Shawna R. B. Atteberry

In Blogging Toward Sunday at Theolog, Debbie Blue looks at Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31. She offers a very different way of seeing God and Wisdom than we are normally used to seeing.

Over at God’s Politics Diane Butler Bass offers some insights she received while watching the Miss Universe Pageant in A Post-Colonial Pageant. Yes, I did say the Miss Universe Pageant.

There are many reasons why Keith Olbermann is one of my TV boyfriends (Jon Stewart being the other), and here is the most recent one: The entire government has failed us on Iraq.  Jesse Jackson Jr., also has a consice and articulate column in The Chicago Sun-Times: Congress has failed our troops.

Lynne Duke has an eye-opening and gut wrenching article on slavery in The Shackles in the Shadows of History (Hat tip to Duane Shank). Here’s the opening paragraph:

In 1619, 12 years after Jamestown’s settlement, two British privateers sailed into the James River with African captives for sale. The Africans had Portuguese names; they apparently knew Christianity, according to John Thornton and Linda Heywood, a husband-and-wife team of Boston University historians. Those first Africans came from the kingdom of Ndongo, now Angola, which had been penetrated by Portuguese missionaries and traders who soon stopped praying with the Africans and started selling them.

What are reading that is making you stop and think? Breaking your heart? Making you see the world in a different way?

In the last two articles we have been looking at women who ministered in leadership positions in the New Testament (Apostles and Prophets and Teachers, Elders, and Coworkers). We saw women minister as prophets, apostles, teachers, elders, and coworkers. Now we will look at the last three leadership roles: church overseer, minister, and patron.

Church Overseer

Church overseers were what we traditionally think of as a pastor, and they were normally the person or people who opened their homes for believers to meet for hearing God’s word and worship. Women who were overseers include Priscilla, Phoebe, Euodia, Syntyche, and possibly John Mark’s mother, Chloe, Lydia, and Nympha (Spencer, 108). The church overseer I would like to focus on is the “Elect Lady” of 2 John.

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Today Tracy and I have been married for a year. It’s been a good year. Tonight I am cooking a romantic dinner, and then we are going to see the musical Wicked.

Want to know how much I wanted to marry this man? My sister caught a picture of me that speaks for itself:

But look at who I was heading for:

The sexy…uh…I mean handsome one on the left.

And here we are today. Dad took this picture of us last week at Navy Pier.

Editor’s note: The parents are back in Oklahoma, and everything is getting back to normal here. In the last month I have had new comments on “Does It Really Mean ‘Helpmate’?” So I have decided to repost it at the top of the blog. If you haven’t read this piece in awhile, please read the comments and feel free to join in the discussion. This article is the first in my series Career Women of the Bible. This series looks at the women leaders in both the Old Testament and New Testament.

“Does It Really Mean ‘Helpmate’?”

I had just started working on my thesis in seminary. I was tired of being asked if I was going to seminary to be a pastor’s wife. I had decided to write a biblical theology of single women in ministry that would show that God’s calling for a woman was not dependent on her marital state. I was talking with my thesis advisor, Dr. Joseph Coleson, who was the professor of Old Testament Studies at Nazarene Theological Seminary. He had looked at my outline and thesis proposal and told me that I needed to add a chapter addressing the Creation Story in Genesis 1:1—2:25, particularly the second creation account found in Gen. 2:5-25, where woman is created to be an ezer cenegdo to the man. If the Hebrew phrase simply meant, “helper” then could a woman hold a leadership position in the church, let alone a single woman? But if that isn’t what ezer cenegdo meant, then that would open up the vistas I needed to write and successfully defend my thesis. Defend, not in front of the professors at seminary, but to defend from those who say woman was created to be a wife and mother, and only a helpmate for her husband. Dr. Coleson said that the translators who have translated our Bibles into English know that “helpmate” is a gross mistranslation of the Hebrew phrase, and he did not see how they could look themselves in the mirror day-to-day keeping that misintepretation in the Bible. It is the only time I have ever seen him angry. So what does this little Hebrew phrase mean?

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I have just finished the book proposal for the Spiritual Direction 101 book. Yeah! The Hubby is going to look over it tonight, and tomorrow I send it to the director of Beacon Hill Books! I am so happy.

But don’t look for my posting to increase. My parents are coming in Wednesday and will be here for a week. So I won’t resume regular posting until after May 23.

Aaah, accomplishment. What a great way to start the week.

The country of Zimbabwe and its Christian leaders need our prayers. In High-Stakes Protest Brenda Lane gives a succint description of what has been happening in Zimbabewe:

Zimbabwe’s economy has crumbled since Mugabe, 83, took over following the end of white-supremacist rule in 1980. Inflation runs 1,593 percent annually, and unemployment tops 80 percent. Nearly two years ago, Mugabe launched Operation Murambatsvina (”Take Out the Trash”), during which the government bulldozed homes he said were built illegally. Thousands of victims remain homeless.

In response nine Catholic bishops signed an open letter to President Mugabe pointing out that nothing had changed since the Rhodesian white regime was overthrown: a few wealthy people still control all the money and power and are determined to remain in power. The only difference now is that the few are black and not white. The letter urges the president to make needed economic changes that would give his people jobs and houses. It urges him to trust a democratic process and let the people govern themselves. Here are excerpts from the letter from Mugabe Threatens Zimbabwe’s Bishops:

The present crisis in our country has its roots deep in colonial society. Despite the rhetoric of a glorious socialist revolution brought about by the armed struggle, the colonial structures and institutions of pre-independent Zimbabwe continue to persist in our society. None of the unjust and oppressive security laws of the Rhodesian State have been repealed; in fact, they have been reinforced by even more repressive legislation …

Why was this done? Because soon after independence, the power and wealth of the tiny white Rhodesian elite was appropriated by an equally exclusive black elite, some of whom have governed the country for the past 27 years through political patronage. Black Zimbabweans today fight for the same basic rights they fought for during the liberation struggle. It is the same conflict between those who possess power and wealth in abundance, and those who do not; … between those who only know the language of violence and intimidation, and those who feel they have nothing more to lose because their Constitutional rights have been abrogated and their votes rigged. Many people in Zimbabwe are angry, and their anger is now erupting into open revolt in one township after another….

The God of the Bible is always on the side of the oppressed. He does not reconcile Moses and Pharaoh, or the Hebrew slaves with their Egyptian oppressors. Oppression is sin and cannot be compromised with. It must be overcome. God takes sides with the oppressed. As we read in Psalm 103:6: “God who does what is right, is always on the side of the oppressed”. …

We conclude our pastoral letter by affirming with a clear and unambiguous “yes” our support of morally legitimate political authority. At the same time we say an equally clear and unambiguous “no” to power through violence, oppression and intimidation. We call on those who are responsible for the current crisis in our country to repent and listen to the cry of their citizens. To the people of Zimbabwe we appeal for peace and restraint when expressing their justified grievances and demonstrating for their human rights.

As the title of the article says Mugabe’s response was to threaten the bishops. He says that the bishops are no longer spiritual leaders but political and will be treated as political entities. Already no group larger than three people can get together and talk in Zimbabwe without seeking police approval. Even people talking while having dinner have been broken up by the police on suspicion of political dissent. This means churches are not allowed to legally gather, but Christians still gather to worship and pray, knowing that they could be arrested. Several Christians have been arrested and beaten for breaking the law.

The bishop’s letter concluded with this prayer. Please join our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe as they pray:

God Our Father,
You have given all peoples one common origin,
And your will is to gather them as one family in yourself.
Give compassion to our leaders, integrity to our citizens, and repentance to us all.
Fill the hearts of all women and men with your love
And the desire to ensure justice for all their brothers and sisters.
By sharing the good things you give us
May we ensure justice and equality for every human being,
An end to all division, and a human society built on love,
Lasting prosperity and peace for all.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Sources:

High-Stakes Protest from ChristianityToday.com

From God’s Politics:

Mugabe Threatens Zimbabwe’s Bishops

Where Is Christ in Zimbabwe’s Crisis

“The Passion of Christ” in Zimbabwe’s Context

The picture is Farid De La Ossa Arrieta’s “Church vs. Non-Diversity” found at Boheme Galleries.

The Songbird wrote: For this Friday (which happens to be my birthday), tell us these five things about parties, birthday or otherwise.

1) Would you rather be the host or the guest?

It depends on the size: I love to host smaller parties, but I’d rather be a guest at larger parties.

2) When you are hosting, do you clean everything up the minute the guests go home? Will you accept help with the dishes?

No, normally I pile everything in the kitchen and leave it for the next day. Yes, I accept help with the dishes: I point to the trash can.

3) If you had the wherewithal, and I guess I mean more than money, to throw a great theme party, what would the theme be?

Definitely Lord of the Rings.

4) What’s the worst time you ever had at a party?

To be honest, I don’t remember.

5) And to end on a brighter note, what was the best?

My wedding reception.

Happy Birthday Songbird!