Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse

Sermon:
March 14, 1999

Scripture:
Isaiah 42:1-7

I made a big mistake last night. I read some of Dr. Ritter's sermons. That put the fear of the Lord in me! How privileged you are. Those sermons are masterpieces. It reminded me of an experience I had years ago. I served for nearly a decade on the board of trustees for an international Christian mission organization. In the early 1930s, the president of the organization was a woman, Mrs. Cowman. She was a dynamic, powerful woman and an outstandingly effective leader. When the Board was searching for a new president, years later, I was part of the search committee. At one of the meetings, we had discussed the final candidates and none fit the profile we had developed. Finally, one man burst out in frustration, "What we need is a man like Mrs. Cowman." Well, what you need is a woman like Dr. Ritter. But God uses all of us and He will bless this service this morning. Let's look to Isaiah 42:1-7.

INTRODUCTION - Story of Isaiah Berlin

In February, two major national journals carried stories about a brilliant Jewish man, Isaiah Berlin, who was called the greatest intellectual of his era. In a time when Jews were not socially accepted, this man moved comfortably among the highest society of both the United States and England. He was invited to all the right parties.

Norman Podhoretz, in Commentary magazine, describes him as "charming and witty - an irresistible companion." "Effervescent conversationalist." "His mind was so quick that he could grasp a point and cut immediately to its intellectual quick."

Yet both Commentary and The Weekly Standard offer the same critique of Berlin.

Podhoretz: "He suffered from a serious character flaw that robbed even what many would consider his best and most valuable ideas of any real force."

"When push came to shove, relativism won out over conviction."

"All of his failing amounted to the single indictment - that he lacked the existential courage to stand and be counted."

"He was fearful of taking public stands that might jeopardize his ever-growing intellectual and social prestige."

Joseph Epstein, in The Weekly Standard, put it bluntly: BUT "he didn't stand for anything; he didn't take positions." "He tried to have it both ways."

Epstein concluded: "Yet issues arise in which one is bound - almost as part of being engaged with one's time, almost as part of being human - to take stands and positions, to risk enmity."

TRANSITION

I believe that, as Christians today, we must be engaged in our time - AND to be aware of those issues where we are, as part of being human, required to declare our beliefs and take stands and positions with courage.

One of the best examples of courage is from an earlier era - Suzanna Wesley: wife of Samuel, the learned, scholarly preacher and mother of John and Charles, founder of the Methodist Church and prolific hymn writer. Suzanna was mother of 19 living children and she developed a routine whereby she could spend an hour a week alone with each child. She was a remarkable woman as this story illustrates.

Once, while Samuel was away at a lengthy convocation, Suzanna felt obligated to continue the evening service for her family. Before long the servants begged to attend, later relatives and friends. Finally there were more than 200 people attending the service. The visiting curate complained to Samuel, who agreed that it was unfitting for a woman to be leading a worship service. Suzanna wrote back a long letter explaining all the reasons for and benefits of the service. I love Suzanna's response: It has intelligence and sensitivity, logic and directness. Finally, as icing on the cake, it has courage and spunk! She ended with this paragraph:

If you do, after all, think fit to dissolve this assembly, do not tell me that you desire me to do it, for that will not satisfy my conscience, but send me your positive command, in full and express terms so that I may be absolved from all guilt and punishment, for neglecting this opportunity of doing good, when you and I shall appear before the great and awful tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Samuel decided to let her keep conducting the Sunday evening services until he returned.

During this special service in honor of Women's History Month, I want to make just two very simple points:

First, Christianity has been and is good for women..

Second, women cannot and should not try to supplant God.

These two statements should be "givens." We shouldn't have to address such obvious truths. But, it's necessary because today, there are those outside the church and, more importantly and significantly, inside the church and in our pulpits who blame the church for women's ills and seek to put "woman" on the throne of God.

POINT # ONE: CHRISTIANITY HAS BEEN AND IS GOOD FOR WOMEN

They say things like:

Woman are victims of the Christian faith.

The Bible denigrates women.

Women were insignificant in Biblical times.

The church has repressed women throughout history.

These accusations must be repudiated. Above the clang and clamor of contemporary culture, reasoned voices must rise - voices solidly based on truth. They must proclaim:

That truth is more than human invention - it is the divinely-revealed truth that Jesus Christ made freedom and dignity possible for ALL human beings, for women as well as men. Because we are created in God's image and the grace of God is extended equally to women, we can join the company of those women who first wept in the shadow of the cross and later rejoiced at the empty tomb. The Bible has been unfairly attacked. It is the most effective force in history for lifting women to higher levels of respect, dignity and freedom.

As Christian women, we join an historic succession of women whose Christian faith is forged from biblical truth and whose lives are shaped into Christ's image on the anvil of obedience. As women, we are beneficiaries, not victims, of our Christian faith, despite its imperfect outworking in history.

Women of the early church gave witness to Christ in boldness of speech, purity of character, and even the final sacrifice of martyrdom.

Women of the medieval period enriched the Church through their writing and teaching and their examples of prayer and contemplation, self-discipline and service to family and society.

Christian women of the modern era have been pioneers in areas such as education, business, health care, artistic expression, social reform, and worldwide evangelism.

And in every generation, godly wives and mothers have responsibly exercised God's mandates and freely offered their lives for the nurture and guidance of the next generation.

During this Women's History Month, let us celebrate all those women. We are indebted beyond measure to the women who sought more opportunities and greater respect for women. It is by their efforts that we enjoy a more extended range of activities and opportunities than any previous generation.

Let me hasten to add that many women have been hurt - some deeply hurt - by church leaders and specific church policies and Christian institutions. These actions are usually non-biblical posturing and behavior. I do not want to minimize the pain caused by such actions. Many of us, myself included, have been deeply wounded by flawed Christian leaders and institutions. All of us have a responsibility to counter such actions. And, even though God can and does turn bad things into our good, that does not excuse wrongful actions. Many wonderful Christian women have turned away from the church, forsaken their faith, or turned to radical feminism because of the pain they have experienced within Christian communities. Sometimes only the radical feminists are empathetic. We in the church must "come alongside" those who suffer and right the wrongs with courage and boldness.

At the same time, let us remember that many of the earliest and most effective advocates of women's rights and dignity were women of faith, whose convictions were rooted in biblical truth. They recognized that all Christians, male or female, share certain obligations and benefits - that "in Christ there is neither male nor female." Therefore, it is "in Christ" that we seek to exercise our freedoms today. As individuals, we seek to develop Christian character and to live faithfully within our families, churches, neighborhoods and the world. As members of the Christian community, we endeavor collectively to bring the love of Christ and authentic Christian freedom and justice to all - especially the weak and helpless who, too often, are denied the respect due all who are created in God's image.

The Bible itself is a document to women's liberation. The Bible is very straightforward in describing how God is willing to use even the most unlikely people IF THEY ARE WILLING TO BE GOD'S PERSON. Look at some of the Old Testament women. Deborah, for instance, was a Prophetess and a Judge - she settled disputes and her wisdom earned her respect. Men heeded her words. But, she was not important because of "who" she was; she was important because she allowed God to act through her. This is such a contrast to those whose egos and ambition are predominant - those who seek power for selfish reasons - the "me" driven, power hungry. Deborah even directed a battle, though she had the good sense to realize she wasn't strong enough for hand-to-hand combat. Look at other women in the Old Testament - Miriam, Ruth, Esther. Look in the New Testament - Priscilla, Mary and Martha. Women are even listed in Christ's genealogy in Matthew's gospel.

All were unlikely persons to be chosen by God, but all were willing to use their gifts in service to God.

In the United States in the 1800s, Harriet Beecher Stowe, a woman of great Christian faith, played a pivotal role in ending slavery by writing the book, Uncle Tom's Cabin. President Abraham Lincoln on meeting her said, "So, this is the little lady who made this big war." Here was a woman with both the talent and the moral authority to change America.

Look in India at Mother Teresa. Here was a woman with no earthly possessions or power. She worked with outcasts and the homeless. We should never have even heard of her. Many, like her, work in obscurity. Yet, because she served God, her name is one of the best known in the world. Phil. 2: 6-7. Jesus "did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself taking the form of a slave."

Today, I think of my mother. Married at 15. Helped my father get a college degree and then seminary degree while raising 7 children - all but the youngest have at least MA degrees. When my father, a United Methodist minister for 35 years, died, the church he was servicing asked mother to fill in until conference. To our surprise, mother agreed. This once-painfully-shy woman completed her own college degree at age 62, went to seminary, graduated at 65, completed all the requirements for full ordination to Elder's status in the United Methodist church at age 67. Served a full-time church until mandatory retirement at age 70. She continues to serve a small church in her supposed "retirement."

Christianity empowers women. God uses women to accomplish His purposes. God values all who are willing to be wholly dedicated to Him.

POINT #TWO: WOMEN CANNOT AND SHOULD NOT TRY TO SUPPLANT GOD

Gender is at the heart of the cultural tsunami sweeping over our country. Some of the opinion editorialists are calling it a "gender war." Several years ago, at a capital hill briefing, some of us wore big buttons that read "Sex is better than Gender." They were quite a hit! All humor aside - we are up against formidable forces.

The question goes beyond whether men or women dominate the church. The question is whether Christ reigns. The disturbing factor to me in reading women's theology is the self-centeredness. It looks to me like these so-called theologians - I prefer to call them ideologues - are, in addition to wanting to supplant men, want to supplant God. Look at their central tenets.

Women need female goddesses.

Women's stories are sacred and should replace Scripture.

We women are our own gods - we are put here "to god." (to be gods)

William Temple, former Archbishop of Canterbury, said, "If your concept of God is wrong, the more religion you get, the more dangerous you become to yourself and everyone else."

The so-called gender wars pit the God of the Bible up against the goddesses, newly-minted paganism, Eastern mysticism, wicca, syncretism, anti-capitalism, and numerous other "isms." The major problem is that many of us in the church are not even aware of the battles raging around us - much less the larger gender wars within our culture. Our church women are dancing across meadows, going through labyrinths, searching for spirituality. They are turning inward searching for the god inside. They are being told that they alone have the key to the "abundant life" that it is within each of us.

The Sophia movement is one place where the concept of God is wrong and dangerous. Virginia Mollenkott, who calls herself an evangelical, says that "Sophia" is "Christ herself." While these female theologians claim that Sophia refers to Wisdom as in Proverbs 8, they are clearly worshiping Sophia.

From the chants for speakers at their gatherings to their printed literature which claims that "Sophia's voice has been silenced too long."

From their various definitions, "Sophia is the divine energy in women being unlocked by the goddess rituals."

"Sophia is the wisdom within me." "Sophia is the place in you where the entire universe resides."

Lutheran theologian, Elizabeth Bettenhausen, claims that "women, not God, are the true creators."

Theologian Katherine Zappone: "I have found that the sacred stories of goddess religions affect my imagination in ways the story of Jesus never will."

These extreme views still shock us: their far-left heretical ideas make us want to dismiss them as fringe figures. Their ideas are extreme and their ideology is incompatible with Christian doctrine.

But they cannot be dismissed. They are vocal and determined. And, they are not going away.

They are shaping church policies.

They are influencing seminaries and seminarians.

They are writing church literature and liturgy.

They are rising and influential in church hierarchies.

We must read and listen carefully. We must be wary and aware. We cannot accept theologies that are, in Ralph Wood's words, "saccharine substitutes for the hard-thinking that the Christian faith requires." (First Things, October, 1998, p. 28)

I attended the World Council of Church's Women's Festival, which marked the end of the UN Decade For Women - Churches in Solidarity with Women. And I attended the World Council of Church's Eighth Assembly (both in Harare, Zimbabwe), November 27-December 14, 1998. One of the speakers at the Women's Festival was the controversial Korean radical feminist theologian, Chung Hyun Kyung, who led a shamanistic ritual. She taught the 1000 women a catchy tune that repeated the phrase, "Everything a woman touches changes." That seems innocuous enough EXCEPT we cannot transform our lives. Nor can we transform the lives of those we love when they make bad choices. Only Christ has that power. We cannot heal or cleanse from sin. Only Christ has that power. Yet there is a concerted effort to claim that WOMEN have that power.

Rosemary Radford Ruether, one of the most respected of the radical religious feminists, remains in the church, but says bluntly without apology: "We must create a new canon - feminist theology cannot be done from the existing base of the Christian Bible." Ruether is right about one thing - the type of theology these supposed theologians are doing cannot be done from the base of the Christian Bible, it is something else entirely. And we must point that out. Flannery O'Connor put it plainly, "Christian dogma is what forms the Christian imagination into something larger than our own intelligence."

VISUALIZATION: STORY OF APPLE CEREMONY

One of the more shocking of the radical feminist religious rituals is the Apple Ceremony. I witnessed it at the Re-Imagining Revival in April 1998. Picture the hotel ballroom set up like a church auditorium. On the edge of the stage are bowls of red apples. At the conclusion of the service, there is an old-fashioned altar call. The women are asked to come forward to select an apple, bite into it and share it with others. This biting of the apple, they are told, symbolizes their solidarity with Eve's rebellion. Eve was courageous enough to throw off her dependence upon Adam. She took control of her own life. She was determined to reach out in defiance to grasp knowledge for herself, regardless of the consequences. I saw the biting of the apple as symbolic of a woman's determination to become "god," to decide for herself what is good and evil in total disregard for God's admonitions that He alone has the prerogative to name good and evil.

CONCLUSION: TWO STORIES

Why talk about these issues today? Why talk about the obvious and then the oppressive? Let me give you two stories to illustrate the relevance and importance of my two simple points.

First Story: My son, Gil Jr., learned to fly an airplane during his senior year of college. His sister conspired with him to keep it a secret from us until graduation. He tells me that there is an instrument on every plane's dashboard that is absolutely essential - it is called an "artificial horizon." Gil says this small electronic dial, with a line going across that is thick on each end, has a simple purpose: to tell the pilot the difference between up and down. Sounds simple - and silly! Why is it necessary? Because in the clouds, where the pilot cannot see anything, it is sometimes hard to tell what is up or down. Sometimes the body will tell the pilot one thing and reality is something else.

We live in a world obscured by clouds - false teachings, myths, spin, untruths. Sometimes it is hard for us to tell what is reality in the midst of all the smoke and mirrors. God's word was given as our "reality check."

Second Story: The story is told of a jet pilot in the Korean war who crashed his plane, full speed ahead, into the ground beside a freight train. This terrible tragedy was unexplainable. Why did it happen? The investigators came up with a simple, tragic answer. The red light at the back of the train was exactly like the red light on the wingtip of the planes that flew in tandem. Apparently, the pilot who crashed thought he was maneuvering into position alongside his companion's wingtip.

We have to have a clear view of reality - don't we? We cannot survive if we say, "It's my life." "I'm in control." "I can be `god'." "I will seize knowledge regardless of the consequences." That attitude will lead to spectacular crashes OR lives of quiet desperation.

Jesus gives us himself as our internal guidance system. He says in John 14:6, "I am the Way." It is through Him - and only Him - that we go in the right direction. All other paths lead to certain destruction. As women - and men - it is through Him that we find our identity, our purpose, our significance. Through Him we learn WHO we are and HOW we should live.

May God grant us the courage to accept that reality and make it our own. Because, as Peter DeVries put it, "The Cross demands our disbelief in all sentimental substitutes."