Thoughts on women...

1 Timothy 2:11-15 11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. First things first. I'm no theologian but I'm grateful to the many amazing voices and brains who've dedicated time, faith and energy to the Word. Second thing... This passage is HARD so the second thing is actually the most important thing. When reading passages like this, which on the surface really seem to subjugate women, we have to remember the premise which underwrites everything we know. God is good. That's it, full stop, no "God is good... but...", Psalm 107:1 says "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love endures fore...

Keen as ever to have a firmer grip on what my beliefs are, it is always worth looping around every now and then and thinking and reconsidering a stance. I do the same in my midwifery role too and challenging deeply held beliefs is an important way of staying fresh and focused. And in the same way that midwifery is a continually emerging field of research, the same is true for this topic area in Christianity. The more we learn and scrutinise our practices and the way we understand the world, the better we are able to be and the better our care towards others. In the immortal words of Maya Angelou, "When you know better, you do better".  As a woman who has been brought up in the complementarian sphere, my journey into the egalitarian camp has been a somewhat tumultuous one. At points it has almost felt too hard to stay in this new 'camp'. Surrounded as I am by good people who hold the complementarian set of beliefs with such conviction, it is impossible not to confronte...

You know those moments in life when you feel like you're seeing for the first time? I'm having one of those moments. I've been staring at Ephesians 5 verses 22-24 (for many years actually), seeing only verses 22 and 24 and kind of ignoring Jesus sat right in the middle of them.  It's ok though. In the great words of Oprah Winfrey "Do the best you can, then when you know better, do better" and for me this speaks about an acknowledgement that we must keep looking forward, with an awareness that the next 'known' better knowledge is just round the corner. God has a plan and a purpose for our lives and the progress within it (Jeremiah 29:11) which should spur us on to discover what that is with joyful expectation. John 16:12-13 tells us that the Holy Spirit will move on us when we are ready to receive new truths, not before, and this is hugely reassuring. Of course this doesn't mean that we should be passive, just that we should know that there are seas...