Gender

I recently watched a 20/20 episode entitled “Reversal of Fortune”. 20/20 was reporting on a newly granted mistrial in the case of two Vanderbilt University football players, Cory Batey and Brandon Vandenburg, who were convicted of aggravated rape and sexual battery. 

Over the course of the past couple of years, I have been introduced to the term “microaggression.” I think I have known what microaggressions are for years, but hadn’t had the right word for them until recently. The term “microaggression” refers to an unconscious discrimination or degradation of a person related to their gender, race, ability, income or sexual identity.

I am not a baseball fan at all. Yet, in the last month, it has been difficult for me to click on any social media or news website and not see references to the Bloomsbury University baseball player who called a young girl a “sl-t”.

"...and the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over [Babylon] for no one buys their merchandise anymore: merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men." (Revelation 18:11-13, NKJV)

Like many, I am a Christian both in spite of the church and because of the church. I would like to suggest that there are eight ways that congregations can cultivate worship practices that embrace those who bear scars inflicted by Christians.

“I have been taught accommodation. My brother never thinks before he speaks. I have been taught to filter. "How can anyone have a relationship to food?" he asks, laughing, as I eat the black bean soup I chose for its lack of carbs. I want to say: we come from difference, Jonas; you have been taught to grow out; I have been taught to grow in….The women in my family have been shrinking for decades.” This is a voice you may know all too well. Especially (but not only) if you are male, have you listened to the pain in this voice?

I support Bill C-36. It’s a start, a good one, towards protecting those who are vulnerable. But it’s not black and white.

In December 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down certain prostitution-related laws and gave the government a year to either let the laws remain null (essentially decriminalizing prostitution) or respond with legislation. Choosing to respond with legislation, the government unveiled Bill C-36 “Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act” this past June.

"It is more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in modern conflict.”* According to the United Nations, women and girls are targeted as a tactic of war to “humiliate, dominate, instill fear in, punish, disperse and/or forcibly relocate members of a community/ethnic group ” around the world. This information provides a lens to understand the news of this month, both at home and around the world.

So this is personal – not just to Ron Geerlings and me but to the CRCNA. I remember this area, its farmers and church leaders. We have been at schools just like the burned-out shell you see on the news.

About a year ago, I met a woman named Belle, who was trying to leave prostitution. As we began to form a friendship she began to tell me her story. Though the details differ, her story echoes those of other women who have survived prostitution. Despite being smart, funny, resilient, courageous, loving, and sensitive, Belle has not yet been able to find a way out of addiction and abusive relationships. Though I’ve worked in one way or another with people on the margins my entire adult life, I experienced a profound awareness of Christ’s presence as this woman and I formed a friendship.