Retaining Honour--Post 8

I believe God created us to be people, first of all, and then either male or female.  He also designed roles appropriate for each gender, and this is the part where people in the Western world, both believers and non-, erupt in your face like this old rooster we used to have, with terrible squawks and flapping feathers.

Things haven’t gone so well in our culture, family-and-relationship-wise, what with divorces and young single pregnant women and absconding fathers and cheating partners.  And an awful lot of chaos and unhappiness.

The Bible says that men and women are equal before God in terms of value but different in design and therefore different in the roles they fill best.

Maybe we should all try the Biblical pattern for a month and see what happens.

But this is not a specific how-to.

Many years ago I got married.  I realized that those Bible verses about wives submitting to husbands now applied to me.

Wow.  How was that supposed to work?  I was a Bible-believing Christian so I’d better get busy.

I asked Paul.  He said, “Huh?  I don’t know.  Don’t worry about it.”

But I did worry about it, which probably wasn’t very submissive.

One day I realized that the command was God telling wives to submit, not telling husbands to make sure their wives submitted to them.  So the issue was entirely between me and God.

I also came to realize that submission for me meant trusting God to work in Paul’s life and not me making it my job to nag, or to protect either of us from the consequences of his choices.

It also meant communicating.  I was a hinter but Paul was a guy who needed a two by four.

It eventually worked out to something of a four-step process.

1.      Tell Paul exactly how I think and feel, loud and clear.  One time.

2.      Be quiet.

3.      Pray hard.

4.      Watch God work.

Because there was plenty to watch.  It was astonishing, the things that happened when I communicated clearly and then backed off and prayed, stuff I could never have orchestrated on my own.  I took this as God’s blessing on my decisions.

Since I am that sort of person, I thought I would share this insight with the good people who read the Mennonite Sunday school papers.  I wrote up an article and Christian Light accepted it.

I thought I had made it very clear that this was my experience and I couldn’t speak for anyone else.

But women everywhere took it as some sort of new edict from above—Proverbs 32.  Ladies’ Sunday school teachers read it to their classes.  A woman from New Jersey wrote to me and asked for advice because she wanted to wear a head covering—which shows submission, you know--but her husband didn’t want her to and what should she do?

One woman I know hid the article so her husband wouldn’t read it.

And at a wedding in Missouri, an elderly woman buttonholed me and said, “I don’t know what to do!  You wrote that I should just tell my husband stuff one time, but he won’t take his vitamins unless I remind him several times!”

I was horrified.  “I am not married to your husband!” I said, and I thought, “Thank you Lord.”

I also said, “You have to figure out what works for you!”

Some time later, Lamp and Light asked to translate the article into Spanish.  I said yes, but added, “Make sure you make it clear this was my experience and I can’t speak for everyone!”

That’s the trouble with writing about gender and marriage.  Some people are all about formulas.  And having someone tell you exactly what to do in every circumstance.  And about taking a writer way too seriously.

You need to worry about what God says and what works for you.  Not what I think.

The Bible says a man’s role in the family is to lead, provide, and protect.  And to love.

A woman’s is to help and keep and submit.  And to respect.

You figure it out from there.

Both men and women are supposed to love God, pursue justice, love mercy, be reconciled, forgive, repent, be kind, remember the poor, be thankful, keep your vows, and about a hundred other things that apply to you regardless of gender or marital status.  If you are both doing all that, the lead/submit matter will not be a big deal in your marriage.

I never thought I would be in the same camp as Lady Gaga on any matter, ever, on this planet, but my fine son Matt just sent me this, adding, "Lady Gaga, of all people.":

"Yes, actually," the 27-year-old said. "He's totally in charge. I mean, when I am home, I am like, shoes are off, I'm making him dinner. He has a job, too, and he is really busy!"

"I'm in charge all day long, the last thing I want to do is tell him what to do," she explained. "It's not good for relationships to tell men what to do."

Frankly, she’s more submissive than I am.

Like I said, if this idea makes you angry, maybe you should try it for a month and see what happens.  If God blesses you for it, you might decide to keep on.

If Lady Gaga and I can figure this out, so can you. 

Tomorrow: Gender roles in society and the bell curve.