May 11, 2008

Pentecost / Mother's Day
Romans 16

Something New

One of the three highest holy days in the Christian church - the festival of Pentecost - happens to fall this year on the most important observance in the life of the American family: Mother's Day.

It's not always that way, of course. In fact the convergence is rare. It happens this year only because Easter was so very early. Pentecost, always fifty days later, usually comes at the end of May or even in June.

I discovered this week that St Paul once made an affectionate reference to mothers - "mother" not just as a descriptive word, as in "Eunice who is the mother of Timothy," for example, but more personal than that. It's in an easily-overlooked sentence earlier in our chapter at the end of Romans. We just read Paul's doxology, his paragraph of praise, at the close of his letter, but above that, in what we call verse 13, here it is: "Say hello to Rufus, and greet his mother - a mother to me also."

How about that? That feels personal! We don't know her name, know nothing about her, but you gotta wonder, what had she done... how had she befriended Paul that he'd say she was like a mom for him? Had she nursed him through an illness, patched him up after a beating by the authorities, sat him down at her table for a good home-cooked meal, washed his socks after two weeks on the road? Well, we don't know. But if he'd have known about this American tradition, I bet St Paul would have been sure to send his "mom" a Mother's Day card! Whaddya think?

Looking around in Chapter 16 we notice something else. Almost thirty personal names, and more than a third of them are women. St Paul often ended letters by greeting individuals by name. But Romans 16 is remarkable for what Paul writes, starting with the very first verse: "I recommend Phoebe, a deacon of the church" [not 'deaconess']. [1] Paul writes then, "Welcome her and help her in whatever she may require from you..." Followed by mention of Mrs Prisca (and her husband Aquila), Julia and another woman named Junia (whom Paul called "an apostle"). There are also Tryphaena and Tryphosa (sisters, probably, maybe even twins), and several other women.

Ten out of 27 or 29 names, women. St Paul's bad reputation as a misogynist (a male chauvinist pig) may not be entirely fair. Take into consideration the essential principle that you must study the history and context of the Bible in order to understand it properly, realize that upon closer examination a foregone conclusion may not be as obvious as first appears, and you may discover another way to look at... the role of women in the early church and since then.

I believe this weekend - Mothers Day and Pentecost - is as good a time as any to look at this. Start with something of our own context. The translators of the King James Version Bible, published in 1611, had only a fraction of the research, ancient documents and manuscripts, and primary sources that have been unearthed in the last 400 years. And it's no secret that civilization then was male-centered and has been since Greek and Roman times. We're all influenced in some way by our surroundings, the people who teach us, and our cultural environment. The team compiling what became the standard English Bible for about 375 years rode their assumptions past the textual evidence right in front of them, and the result is that these misunderstandings were reinforced for centuries. And it's been difficult to change the church's mind.

We're still struggling with this today. One of your pastors observed, with her usual good humor, the awkward body language and skeptical sidelong looks she got from some elderly visitors on confirmation weekend. And of course you know there are still many translations of the Bible, plenty of footnotes, evangelistic organizations, whole books and shelves full of them in libraries, congregations, and major Christian denominations which hold a restricted role for women.

Truth is, there's some evidence for that in the Bible, including in other letters St Paul wrote or may have written. Then how are we to account for our own approach in which everyone fully participates in the ministry of faith? How do we explain with integrity our respect for the diversity of the Holy Spirit's gifts?

That's the answer right there - and that's the convergence that I see today on Mother's Day and Pentecost. God is always doing new things. Like any mother with small children, God is continually creative in finding ways to raise children. It's a prime characteristic of God's Spirit; God is always doing new things.

If we hadn't noticed elsewhere in the Bible, Pentecost is proof: On Pentecost itself, the Holy Spirit, speaking in languages from everywhere on earth to include not only Jews in Jerusalem but, quote, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." The Holy Spirit, stirring the deceased body of Jesus of Nazareth to life - a thing never heard before. The Holy Spirit, conceiving within Mary the incarnation of the Eternal God in the flesh of someone God made. The Holy Spirit who has, for another example, influenced civilization - primarily through the Christian church, by the way - to outlaw slavery (which St Paul himself assumed was a permanent institution of society). In Paul's words today, the Holy Spirit "reveals the mysteries of God kept secret for long ages but now through the Scriptures [- including a list of names at the end of a letter] disclosing answers to bring about faith."

And that's the key, the reason for all this: Faith! Through Phoebe, a minister of the Christian church, through the mom who mothered Paul when he needed it, through Junia the apostle, through Pr Kristie Hennig and Pr Kristi Weber, through every faithful mother who ever told a Bible story or said a bedtime prayer, every teenage girl who ever helped in Sunday School, every female Christian of any time who brought any of us to where we are today - also through these women, mothers and daughters, the Holy Spirit "calls us by the gospel, enlightened us with God's own gifts, forgives, sanctifies, and keeps us in the one true faith."

As the original environmentalist, God is not about to let any one of his creations go to waste. If God created 50% of the population as female and blessed a great many of them with children (their own or someone else's), God is going to find a way to call women into partnership - and our children and our world will benefit.

Are we to say that the Holy Spirit has had no new ideas in the past 2000 years? Which leads me to wonder what new things God has up her sleeve for the next century... or next week!

Nathan Castens
Chanhassen, Minnesota

[1] I mined a lot of sources for this sermon, some on the internet, some in books. There are too many references to mention. However, this is typical: "There is virtual consensus among historians of the early church as well as biblical scholars that women held positions of honor and authority within early Christianity." (The Rise of Christianity, Rodney Stark, 1996). And, e.g. "Commentators before the 13th century were unanimous in favor of a female rendering" of the word diakonos, the word Paul used to refer to himself in a number of places.