They're everywhere.
And just in case you didn't know, They may be taking over.
And just in case you didn't know, They we're already in charge.
A funny anecdote I read echoes this, reflecting how the man makes all the "big decisions" and the wife makes all the little ones, "My wife decides what neighborhood we should live in, what schools are best for the children, how to budget our money, where we should go on vacation, who we socialize with, and things like that. But I decide the big issues, like whether we should trust the Russians, whether the government is doing a good job, and what we should do about the economy."
Its such a funny thing to label women as "the weaker sex" - there are no weak women in my house. In fact i'm not sure weak women exist.
Particularly in a world that has for so long oppressed the woman, she has learned to come out the other side even stronger than before... if possible.
The media is littered with this. Last January women all over the nation came to rally together against the bigotry and false power of masculinity... and they've rallied all year long. In fact "Feminism" was recently awarded Word of the Year for 2017.
You Go Girl.
Recently, I listened to talk from Christena Cleveland (social psychologist, theologian, author, professor) who referred to the Biblical creation narrative as a reflection of how a fallen world interprets feminine wisdom. That the people of Moses' day would have understood the Creation myth in a way that reflects the serpent as an icon and symbol, of feminine wisdom... that in the beginning how cultures began to understand this was, "Don't trust women."
I'm not sure she's wrong.
Hasn't history been consistent in its oppression of the feminine and what women have to offer? Wouldn't a historically patriarchal religion look back on their ancient myths and say it was what the woman took for herself and offered to the man that led us into all this...?
(Side note, most of us think about a Myth as something that is a lie or a false narrative... but a Myth is quite the opposite. A true myth is something that is so true in fact that our words find themselves quite incapable of describing it well... Such as the creation narrative)
The denomination i'm a part of has been wise enough to lift women up specifically within the roles of church leadership. Yet, this is not without struggle. It amazes me that a society can be so "advanced" in so many ways and yet still find ourselves oppressing the other... specifically the Female. From whom we are all born!
Ofcourse the majority of the issue is with the male. Many men in their brokenness spend their lives overcompensating. Exerting force in order to attempt communication while simultaneously suppressing the very means we've been ordered to communicate... Feelings.
Mary in her song in Luke 1 addresses the very obstacles we all face. Power, Prestige, and Possessions. These are the three things that stand between each and everyone of us and the kingdom of God. Jesus calls these out over and over again. And men have a lot of each one of them... particularly more than women do atleast in almost every culture worldwide.
Mary, in her humility, in her awareness, in her openness to receive, teaches us everything we need to know about entering the Kingdom of God. Yet most of us aren't empty enough to become pregnant with it.
We haven't yet embraced the "Nothing" ... so that we might uncover the "shall be impossible"... (to quote my brilliant wife.)
Perhaps much of the male-problem has to do with, as a gender, many men in their natural authority have exihibited very little self control. Leaving the other gender in a vulnerable state.
Now our First Order, even within the church, is structured for a man to be in power.What the world needs is a great reimagining.
Not a reimagining of what it looks like for women to have power... but a reimagining of power itself.
Maybe the temptation of the new woman will be not to overcompensate themselves... to the point of becoming the new Sith-lords of the Empire themselves. The trajectory of the past has seen how the oppressed can become the oppressor.
Going forward what might it look like to find balance in the Force?
What will it require?
And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
