Last week, I listened to Annie F. Downs talk to Bethany Allen about the gospel of Luke. Both are powerhouse women who love God and faithfully serve the church.1 They were talking about Luke but what struck me about the conversations was how hard they had both had to work to find themselves in the story of Jesus and consider what it meant for them to be disciples of Jesus. This thread grabbed my attention because I could pull it through my whole week. On Monday, I spent the entire afternoon talking to different women about ministry. To be a woman and to feel a call to ministry is to try to determine (however long this takes) what you believe about women in ministry and then to wonder what other places where you will serve/might want to serve will believe. It’s a non-lethal version of Russian roulette that nevertheless has the potential to drive women from the church. I shared with one of the women that we are still insisting that every generation of women do the same work. It feels that little has changed in the past 20 years. Or even the last four hundred sometimes.
Recommended Reading: Half the Church, How God Sees Women, Why Not Women2
All of those flowers grew in our yard.3 I’ve been slowly working on flower beds and our tiny garden and this year I’m focusing on flowers. I do not have a scientific approach. It’s wild experimentation with a handful of “hopes for the best.” The flowers are stunning and I delight in each one of them.
This post by Elissa Altman got me thinking about the whole “who do you wanna be when you’re 80?” question. It’s certainly not someone who has spent their life watching TikTok videos and complaining about other people. I’ve been making lists of things I want to do when school is finished (in 6 weeks).4
-Go to bed earlier.
-Rewatch Derry Girls
-Work on languages: Greek and Hebrew because I put so much work into them and Spanish because I’ve always wanted to learn.
-Focus my reading for a bit on Ancient Near East context, then swap to second temple Judaism. Aka, be nerdy but on my own terms.
-Watch a lot of women’s college basketball next season.
-Hang out with my boys.
-Tackle a stack of writing ideas that will require what is now homework time.
-More walks. 5
Links
Birkenstocks sandals: I bought these a few weeks ago and I predict they will be on my feet 90% of summer.
Abbott Elementary is our favorite current show.
I loved Beyonce’s remake of “Jolene.”
Women’s basketball for the win!
This lecture (that I watched for class) was superb!
Our kids get a lot of free play time. This was thought-provoking.
Will I be asking for one (or two) of these for Christmas? Yes, probably.
I’m still reading (not watching) news from The Dispatch and the NYT morning briefing. It’s rarely an encouraging space, but lament is an appropriate response to much of the world.
In two very different ways, which is the most fun part.
I have more recommendations—way more—if you need them.
The cat, obviously, runs the house.
40 days till graduation!
This list is not comprehensive, of course. This is just the stuff that will go into what is now the time I’m doing homework.