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This is a story of two women – one “very old,” the other quite young. The older one was married to a priest. The younger one was engaged to a local carpenter. The older one had prayed for years for a child and had been disappointed month after month, year after year. The young one was still a virgin, looking forward to her marriage.Both became pregnant.

The older woman, Elizabeth, went into seclusion for five months.

The younger woman, Mary, was visited by the angel Gabriel and told that she would become pregnant and that her relative Elizabeth was already pregnant. Mary left a few days later to visit Elizabeth.

The women could hardly be more different:

• They are one, perhaps two, generations apart in age
• Elizabeth had been married for many years; Mary was looking forward to marriage
• Elizabeth’s husband was a priest; Mary’s fiancé was a carpenter
• Elizabeth did not receive a heavenly visitation bringing news of the birth; Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel
• Upon learning of her pregnancy, Elizabeth immediately went into seclusion; Mary immediately went to visit Elizabeth

Yet how very similar they were. Both women were obedient to the Lord. Scripture describes Elizabeth as “from the priestly line of Aaron” and “righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations” (Luke 1:6-7). When Mary learned that she would become an unwed mother, an action that would most likely cause her fiancé to break off their engagement and publicly disgrace her, replied “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever He wants. May everything you have said come true” (Luke 1:38).

This is also the story of two men – Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah and Mary’s husband Joseph. The men are an integral part of the story, and they are as different from one another as the women are. Zechariah was a priest and the angel Gabriel spoke directly to him before Elizabeth became pregnant. Joseph was a carpenter and received a dream after Mary had learned that she would be come pregnant. In the dream, he was told to that Mary would give birth to the messiah and that he should marry her.

And yet, like the women, they are very much alike. Both were honorable, God-fearing men. Zechariah had remained married to his wife even though she didn’t provide him with a child in their early years of marriage. When he learned that his wife would become pregnant, he finished out his service to God before returning to his wife. Scripture records Joseph’s response to his dream: “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded. He brought Mary home to be his wife, but she remained a virgin until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus” (Matthew 1:24-25).

Elizabeth and Zechariah. Mary and Joseph. Two couples who were used by God to change the course of history. Elizabeth was the mother of John the Baptist. Mary was the mother of Jesus.

So what’s my point? My point is that God uses people from very different backgrounds and in very different stages of life, if they are willing to be used by Him. One could even say that He uses them in spite of their current circumstances (Elizabeth was barren and Mary was a virgin). They key component for being used by God doesn’t seem to have much to do with our circumstances – which, let’s face it, we have very little control over, but a whole lot to do with being willing to be used by Him – which we do have control over.

Where are you? This Christmas season, are you bemoaning your circumstances and perhaps even using them as an excuse NOT to do what God wants you to do, or are you being like Mary and saying “I am the Lord’ servant, and I am willing to accept whatever He wants.”

If you have accepted Christ, He has an assignment (or two, or three) for you. Don’t back down from them. Let Mary be your example this season and be ready to say “yes” to whatever God calls you to.

10. A man’s place is in the army.

9. The pastoral duties of men who have children might distract them from the responsibility of being a parent.

8. The physique of men indicates that they are more suited to such tasks as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do ministerial tasks.

7. Man was created before woman, obviously as a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment rather than the crowning achievement of creation.

6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. Their conduct at football and basketball games demonstrates this.

5. Some men are handsome, and this will distract women worshipers.

4. Pastors need to nurture their congregations. But this is not a traditional male role. Throughout history, women have been recognized as not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more fervently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.

3. Men are prone to violence. No really masculine man wants to settle disputes except by fighting about them. Thus they would be poor role models as well as dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.

2. The New Testament tells us that Jesus was betrayed by a man. His lack of faith and ensuing punishment remind us of the subordinated position that all men should take.

1. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep sidewalks, repair the church roof, and perhaps even lead the song service on Father’s Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the church.  

 OK, I didn’t write this. I cut and pasted it in it’s entirety from Adventures in Mercy who cut and pasted it from Serving Bread. And I think that suffices for giving credit in blogs!

 Admit it…you’ve said (almost) the same things about women in the pastorate, haven’t you? (I’ve certainly had most of them said to me.)

Last week I had to write a paper for my grad class. We didn’t get to pick the topic. It was assigned: “The Role of Women in Ministry.” Quite frankly, I’m pretty tired of the topic. I’ve been dealing with it one way or another since I came to Christ in 1979.

At the time, I was an officer in the Air Force and had dreams of a business career. It’s what I had had wanted to be since I was in junior high school – a business woman. Not a normal dream for a young girl, perhaps, but it was mine.

In college I struggled with how to have both a business career and children. I didn’t really want children, I just assumed I would have to have them some day. It was what women did. But I didn’t think I had the energy for both. I guess God didn’t think I could either because He sent me a man who didn’t want children! As I was getting to know Phil (and starting to fall in love with him), I was surprised and excited to learn he also didn’t want to have children.

Shortly after we were married, I came to Christ…and I cried for nearly two years! We attended a small church in Southern California, and every woman in that church was either a stay-at-home mom or in a stereotypical women’s career. They all had a life that I truly didn’t want. (Please don’t misunderstand me. I don’t de-value those choices. They just hold no interest for me. It’s not how I’m wired. In our family we joke about how my sister got all the “mothering” genes.) It was several years before I met another Christian woman who was committed to the business world and seeing Christ move in it. But until then, I struggled — was I required to embrace a life that I had never wanted and give up my dreams of a business career in order to be a “good Christian wife?”

Well, I’ve done a lot of reading and studying about what the Bible says is an appropriate role for women, in the home, outside the home, and in the church. And while you may think from my preceding narrative that I was prone to accept women in ministry, it’s not been so. For most of my Christian life, I’ve been overcompensating for my biases when reading material on the subject. But over time I have changed my position. At the risk of being too controversial here, I’d like to make some observations:

• I’ve found that most people really haven’t studied Scripture to learn what it says about women in ministry. They just accept a surface reading or what the were taught by their parents or pastors
• Yes, there are some passages that seem to limit the role women can have in the church.
• There are also passages in which the apostle Paul clearly commends women who held positions at all levels within the early church (from apostle to lay positions), from praying to prophesying to teaching.
• These two facts make for controversy in many Christian circles. And that grieves my heart. While writing this current paper, I read reviews of a book in which both men and women were so very angry toward the authors and readers of the book. Again, I cried. Because it hurts my heart that simply because I’m a woman I’m at the center of a controversy that causes such anger.
• We have historical records that verify that women served in ALL positions within the church during the first 300 years after Christ’s resurrection.
• When discussing the role of women in church in our class, a young man who started with the premise that women should not be allowed to be pastors said something that finally boiled it down for me: The very fact that there are “exceptions” (that were approved by Paul) in Scripture to Paul’s (seemingly contradictory) statements that women should not speak or teach says that it is OK for women to speak and teach and lead local congregations.
• We ought to all be careful lest we squash the call of God on someone else’s life.

My desire isn’t to start a firestorm. Just to get people thinking. Feel free to add your own comments, but please, let’s remember to honor one another – no angry invectives here, please. Oh, and if you want to read the paper I had to write (danger, danger, danger), just drop me an e-mail.