It’s always there
saint / sinner
law / gospel
(but please always end with
the gospel – otherwise I
am left to my own
resources
and
that
is
despair!
lonesome death)
Jesus the Christ
welcoming women /
choosing 12 men.
Which side do I see saw
down on?
2 verses in a huge Bible
about women
being silent
command of the lord
(about ordered worship
with women prophesying?
or
women silent
for all time everywhere full stop ?)
Or am I invited to slide over & into
Christ reaching out,
healing,
calling Mary by name.
Sending.
Pouring out the Holy Spirit
on all flesh.
Man and woman together
restored into the renewed image.
Can I rest in the centre –
All of us are
redeemed, washed clean
called,
brought into
the beautiful love
there before all creation,
the love within
the Trinity?
In that precious
beautiful place,
could we live with another
creative Lutheran tension?
Two practices in the
one body –
men alone / both men & women,
called & ordained
gospel & sacrament
lovingly proclaimed
& lived?
C.L.T
© 2024 Lutheran Church of Australia 
Comments 6
Re the poem from Michael Mayer. ‘Two verses in a huge Bible’
Well Michael if the huge Bible only has a few verses on such core doctrines for example the small matter of the doctrine of the trinity, then to be consistent, you might want to discredit that idea as well!
Dear Eric, Perhaps you have hit the nail on the head!. Perhaps Jesus wants us to put this whole vote off until we can find a firm foundation for the LCA on which to make decisions. At the moment, we are proving just how wobbly a foundation our church is resting on, with the devil roaring around with glee as we disagree on almost everything – inerrancy of the Word, power of the Holy Spirit to speak through sinful men, cherry-picking the bits of the bible we like, and advising all on sundry how wrong those ‘other’ bits are. What a mess – and we can’t wait to let the world know! Perhaps God wants us to be different from those other ‘accepting’ denominations, and just stick permanently with Him. What has changed since the Theses of Agreement in 1966 – we might ponder on that too.
Throughout 2,000 years of church history church Mothers and Fathers opposed the ordination of women.Some examples – Clement of Rome (96) Irenaeus (130-200) Tertullian (160-220) Chrysostom (347-407) Augustine (354-430) to name a few. The Didascalia, a liturgy from AD 225 says, ‘If it had been necessary that women should teach, then our teacher (Jesus) would have directed them to instruct along with us” (3:6:1-2). Epiphanius ‘Never from the beginning of the world has a woman served God as a priestess.’
Our church mothers who opposed the ordination of women. Hildegard of Bingen, (1098-1179) Catherine of Siena (1333-1380) and Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) Phoebe and Junia, distorted, juxtaposed and wrenched out of context. Always helpers, leaders, never priests.
‘Yet not my will, but yours He said, submitting, willingly, not forcefully,
Not subservience,
Not dominance,
Not rights,
Not MY will, but yours He said.’
Wendy’s comments were beautifully put, especially the last few words. Perhaps Martin Luther would have liked them too, and methinks none of us has delved more into God’s Word then Martin.
That is lovely Michael. Which side do i seesaw on indeed! And the minute we come down on our end and feel that we are finally well grounded… Jesus sits on the other end and says, yes, but there is more to consider.
Michael, Jesus never leaves you to your own resources – He gives His inerrant Word, for Christian Men and Women, restored together into the new image, with equal importance but created with different strengths for different God-given roles.