When my parents returned from their honeymoon, the found their friends had pranked them in every area of the house. Cornflakes in the bed. They dumped out all of my dad’s nuts and bolts and screws and nails into a big pile and then put them back into the tiny drawers all mixed up.
The removed the label from every canned good in the pantry. For months, mom would have to pull a can from the pantry and make dinner from whatever she happened to open. Sometimes, labels serve an important purpose.
Which is why I’m finally okay with living under a label. Thanks to Sarah Bessey, I’m a proud Jesus Feminist. She admittedly took two of the most divisive words in our social language and applied them to herself in a way that endorses love above all things – including gender.
I used to be scared of such a label. “Feminist” meant you hated men or bras or motherhood. But that’s so, so, so wrong. In her book, Sarah opens up the field so to understanding that we simply believe that women are people, too. It goes beyond the complimentarianism/egalitarianism debate and plants us firmly into the Kingdom of God. We believe women are people, too because Jesus did. We call out a system created for elevating the highest and stepping on the lowest because Jesus did.
My favorite part of the book was the chapter on “Reclaiming the Church Ladies.” Perhaps it’s because I’m waist deep in discovering and seeking out what a new paradigm of “women’s ministry” looks like in our current context. Perhaps it’s because I’m registered for the IF:Gathering in February. But mostly, it’s recognizing that women are seeking and hungering after God and imagine if we all worshiped and lived together in such a way that we encouraged and empowered and elevated one another to do the work in which we’ve been called.
Jesus Feminists aren’t just women who want to be pastors, though perhaps some are. Jesus Feminists are simply trying to create a world in which we, and all of our sons and daughters grow into their fullest callings, learning to treat one another with the love and kindness that Jesus taught us. We’re folks who don’t put a limit to the places in which the Spirit of God will move and live and dwell. We come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, backgrounds and beliefs, the most common of which is that we believe that women are people, too, because Jesus thought so.
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| I never sent mine in, I had trouble deciding on my identity. Sorry, friend! |
Now, go buy the book. Tell her Michele sent you.
I can relate with your shift in willingness to embrace the feminist label. Your descriptions of the difference between true feminism and stereotypical feminism are very helpful.
Hooray for Sarah’s book!