Vocation in the Valley

Women Vice-Presidents but Not Pastors

Friday, September 26th, 2008

When Sarah Palin was announced as the Vice-Presidential running mate for John McCain, I heard some news outlets say that she wouldn’t get support from Southern Baptists because they don’t even allow women pastors. I also read that Evangelical Christians in general would have a problem with her because they believe women should be at home with the children. These are both supposed to be examples of the backwards thinking of Christians and in some ways a hook into pointing out the hypocrisy of Christians if they do support a woman for Vice-President.

Lutherans have very similar positions on both women pastors and women staying at home with children. And while I don’t know why Southern Baptists and Evangelicals hold the positions they do, I do know why Lutherans believe the way we do. Our understanding doesn’t put the notion of women Vice-Presidents vs. Pastors in conflict. It also provides for women working outside of the home.

So why can a woman be a Vice-President and not a pastor? Simply put, the United States does not prohibit women from become Vice-President and God prohibits women from being pastors in His church. There’s not much more to say except that if you take God’s word seriously the case is open and shut. If you want to play around with God’s word women pastors will be the least of your problems .

But aren’t women supposed to be home barefoot and pregnant? God did create men and women differently. Woman are naturally more suited to rearing children. That is not to say men don’t have a role in raising their children, it’s just a different role. The issue is really about the children, not the parents. The parents were given their children by God so that the parents would love are raise them in the fear and love of the Lord. How are the children best served? Most likely by having their mother available to nurture them full-time. However, a mother may also have a calling to serve her neighbors as a government official. This calling will conflict with her calling as a mother, and in this fallen world, she will have to compromise and ask for forgiveness in either case.

What I’m trying to point out is that we have an understanding of the roles of women, vocations, that allows for this seeming contradiction. God rules both the church and the state. In one He allows women to govern in the other he does not. In addition, He places women where they can serve their neighbors. In some cases the needs of various neighbors conflict. They must use the reason God has given them to best serve the neighbors and ask for forgiveness for the rest.

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Emi’s First Practice

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Emi had her first basketball practice on Sunday. The coaches really did a good job of just getting the kids started on the fundamentals. The worst thing for Emi would have been if they got them into a scrimmage the first day. She has some skill in dribbling and passing, but she’s a perfectionist and got frustrated if she couldn’t do it like she wanted to. One thing I need to work on with her is catching the ball. She kinda backs away from the ball which actually leads to her getting hit by it. She had one incident where the ball bonked her and she cried a little. Shooting overhand is a little tough for her too because of a lack of strength, but I’m not too worried about that. Overall, she had fun and listened for the most part. I was very proud of her.

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Why do We go to Church?

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

This past Sunday at Bible class, my wife learned about adiaphora. This sparked an awesome discussion over dinner. The discussion turned to why we go to church and my wife gave the correct, but incomplete answer that the Bible tells us that we should be of a church and go to worship Him. Ah, my chance to catechize the family. I said that was correct (I’m starting to learn that I should point out the correct parts before I move to fill the gaps). God calls us, via His word, to gather together. When we are gathered He gives us the gift of salvation through His word and sacraments and we respond with thankfulness and praise i.e. worship.

With this understanding, the term Divine Service takes on the appropriate meaning that God, the divine, comes to serve us. So then what does Contemporary Service mean, the contemporary serves us? Seems more like we’re serving the contemporary i.e. the culture.

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