Christlike, there is no man -women distinction – or maybe dominance is a better word.

But Pa, the Old Testament indicates that men are the leaders.

Not entirely boy. I remember your great uncle Ed quoting Genesis in German: “Und Gott schuf den Menchen ihm zum Bilde, zum Bilde Gottes schuf er ihn und schuf sie ein Mann und ein Weib”. Translated that says that God used himself as a template to create mankind.

You mean to say Pa that God is like the hermaphrodite sheep we crutched a moment ago?

Blimey boy, no! I am thinking more along the line that God has attributes that us humans describe as male and female spiritual characteristics. Thinking along those lines it’s hard to imagine that one characteristic is more dominant or important than the other.

So Pa, what would Jesus say to a woman that feel she got a call?

I am only a dumb peasant son, but I reckon his main message is that he loves us, his creatures and that we should follow his example. Needless to say us men are not very loving when we try to lord it over women and we sure can do a lot better on that score. And I hate to admit it, all other things being equal, for us men to tell the male candidate that his call is OK and tell the female candidate that her call is rubbish or misguided just does not seem right to me anymore.


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