by Kelly Pelton (written 04 Jan 2026)

May you walk boldly in the light of God's impartiality,
confident in His love, certain of your worth
as made in God's image, love indwelling you,
a priest in the priesthood to show the world new birth.

May you set quiet boundaries to live out His Spirit's truth,
not intimidated by power or tactics of fear,
being true to your true self that will go on forever,
discarding your ego self for all that's dear.

May you live in sweet and transparent fellowship,
companions in Christ co-leading by Spirit-gifting,
no privilege or status by gender or other biology,
 voices harmonious, praising, edifying, uplifting.

This is the final post on Egalitarian Rhymes, which will be archived in the next several days until further notice. I will resume posting on my other blog, “Physician, Get Healed” (physiciangethealed.com) which addresses emotional health and healing for the healers. May God richly bless your faith journey in this shadowy world.

What a healing experience it has been to process, in Egalitarian Rhymes, the ungodliness of female subordination in the gender hierarchy of some Christian churches. And yet, all along, I’ve been aware of the inadequacy of the current church model in which one main pastor talks week after week to a passive congregation. Women should have equal opportunity in such a flawed system, but then you’re still left with one person of one gender leading a local church rather than a combination of men and women. Some churches have preaching teams to allow the congregation to hear from both men and women rather than from the same person week after week. This seems like a good start, allowing multiple Spirit-gifted people of both genders to edify the body of Christ, the co-ed priesthood of believers at work.

The season for the Rhymes is ending, and I hope this blog has encouraged those Christians who interpret the Bible to include women in the leadership of the institutional church. I plan to write a blessing before taking it down entirely in the next few weeks.

by Kelly Pelton

The world wide web of deception
discredits women as a distraction
so none will see prejudice as a projection
to keep one from dealing with one's own infraction.

You focus on "women won't stand firm for truth"
as you conceal truth and won't bring it to light,
your fear of relational rift from your youth
impeding courageous disclosure. It might

be wise to stop searching the prejudiced sites;
instead let God search you for what you say women do.
Jesus said that which you can't stand in others
exists in much greater abundance in you.

by Kelly Pelton

An African American woman met
and married a white man years ago;
in recent times, she wouldn't condemn
the people he thought will surely go

to hell. He thought her compassion misplaced
and went to the internet for validation
but what he found there were facts about blacks
plus facts about women with interpretation

that swayed him to joint the KKK
and tune in to people who seek to restrict
and control the black women, and over and over
he voices repugnant ideas to inflict

a pain in her heart, calmly requesting
she dialogue with him to defend her views,
debating like men do with logic prevailing,
for he cannot put himself into her shoes.

He uses the Bible, statistics, and sound bites
to mock female pastors, to question the vote 
of black women ("they're liberals; they vote for abortion"),
to treat the whole group as his moral scapegoat.

His wife, heartbroken, betrayed, and lonely 
has nevertheless sought the Lord's healing hand
and gotten deliverance from discrimination,
rising above it to take her stand.

She now makes public what he says in private,
bringing to light what her Klansman believes,
praying God opens his eyes to the truth 
of how through one's wounds the satan deceives,

how one's devaluing "the least of these"
is treating Christ Jesus exactly the same,
subordinating our God incarnate
in the "who's in charge" power game.

She prays for her Klansman to hear the small voice
of God who as our scapegoat died,
to own and confess from his heart of hearts
the prejudice that always is denied.

by Kelly Pelton (written 23 Oct 2025)

A woman healed can walk in truth and love,
demoting all relationships but One.
Christ values her and guides her in His ways;
she orbits Him as earth goes 'round the sun.

She knows her worth as made by God to be
an image of Him, breath of love her essence,
rooted in the Vine, connected fast,
His all-surpassing power her luminescence.

She does not brace for fear of scorn or cringe
for fear of men's contempt. No dread remains
in her of ridicule, derision, shame;
she is impervious to all disdain.

She walks in freedom, nothing more to prove,
and those who would humiliate her flee,
for she will not consent to be dismissed;
she will not tolerate inequity.

To those who justify ungodly praxis
using God's own word, she sends a prayer
and chooses rather to affiliate
with churches where their women the power share,

where she can speak with boldness, freely teaching,
leading as equipped by God's own Spirit,
sharing from His word in the assembly, 
truth transforming all those who will hear it.

A woman healed no longer second-guesses,
all the parts within her now united,
trusting God to guide her in His work
of heaven on earth to which she is invited.

by Kelly Pelton (written 11 Oct 2025)

To give up patriarchy requires trust,
a trust that God is guiding female and male,
His Spirit leading all whom He indwells;
His all-surpassing power will not fail.

We ask Him for His wisdom in our midst
to help us set good boundaries with each one
who guides the corporate worship or the teaching;
then only the Lord's finest will be done.

We trust that God will heal us through the ways
His children of both genders beam His light
and love and truth and grace, with confidence
that in Christ, all our faith will become sight.

This holy invitation is for all
who've pondered God's impartiality;
let Him reveal Christ's way to read His word
and open up your eyes to let you see.

(Selah)

by Kelly Pelton (written 11 Oct 2025)

Jesus said, "You'll know them by their fruit."
The actions are what give leaders away;
it's how they treat all people they encounter 
that outweighs any solemn words they say.

The privilege, power, status of the men
in churches where the women are restricted
speak louder than the mantra "equal worth,"
the lower value of the women depicted.

Although such treatment can't in fact diminish
the value of the human beings controlled,
it does reveal the hearts of those who limit
Christ's Spirit in His sisters we behold.

by Kelly Pelton (written to myself 07 Oct 2025)

You've struggled, decades, up to now.
What God's allowed would fill a book 
of conflict, pressure, and suspense,
ironic twists that greatly shook

your fragile peace, disheartened you,
relationships disrupted, ending
harmony, that precious idol
tying you to constant mending.

A part of you interrogating,
"Is this worth it? Are you sure?"
This second-guessing of the truth
you grasped served only to obscure

the narrow way, painfully,
your self divided, deeply torn,
a longing to connect with one
who saw things differently. You mourn

the rift revealed by disagreement
as our Jesus calls you blessed;
your disillusionment with family 
opens you up to His best.

You are securely in His hands,
your undivided self Him trusting.
People-bonds will ebb and flow;
around your true peace they're adjusting.

by Kelly Pelton

Respecting your right to disagree,
I now move on with certainty.
The anti-egalitarian
might think I'm quite contrarian
but I'm at peace, I'm clear, I'm free,
and no one will diminish me.
The Lord has given us free will 
to be ungodly or fulfill
the role of being like His son
until His work in us is done.
Your system has no hold on me;
I follow Christ exclusively,
His way of love impartial, just
toward all. We look to Him with trust.
Denominations will have no place
when we behold Him face to face.

by Kelly Pelton

There's no debating hardened hearts of hardened men
when high regard for every human being is lacking;
no common ground exists with one who limits women
in God's name while using selective scriptural backing.

In many churches, deep-seated prejudice maintains
that God has created a social order favoring men
in status, privilege, power, prestige; this gender hierarchy
is said to protect orthodoxy. Be mindful, guarded, then,

when people justify blatant injustice, subordinating
any people group for the greater good. A system is willing
to marginalize one or some, but Jesus never was,
His Spirit teaching love to all people He's filling.

Debate is futile with one who defends unequal praxis,
the unequal treatment of those he labels equals; his actions
reveal a bankruptcy within, of failing to dearly value
each soul that God has made. People aren't distractions;

they are the point of Jesus' life, death, resurrection,
individuals of His priesthood unrestricted,
free to edify the whole assembly with their gifts, 
our Savior through His sons and daughters fully depicted.