http:\/\/www.abpnews.com\/content\/view\/6626\/<\/a><\/p>\nIf you don\u2019t want to read the whole article, the gist is this: \u201cSurry Baptist Association in North Carolina expelled Flat Rock Baptist Church in Mount Airy from membership July 26, two weeks after their new female pastor started at the church.\u201d\u00a0 The church
\nhas been officially \u201cdisfellowshipped.\u201d Now, I am an ecumenically-minded
\nperson, and I know that the Baptists\u2014all branches of them\u2014have grown in many
\nways these last 10 years or so. I also know that they are not categorically
\nracist, sexist, homophobics. That said\u2026 it takes a really special kind of
\nliteralism to say that women can be ministers, just not SENIOR ministers\u2026 I
\njust don\u2019t hardly know where to start.<\/p>\n
Wait, yes I do. I will start with\u2014discernment.<\/em> Grown up people of faith are not toddlers with their hand in the flour jar. They are not small children prone to run out into traffic. And, increasingly, grown up people of faith are not accepting doctrine
\nthat has been passed down, repressed and backward generation to generation,
\nboxed up and ready for consumption. Increasingly, people seeking the holy are
\nrealizing that they have a right to think for themselves, a right to frame
\ntheir faith in the context of their own time, their own experience, their own
\ninborn sense of grace.<\/p>\nThis is not sacrilege, blasphemy, or disbelief. It is the simple awareness that some scripture\u2014especially some of the letters and law\u2014were written for people who had not yet learned the power of their own will, their own gifts to distinguish right from wrong, and then from now. Some people who had not quite learned what it meant to all live together in faith and community.<\/p>\n
Turns out, this pastor\u2014who looks about 12 years old, but is actually not\u2014has a powerfully prophetic voice in that little community of about 75,000 or so. Turns out, a lot of those 75,000 appreciate not being told who can and cannot bear the gospel to them. A lot of them are showing up at a little church that was dying, not too long ago.\u00a0They want to see what God might be able to do in a place that is brave enough to cross the street without the Baptist convention crossing guard to carve out the path for them.<\/p>\n
Again, not hating on the Baptists.\u00a0 It is a\u00a0specific\u00a0worldview that hurts us so, and it is not relegated to any one denomination or organization. I live in the big city, and around here, it is the independent, evangelical mega-churches that pick and choose their literalisms\u2026 Of course women can serve the church! There\u2019s the nursery, right over there. Of course God wants you to give to the poor! That passage about giving away EVERYTHING? Oh, ha ha, Jesus didn\u2019t mean that\u2026 <\/em>People flock to these churches by the tens of thousands. People who, in every other area of their lives, would be outraged if they\u2013or their mothers\/sisters\/daughters\/wives\u2013were not given the same opportunities as men. But in the church, it is somehow still ok. In the church, for some reason, it is still ok to live with \u201cbecause i said so\u2026\u201d<\/p>\nAnd on and on it goes. Are we 2 years old, or not? Are we small children who live and die by clear yes-es and no\u2019s, or are we the living, breathing, active and present Body of Christ in a changing and hurting world? Rev. Bailey Edwards Nelson calls\u00a0the grown-up faith\u00a0\u201csoul competency,\u201d and I think that about says it. Her church\u2014Flat Rock Baptist Church\u2014crossed the street all by their big boy\/girl self. They are a shining light to all of us who are trying to live the gospel beyond the boundaries we were given as children.<\/p>\n
When my kids get older, I hope they will know that sticking your hand in the flour jar and making a mess is not altoghter a bad thing. But I hope they will also know that \u201cno meaning no\u201d when they were children, led them to be wiser and kinder adults, free to trust their own instincts and gifts,\u00a0and empowered to use their own sense of direction when crossing the street. And my deeper, secret, mom hope\u2013that even then, they will be crossing the street to get to church.\u00a0A Church\u00a0that has learned and grown and changed alongside them, all the days of their lives.<\/p>\n
Also, \u201cdisfellowship\u201d is not a word. Biblical or otherwise.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I gave her 3 chances. I am not a mean mom. 3 chances to help me make muffins without sticking her hand in the bowl of flour and sugar. After the third, she was not allowed to help me anymore. Kicking screaming meltdown ensued. Morning\u2014day OFF morning\u2014disrupted. Was it worth it? Thing is, it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":2261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,1],"tags":[23,282,283,284,285,11,59,12,24,286,152,26,34,79,287,35,27,140,288,289,60,89,68,53,36,290,291,105,292,30,293,294,117,133,14,9,32,44,10,45,295,106,107,22],"class_list":["post-268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith-and-community","category-marriage-and-family","category-uncategorized","tag-arizona","tag-bailey-edwards-nelson","tag-baking","tag-baptist","tag-baptist-church","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-community","tag-connect","tag-cooking","tag-discernment","tag-disciples-of-christ","tag-discipleship","tag-discipline","tag-disfellowship","tag-evangelism","tag-faith","tag-family","tag-flat-rock-baptist-church","tag-furman-university","tag-gifts","tag-grace","tag-hope","tag-jesus","tag-joy","tag-learning","tag-mcafee-school-of-theology","tag-ministry","tag-muffins","tag-neighbor","tag-north-carolina","tag-north-carolina-baptist-assocation","tag-parenting","tag-peace","tag-phoenix","tag-progressive-christianity","tag-relationships","tag-simplicity","tag-spirituality","tag-stewardship","tag-surrey-baptist-assocation","tag-talents","tag-vocation","tag-worship"],"yoast_head":"\n
Muffin Moment: A Mean Mom and Minister<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I gave her 3 chances. I am not a mean mom. 3 chances to help me make muffins without sticking her hand in the bowl of flour and sugar. After the third,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2011\/08\/the-good-theology-of-a-bad-muffin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Muffin Moment: A Mean Mom and Minister\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I gave her 3 chances. I am not a mean mom. 3 chances to help me make muffins without sticking her hand in the bowl of flour and sugar. 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<\/a>Thing is, it was not about the muffin mess. I don\u2019t mind cleaning a little flour off the counter. But after 3 times, she was testing. And the answer to that test is, if you do something mom or dad says not to do, bad stuff happens. Because next time, \u201cno\u201d might be about running out in traffic. Or getting in the car with a friend who\u2019s been drinking. Or any number of things in between there that might just make her a really unpleasant person \u00a0when she grows up\u2014someone who has no boundaries and does not play well with others.<\/p>\n