Tuesday evenings in Advent
6:30pm PST - 7:30pm MST
with Liv Larson Andrews, DEM
I have a video in my phone that I cherish even though it embarrasses my younger son. It's footage of him around age 3, singing a funny song he made that goes, "Dis-ma-a-an-tull...the...pay-tri-RAR-key..." followed by rough, engine-like sounds. The contrasting message and sounds are hilarious to me, plus the fact that he must have heard the phrase from adults in his life and decided to make a little song out of it.
I doubt we will sing or make funny sounds, but we are definitely going to engage our imaginations this Advent as the NWIM synod in an effort to do what my son's song envisions: dream of a world without patriarchy. Specifically, we will study the ELCA social statement on Faith, Sexism and Justice by reading the short book on it by Mary Streufert and Mary Elise Lowe. HERE
Four chapters, four weeks of Advent. Plenty of time to shed all the patriarchy from our lives, right? Very funny, DEM Liv. Of course, I know that isn't the goal, but I believe we can take a step in the faithful direction of imagining a world with a little less demeaning of women, a little less violence, a little less pressure to dominate.
Let me make a special appeal to anyone reading this who bristles at the word "patriarchy." Did your pulse go up when you read that in the heading? It's okay. That's understandable. I want to be really clear: this study is about exploring what our church body says about gender, not about making anyone feel less about themselves or their gender. I care deeply about loosening the grip of patriarchy on our lives because I am raising two sons in this world, because patriarchy limits their freedom, and because I believe that for freedom Christ has set us free.
Join me on Tuesday evenings in Advent, 6:30pm PST / 7:30pm MST to read this text and take delight in the promises of God that we are all a part of the Body of Christ on earth.