she says do i know you i say well, no, not biblically

(From Feminist Law Professors)
I saw this cartoon about a week ago at the Feminist Law Professors blog, and it produced in me a huge smile. First, I thought, "is the news for real?" So, I Googled 'gender neutral bible' and indeed, according to The Washington Post, "Evangelicals prepare gender-neutral Bible". Of course, there are those who disagree because it 'twist meaning or smack of political correctness.' The new bible, New International Version (NIV), will say things like 'In Genesis I, God created "human beings" in his own image instead of "man." That is right ladies, we were also made in the image of God. Other links on Google have titles like "The Gender-Neutral Bible Controversy: God's Word or Man's Agenda" and "Dangers of gender-neutral Bible" which, I didn't care to read. My second thought after seeing the cartoon is, 'God looks awesome with that T-shirt which, I have been meaning to buy since forever.'

Now the second important part of the post. Ever since I was in Cambridge University, something told me to attend a new church. I did some research about church of different denominations around my house. Basically, my growing dislike for my church stems from the fact of their glorification of war and vacillating too much with Christian Right ideology. In the 6+ years that I attended that church, I probably saw a woman preach 5 times. All the administrative post were occupied by men, but all the laboring job was for women. A men's name was said first, and God was always, 'Father God.' At the beginning I really didn't pay attention to it. But after attending college and studying gender and power, those small things started to be magnified in my head. It started to bother me. I really dislike how the youth pastor saw 'boy-crazy girls' and all the double standards perpetrated against girls. Purity rings for the girls!! 'and the boys?' I thought. Then I went to my church denomination (Assembly of God - pentecostal) website to read the 'beliefs' of the church. It was a joke. War was justified if the government said so (big Bush apologist!). The death penalty was ok. Helping the poor was ok, but so was helping big corporations. I will spare you what they said about feminists (destroying the family and eating your children!!). It was a big eye opener and it looked like Republicans wrote the whole manifesto. Its funny because for a while I actually thought of becoming an 'official' member of the church. Now, I shiver at the thought. I knew right away that I didn't want to be part of that. I also know that organized religion around the world is sexist as it goes, but some are better than others. I wanted to find that one that was a little bit better.
After a lot of research, for some odd reason, I landed at The United Methodist Church of Wellesley website. What caught my eyes was that the pastor is a young woman. When I was a small child I attended a church were a woman was a pastor, so women exclusion of pastoral service was something I never understood. I am not a Methodist. I just knew it was yet another branch of Protestantism in the USA. Actually, my first reading about Methodist church came from reading Hillary Rodham Clinton's bibliography. She grew up in a Methodist church and wrote about the positive experience it had in developing in herself the idea of helping others. Now, I also know Bush is a Methodist, so I am not saying they are the cornerstone of perfection. What I am saying is that The United Methodist Church of Wellesley gave me good vibes.
Thus, I decided to attend service today. I went with my 6 year old cousin because I was too shy to go by myself for the first time. I noticed the congregation is small, around 30 people, most who are elderly. Actually, apart from the girl playing the piano, I didn't see anybody else around my age group. I always feel extremely awkward around people my own age, so I didn't mind the age gap. Like I have said, I have never attended a Methodist church before, so I didn't knew what to expect. I was greeted by a few people and I saw the young pastor with a colorful robe at the door that lead to the main sanctuary. She has vibrant red hair, big welcoming smile, and is full of life. I thought, 'She looks like Jesus.' I smiled and thought how strange that statement was. When I read the brochure they gave me, I noticed that women make up 9 out of 13 post (liturgist, hosts, greeters, choir, ushers, intern, teacher, etc). They also use gender-neutral language (stated in their website). When the pastor started praying, she never referred to god as 'him' or 'father' something very common in my old church.
The service itself was very different from anything that I experienced before. It is only one hour long, where I am used to 3 hour service. They have one organ instead of a full band. The bible related preaching is not as long and concise. A lot of Hymn and praying in unison. However, I really liked it. Its probably the complete opposite of what I am familiar with, but I felt tremendous peace. People where friendly and when I left, I was already thinking of my return. I will not be able to attend next weekend because I will be going to Northampton, MA, but I look forward in growing in Christ with this new church family.

(This portion of the post is added while I heard my mother speaking on the phone and I was writing this post: My mother was telling my grandmother that she went to church today (the old church that I used to attend) and that they prayed for her and my aunt to find a husband to be head of our household. Most of the women in my family are divorce and according to the wife's pastor (the one praying), that is wrong. The pastor's wife said that my mother and aunt are working too hard, and if they had a man, it would be easier for all of us. Single mothers in all the church, particularly my previous churches, have always been looked down upon. I find that very offensive. I don't have the time with all that is wrong with what they prayed for, and all I can say is that I am glad I don't go there anymore. Perfect day today for a change in church.)