by Kelly Pelton (written 09 Mar 2022)

This conviction did not develop overnight.
After decades of prayer and thinking, careful study,
thorough healing from second-guessing-fight-or-flight,
I have discerned by God's kind Spirit something muddy

in church culture that is worldly and pervasive:
subordination of the weaker by the stronger 
using scripture - handled wrongly, but persuasive -
to keep women out of power ever longer.

The whole structure of church power needs reform,
each voice valued, no restrictions based on gender.
Let our sharing in decisions be the norm, 
no controlling of another, trusting our Mender.

by Kelly Pelton (written 17 Feb 2022)

Denial, the great encapsulator of abuse, asserts,
"women are equal in being, unequal in function"
(excluded from teaching or preaching elder roles),
affirmation/subordination a conjunction

of opposites in this gaslighting word play,
this culture of defending gender hierarchical
practices. Abuse is ineffective without denial,
present in male-run oligarchical

fellowships, persuasive sincerity
protecting religious power from feminine influence,
speaking for God, deliberately misinterpreting
scripture with certainty, a confusing confluence

of righteous indignation and deception.
Denial - unhelpful, unconscious - is willful unyielding
suppression of truth, extremely convincing to those
who sense something's not right in the wielding

of power to restrict half the body of Christ
from church-wide leadership contribution.
Denial questions the hearts and motives of others
but never itself, freely engaging in the attribution

of selfish ambition as cause for questioning the hierarchy,
using fear of this to distract from its own ambition,
projecting its own flaws in the form of accusations
to intimidate those who would voice opposition.

by Kelly Pelton (written 23 Jan 2022)

"Men are the head," they said, as though "authority"
is the obvious meaning of the Greek word kephalē,
though the face of the male ancestor or progenitor
was the image used to represent the Roman family.*

The face of the family was its source and identity,
the giver of life to all his descendants; we see
the family resemblance to its paterfamilias
to whom all give honor in their dependency.

The head was the cause of life, the patron who gave plenty,
his descendants the seed, the beneficiary
of this familial relationship in Roman Empire culture,
and yes, the pagan world treated it as hierarchy.

But Paul had in mind a truer concept of family
and uses a metaphor for relative vulnerability,**
the head and body of husband and wife, Christ and church
that communicates the Lord's household interdependency.

Neither without the other is God's community,
and Christ is the source of life abundant and free,
and women were formed from men as Eve from Adam,
and men make wives of women whom they marry.

Husband and wife in Christ share full equality,
and the church is not a male-governed community.
If Christians resemble their true Paterfamilias,
the fear that fuels favoritism gives way to holy intimacy.

*Phrases and concepts in this post are gratefully gleaned from the following book:

Westfall, Cynthia L. Paul and Gender. Baker Academic, 2016, pp. 13-16, 61-105.

**Sumner, Sarah. Men and Women in the Church. IVP Books, 2003, pp. 182-190.

by Kelly Pelton (written 29 Jan 2022)

This is what people do: scramble to be the first.
Why should we be surprised when the Christians do it, too?
Peaceful times of prosperity allow an unassuaged thirst
for meaning and purpose; the go-getters clamber to be the few

who influence and regulate the rest of their particular population.
They designate a class of followers to support the leaders,
a class of people restricted from full and free participation,
serving as the lesser but "equally important," the bottom feeders

who spend their time on the mundane tasks to unencumber
the brightest and best from all that may distract from growing
their empires, some "to the glory of God," though consciences slumber
in failing to notice inequity. History is always showing

that this is what people do, subordinate a type of person 
who's different from you, in skin color, gender, Gentile or Jew.
We study the past because we will repeat it and also will worsen
the sin of mistreatment by denying we do it, denying we devalue.

We think ourselves smarter, our modern minds surely knowing better
than Nazis and southern slave owners and KKK; our way is God's way
with females unequal to males in function, deception a fetter
that holds women captive in this world culture of power play.

by Kelly Pelton

Admittedly, I could not hear her as we stood on a riverbank,
I a guest at a gathering of traditionalist church members;
she talked on and on from the water as I shifted my weight,
her words of faith murmurs in my ears, like the dying embers

of a fire that flared briefly this one day of her life in the church
when her voice was heard by the whole congregation, her one chance
to testify to the goodness of God before sisters and brothers.
She was then immersed, then uprighted, to join the subordination dance,

and I thought she'd been milking the opportunity for all it's worth
although I confess this is an unvalidated assumption.
One so inclined could form a different impression,
that women can't be succinct and must dominate with gumption

the dialogue among other things ("This is why God
in His inscrutable wisdom does not let women address
the assembly.") and could miss the significance of her prebaptismal outpouring
as her one allowed attempt to comprehensively bless.

by Kelly Pelton

Let the seekers seek but also proclaim what we find
to those too discouraged/disheartened to search for the truth,
to those who are fearful of being humiliated, leaving
behind them the wondrous curiosity of their youth.

Let us process, synthesize, rephrase, distill to all
the insights of scholars and prophets who've gone before,
intently, prayerfully translating ideas to Christians
too busy to notice this ideological war.

Let us speak and write and dance and paint and sing,
expressing the truth in easy-to-understand ways
so that gender equity throughout the body of Christ
can conquer abuse in this institutional maze.

by Kelly Pelton (written 18 Jan 2022)

The women get to hear from all the gifted Bible teachers in the church;
the men of certain congregations are deprived in hearing only men.
These brothers may not know they're missing out on all the riches of God's saints
by their denying women equal roles to edify as though it's sin.

The females miss out dearly on a confidence that they, too, hear God's voice,
so programmed have they been to doubt their grasp of justice, telling wrong from right,
and many have resigned themselves to being treated poorly in God's name
by men of God instead of asking for the kind respect that shines His light.

The men and women both miss out on healing, holy friendships between genders,
the kinds of bonds that soften hearts and open us to deeper Spirit work
within and free us from the lies that hinder peace and joy and true compassion;
let all instead consider gender equity a godly kingdom perk.

by Kelly Pelton (written 09 Jan 2022)

When standing before the judgment seat,
you cannot blame the sneering preachers
from pulpits or in their scornful broadcasts
for how you restricted female teachers.

Our Mender of hearts will set you apart
to reveal why you went along with the plan
to silence the women and keep control
of church as hierarchy, woman under man.

Your proof-texting misuse of certain scriptures,
ignoring the sweeping redemption story,
will be shown to have hurt the disempowered,
your sisters who equally showcase God's glory.

And I, a sister who calls out your error
will be judged on whether I've mocked the mockers,
reviled the revilers, judged the judgers.
O Father, let not my words be blockers

of Your Spirit's kindness that disarms fear.
The gentle answer trumps the harsh word
and breaks through barriers in hardened hearts
for the still small voice to be finally heard.

by Kelly Pelton

Swinging like a sling blade, you wield your
weapon to intimidate: name-calling
everyone a heretic who champions
female ordination. You're stalling

Holy Spirit movement in churches,
leveling your charges, alarming
faithful Bible readers, accusing
long-time Bible scholars. You're harming

sisters and the brothers who can't see
your manipulation of emotion
causing a defensive second-guessing
in egalitarians, whose devotion

to the full expression of God's gifts
embraces all people as potential
conduits for God's voice to speak to
entire congregations reverential.

Jesus had a phrase for religious
leaders hoarding power in God's name,
venomous their wording to exclude,
undermining God's grace to spread shame.

Earnestly I ask you, are you like them,
hurling names at others in projection,
verbally abusive, though you claim to
be about the law and its protection?

by Kelly Pelton

Once you see this, you cannot un-see it.
Once you climb out of the polluted pond
of prejudiced abuse and wash off the gunk,
shouts of swimmers calling you to respond

and return to them in their comfortable muck,
you sidle away, half-hearted at first,
not sure of yourself but feeling lighter,
holding your breath 'til your lungs almost burst,

exhaling relief when you're farther away,
the voices fading save one still small in you,
the voice of God now with no competition,
guiding your steps into territory new.

You no longer doubt your leaving the pond
though it was your world, long-lived and immense;
you walk in peace on the shores of God's ocean,
your journey of faith sparing no expense.