Happy Easter!

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

The NIH chapel this morning was beautiful. Sitting among people who were so sick, and yet so filled hope, this was an Easter where the resurrection, its power and hope were center stage, believed and proclaimed in full faith. I didn’t preach this morning, but I wanted to post one of my favorite Easter hymns: “Christ the Lord Is Risen, Today” by Charles Wesley.

“Christ, the Lord, is risen today,” Sons of men and angels say! Raise your joys and triumphs high: Sing, ye heavens; thou earth, reply.

Love’s redeeming work is done; Fought the fight, the battle won: Lo! the sun’s eclipse is o’er, Lo! he sets in blood no more!

Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Christ hath burst the gates of hell: Death in vain forbids his rise, Christ hath opened Paradise.

Lives again our glorious King! Where, O death, is now thy sting? Once he died our souls to save; Where’s thy victory, boasting grave

Soar we now where Christ hath led, Following our exalted Head: Made like him, like him we rise, Ours the cross, the grave, the skies.

King of glory! Soul of bliss! Everlasting life is this, Thee to know, thy power to prove, Thus to sing, and thus to love.

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Still in D.C.

I wanted to let everyone know that I am still in Washington D. C., but I should be coming home Tuesday. Things are going well, and I’ve done some sightseeing. I’ve been to the National Cathedral, the Smithsonian’s Museum of Air and Space, and the Mall. I plan to go back to the Smithsonian tomorrow to walk through the Natural History Museum and take pictures of the monuments. As always, if you want more details, please feel free to email me.

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RevGals Friday Five: Time for Palms

Mother Laura rightly said: Can you believe Daylight Savings Time is here already? It’s hard to get used to the new, earlier onset. My family has been getting up and out a little late and a little sleepy in the mornings.

And can you believe that in two days it will be Palm Sunday for Western Christians? Our Lent is almost over, while our Orthodox sisters and brothers, whose liturgical year follows the older Julian calendar, are just starting theirs. Nicholas did a recent book report on George Washington, and we were surprised to find out that our first President’s birthday was originally Feb. 11, since he was born just before the change to the Gregorian calendar. Apparently the change almost caused rioting, as some indignant people were sure that they were being cheated out of eleven days of their lives!

To help you adjust–and enjoy the process–here’s a Friday Five about time and transitions….

1. If you could travel to any historical time period, which would it be, and why?

I’d like to hop, skip, and jump through time to meet some of my heros: Brigid of Kildare, Elizabeth I, Hildegard Von Bingen, Teresa of Avila, Florence Nightingale, and Emily Dickinson.

2. What futuristic/science fiction development would you most like to see?

Teleportation. I’m getting ready to fly to D.C. I’d much rather have my molecules scrambed here and reassembled there. Not to mention I wouldn’t have to put up with TSA.

3. Which do you enjoy more: remembering the past, or dreaming for the future?

Dreaming for the future. But I have to watch it or all I do is dream. Action must be taken to make those dreams come true.

4. What do you find most memorable about this year’s Lent?

This is the first year I’ve been a senior pastor and having to get used to preaching every week. The really bumming part is due to family illness, I will bein D.C. the next two weeks, so I won’t preach for Palm Sunday or Easter! I’ve preached on Palm Sunday before, but this would have been my first Easter. I’ll have to wait until next year. (If you would like details to the family illness to pray for us, please email me at shawna (at) shawnaatteberry (dot) com.)

5. How will you spend your time during this upcoming Holy Week? What part do you look forward to most?

I will be in D.C. The two things I want see while I’m there are the Smithsonian and the National Cathedral. I will see if there is a church close to where I’m staying to observe Holy Week.

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A Conversation with Emily

A couple of friends from the blogosphere have posted Emily Dickinson poetry in the last two days. I sat down to read some of her poems and had a conversation with her. It seemed like a very good conversation considering that March is National Women’s History Month.

It is easy to work when the soul is at play–
But when the soul is in pain–
The hearing him put his playthings up
Makes work difficult–then–

It is simple, to ache in the Bone, or the Rind–
But Gimlets–among the nerve–
Mangle daintier–terribler–
Like a Panter in the Glove–
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, 244

“Scared Child”
The creative soul
Is a child who loves to play.
But when darkness comes
And depression grows,
The child is scared
Hiding under the sheets.

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you–Nobody–Too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! they’d advertise–you know!

How dreary–to be–Somebody!
How public–like a Frog–
To tell one’s name–the livelong June–
To an admiring Bog!
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, 288.

“Celebrity?”
Tell me:
Do you understand
This obsession with
Celebrity?
Why desire
Fifteen minutes of fame
At any cost?
Nobodies
Can walk down the street,
And shop in peace.
Nobodies
Are the ones who are free,
And live in peace.

“Scared Child” and “Celebrity?” (c) 2008 by Shawna R. B. Atteberry

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Updated Book Review: Saving Women from the Church

I have upadated my book review after comments Susan left. Please make sure you read her comment. There’s somef good stuff there. Thank you Susan for stopping by!

Today is the release date of Susan McLeod-Harrison’s first book Saving Women from the Church: How Jesus Mends a Divide (Barclay Press, 2008). Upfront I have to say I’m not sure I can review this book objectively. Susan’s story is very close to my own. Reading this book, I wished it had been published about eight years earlier. That is when I was going through my own struggle on whether or not to remain in the Church. And I do mean Church with a big C. I wasn’t thinking of only leaving my denomination, I was thinking of leaving the Church period. I was in seminary and on the ordination track. I did not see a place for myself in Christian ministry. I was single; I was evangelical; and I was called to preach and pastor. I was also asked in various churches if I was going to seminary to be a pastor’s wife. I had come to the point where I wanted to leave. I wanted to walk away. I just did not see a future for myself in the Church.

Saving Women from the Church addresses several of the myths that woman hear in church. Some of the chapter titles are: “If you’ve felt alienated and judged in the church,” “If you believe women are inferior to men,” “If as a single woman, your gifts have been rejected or overlooked,” and “If you’ve been encouraged to deify motherhood.” In the Introduction, she starts with my favorite starting point on women in the church: creation. Both men and women are created in the image of God, and therefore, image God with their gifts and talents God has given them. In each chapter she starts with a fictional account of a woman who is experiencing and living one of the myths. She follows it with a imaginative portrayal of how Jesus treated women in a similar position in the New Testament. She follows the biblical story by explaining what Jesus was doing and with questions for discussion. Each chapter ends with a meditation meant for healing. Saving Women does a great job of translating theology into practical, everyday examples in language normal people use. The history and sociological work she does for each passage, explaining the culture of the people, at the time is also well done.

I think this book would make an excellent woman’s study or small group study. It addresses most of the myths women in the evangelical church have grown up with and still deal with. It would be a great conversation starter, and it is a valuable addition to other books on this subject. The language and tone of the book make it much more accessible and understandable to the typical lay person than most books in this genre. In the conclusion, Susan recommends women in abusive churches leave and gives a list of churches that are egalitarian and open to women in ministry. Saving Women does a good job of acknowledging and describing the myths, and encourages women to get out of these environments. The Recommended Reading at the end of the book also has books that would help in this regard.

Overall I am very pleased that this book is on the market. It starts with the premise that women are made in the image of God and called to build God’s kingdom. Then it deals chapter-by-chapter with the destructive myths that have prevailed in evangelical culture to keep women as second-class citizens and powerless in the pews. It is an excellent resource to begin busting these myths and helping women find their God-given ability to be equal partners in building God’s kingdom with their brothers.

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Up to Date

I have answered all comments left in the last week. Thank you for your patience and prayers. I am starting to feel better. I just need to get use to the fact that I have a limited amount of energy, and when it’s gone, it’s gone. And I need to continue to use the energy I do have wisely. I have set a goal to post twice a week, so I plan to be posting on a regular basis and answering comments in a more timely fashion.

Shawna

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Updates

I’m sorry I have not responded to comments in a timely fashion. I have not been feeling well. I saw my primary care doctor on Friday. I am awaiting blood tests. She has referred to me a surgeon for the lump under my right armpit. Since it’s been there for a month and hasn’t changed, it probably needs to come out. So that’s where we’re at right now.

On the writing front, my article “A women’s place is where?” will be coming out in the Spring issue of Mutuality. I have also received another assignment from Credo. Yeah! I am continuing to work on the book proposal for Career Women of the Bible. I have set March 14 for the deadline. I also need to get started on Sunday’s sermon.

Please continue to pray for me. I do not have a lot of energy right now, and I need to use it wisely.  Thank you.

Shawna

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Poetry: The Power of Words, Women, and New Life

“Full Figured Beauty”

 

I see beauty
In full curves,
Wide hips,
Full abdomens.
Givers of life
Are rounded and full.
They have room
To conceive,
To nourish,
To protect.
They give birth
To children.
They give birth
To dreams.
They give birth
To new realities.
Lascivious curves,
Full breasts,
Rounded abdomens
Have room
To conceive,
To nurture,
And to birth:
New Life.

“Words”

 

More than letters
On a page
More than the
Dictionary says
Words
Order life
Rearrange life
Create life
Words
Bring new worlds
Into being
And birth new
Universes to explore

 

“Amaryllis”

 

All appears cold and dead
But through the icy ground,
Through the snow,
A green stem pushes
Its way to the light.
In the frigid sun
It unfurls its
Fiery crimson flower.
All may appear
Frozen and dead,
But appearances
Deceive. As new life
Breaks through frozen soil.

 

“Candlelight on the Wall”

 

Candle flickers in the night;
Twisting and dancing
In the shadows.
Wavering, waving,
Tenacious, it keeps aflame.
providing light in the dark,
And a window into the soul

(c)2008 by Shawna R. B. Atteberry

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February 17: A Visit in the Night

A Visit in the Night

John 3:1-17

 

 

 

The night is good for all sorts of things: staying up until three in the morning reading a good book, writing, or watching infomercials. For students the wee hours are normally filled with finishing up required reading, writing papers and preparing presentations for the class in a few hours. Unfortunately the night is also the time when our worries, doubts, and fears can take on monster size proportions and keep us tossing and turning into the wee hours. Normally that’s when watching infomercials begin. But one particular night a man decided to seek out Jesus.

 

 

Nicodemus had heard about Jesus and may have even seen some of his miracles and heard Jesus’ teachings himself. Nicodemus wanted to know more about this itinerant rabbi who disrupted the buying and selling at the temple and was turning the religion that he knew on its ear. Nicodemus came at night. One reason was probably that he didn’t want his colleagues to know. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a teacher of the Law, and one of the religious leaders of the people. The last thing he should be doing was going to an itinerant no-name rabbi from Galilee. But Nicodemus was also up. Scribes, Pharisees, and teachers of the Law normally studied the Torah at night in preparation for the teaching and debates of the next day. So it was also convenient for Nicodemus to come to Jesus at night. All his duties of the day were over, and he was left on his own to study the Torah into the wee hours. We’ll probably never know exactly why Nicodemus came at night, but it was probably a combination of those two things.

 

 

So Nicodemus has come to Jesus and he says that he and other people know that Jesus is a teacher from God. He knows the miracles of Jesus cannot be done apart from God’s presence. Then Jesus throws him for a loop. Jesus starts talking about being born from above to enter the kingdom of God. As far as Nicodemus is concerned, he is part of the kingdom of God. He is a Jew, descended from Abraham. He was born into God’s covenant people. Why would he need to be reborn to enter the kingdom of God? How could he be reborn?

 

 

But Jesus did not tell Nicodemus that he had to be reborn. He didn’t need another physical birth. Jesus said he needed to be born from above, by the Spirit. Born of God. John opened his gospel saying, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.” Nicodemus had been born a Jew by the blood, but that no did not guarantee that he would see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus needed to acknowledge that Jesus was more than just a teacher sent by God. He needed to see and believe that Jesus is God’s Son. He needed to be born of the Spirit. Like the wind blows and no one knows where it is from or where it is going, so it is with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit works as she will birthing and giving new life to those who believe, not only Jesus’ miracles, but that Jesus is the Son of God sent by God to save the world. In fact, according to John believing the miracles is not enough–there must also be faith in the One that God sent.

 

 

The last we hear of Nicodemus in this passage is his question: “How can this be?” Although Jesus chides him for not understanding, he goes on to further explain to Nicodemus that he has been sent by God into the world. He has descended from heaven, and if Nicodemus will believe this, he will have eternal life. In John, eternal life is not something that begins after death: it begins when we believe that Jesus is God’s Son, and it is through his crucifixion and resurrection that we come into God’s kingdom. Even this early in his ministry, Jesus talks of his death on the cross. Eternal life is not always an easy road. Jesus also lets Nicodemus know that he is not being condemned. God did not send him to condemn the world but to save it. God sent Christ because of God’s love for the world, for those made in God’s image. God’s love has compelled the Incarnation, and it is God’s love that Jesus lives out.

 

 

We don’t know what Nicodemus’ decision was. John never tells us. Nicodemus’ last spoken words are “How can this be?” But it is not the last we see of him in John. He appears twice more. In John 7:50 he defends Jesus to the Sanhedrin and asks them to hear him out. We last see him at the foot of the cross in John 19 when he and Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus’ body from the cross and prepared it for burial. Nicodemus might have asked questions and had doubts, but he was not given up on. He appears at the beginning of John’s gospel and hears one of Jesus’ first prophecies of his death and resurrection. At the end of the Gospel he at the cross and tomb. Did he become a disciple? Only God knows. The same God who loved him enough to take the time to explain being born from above and eternal life to him.

 

 

It doesn’t matter why or when Nicodemus came to Jesus. What matters is that he came. He came to Jesus and listened to Jesus. He may not have understood at first, and he asked questions, but Jesus answered his questions and explained what was necessary for Nicodemus to become part of the kingdom of God and have eternal life. It is the same for us. It doesn’t matter why we come to Jesus or when. The important thing is that we have come and continue to come. We can have our doubts and ask questions just as Nicodemus did. Jesus still gives answers and elaborates. We can even come to Jesus for the wrong reasons: because we want signs or an easier life, money, or health. Jesus will correct us just as he did Nicodemus.

 

 

Jesus will not give up on us just as he did not give up on Nicodemus. Although Nicodemus did not seem to get what Jesus was telling him in this chapter, he stands at the cross in chapter 19 and helps lay Jesus to rest. He heard Jesus’ prediction of being raised up for salvation and eternal life. He saw how far God would go to show God’s love for all humanity. He saw first hand God’s great love for the world. In the same way God continues to show us God’s love. Jesus continues to point to the cross and say this is how much God loves you. This is how much I love you. We are never given up on.

 

 

Jesus continues to beckon us to come and believe. Not to believe that he will make our lives peachy and nothing bad will ever happen to us again. But to believe that he is the Son of God, the one God sent into the world, so that we can have a relationship with God. We can have eternal life as God’s sons and daughters in God’s kingdom. People will always want signs and miracles and sometimes we do too. And sometimes we get them. But they can never be the basis of our belief. The foundation of our belief must be the Incarnation: that God has become flesh and lived among us. I love how Eugene Peterson translates John 1:14 in The Message: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” God became fully human and moved into our neighborhood. This is the foundation of our faith. The miracles and signs are nice when they come, but we must remember the one sign Jesus gave to believe in him. In John 2 he tells those who ask him what authority he has to disrupt buying and selling in the temple that “destroy this temple, and in three days it will be raised up again.” He was speaking of his death and resurrection. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he says the only sign given will be the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the big fish for three days and nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. The only sign our faith rests upon is the death and resurrection of Christ. The Incarnation and Resurrection are the signs our faith rests upon–not the miracles of healing, exorcism, or food.

 

 

But when we get hung up on those miracles Jesus does not give up on us, just as he did not give up Nicodemus. Remember Nicodemus first came because of the signs and miracles Jesus was doing. That’s how he knew Jesus was sent from God. That’s where Jesus started and lead him to see that wasn’t enough. Nicodemus had to see that Jesus was God. Just as we need to see that Jesus is God.

 

 

Although Jesus is a little hard on Nicodemus, he tells Nicodemus God’s motive for sending the Son and for the toughness that tries to change his focus from Jesus being a teacher to Jesus being the Messiah: God’s love. This is what we need to remember too as Jesus continually turns our gaze away from lesser things to remind us of what is really important. Jesus continues to redirect our focus because of God’s love. It is God’s love that compels us to change and become more Christlike. Just as it was God’s love that led us to confess Jesus as our Savior in the first place. Although condemnation and “hellfire and brimstone” are popular ways for some in Christianity to try to get people to come to Jesus, that is not what God did. In fact, John 3:17 makes it very clear that Jesus did not come to condemn anyone in the world, but to show the love God had for the world and give us a way into eternal life with God.

 

 

As we walk through Lent, examining our lives, and repenting of the places we have not given to God or walked away from God, we need to remember why God is leading us through this time: because God loves us. God wants to have a more intimate relationship with us. God want us to be more Christlike. God wants us to live in the abundant life and eternal life that we can have in Christ. Walking through Lent can be long and dark, but the God who loves us walks with us, telling us what we need to do, just as Jesus told Nicodemus what he needed to do to have eternal life with God. God’s discipline and judgments are always to lead us deeper into eternal life and closer to God.

The picture is from the St. John’s Bible.

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Health Update and Book Meme

I went to my OB-GYN and had an ultrasound done this week. It looks like the lump I found is an enlarged lymph gland. It has nothing to do with my breast; it is under the pectoral muscle. I have made an appointment with my primary care doctor to see what she thinks we should do. I see her Feb. 22. Thank you for all you prayers, comments, and emails.

Julie tagged me to do this book meme:

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating!
Find Page 123.
Find the first 5 sentences.
Post the next 3 sentences.
Tag 5 people.

The book nearest me did not have 123 pages: Carol Meyers’ Households And Holiness: The Religious Culture Of Israelite Women (Facets). But the book under it does: Phyllis Bird’s Missing Persons and Mistaken Identities (Overtures to Biblical Theology) (I’m doing sociological research for Career Women of the Bible). I had to go to page 124 because 123 only has two sentences. It’s a title page with a lot of footnotes.

A legacy of the long and intense theological interest in the imago Dei has been an atominzing and reductionist approach to the passage, in which the attention is focused on a single phrase or clause, severing it from its immediate context and from its context within the larger composition, a fixation and fragmentation which has affected exegetical as well as dogmatic discussion. A further legacy of this history of speculation has been the establishment of a tradition of theological inquiry and argument with a corresponding body of knoweldge and norms separate from, and largely independent of, exegetical scholarship on the same passage. The rise of a biblical science distinct from dogmatic theology resulted in a dual history of scholarship on the passage with little significant dialogue between the respective specialists.

Now you know why it’s been awhile since you saw any original posts from me. Between this and sermons, I haven’t had much time. The other books I’m reading right now are Carol Meyers Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context and Carolyn Osiex and Maragret MacDonald’s A Woman’s Place: House Churches In Earliest Christianity. If you want to do the meme consider yourself tagged.

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