I don’t want to think this, but perhaps I’m the only woman in the world who really doesn’t like Proverbs 31 because it has been the #2 most misused and #1 guilt-tripping passage about women in the Bible. It’s been used as defining some sort of religious superwoman before there were superwomen. Until the feminist movement […]
Undeniable Truth #4 of the Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood is “Once a mother, Always a mother.” This is very much a double-edged truth. It is both beautiful and poignant. And it’s a truth no one can prepare the mother for …before she becomes a mother and knows it by experience. First the poignant and sadder side: […]
I’d like to proclaim freedom for women who have no children. Freedom from judgment. Freedom from guilt. Freedom from feelings of inferiority and feelings of being “less than” simply because one is not a mother. Freedom from sadness is one I’d like to proclaim too, but in truth I know how deeply this issue touches women at […]
As we continue looking at the Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood, we come to the second one: No man can teach a woman what is the truth of womanhood, even Christian womanhood. No man knows. I’m rather sick of John Piper’s view of womanhood. There. I said it. Men who profess to tell women what […]
This might seem like a no-brainer, but Christian men can still be real men without marriage. They also can be true Christians. In fact, in some areas of Christianity, one is considered a better Christian man if one is a celibate single man. Like the Pope or priests. If a man can be complete and Christian […]
I may be Seminary Gal, but I should start today’s offering with a bit of a disclaimer: I’m not a women’s pastor or even a person who particularly likes talking about so-called women’s issues. I don’t do women’s ministry as my primary vocation because I don’t fit the mold. I’m not fond of pink and […]
No matter where your politics take you, the Bible still speaks volumes into it. Just a timely reminder that Christmas was necessary because people sin. Cry out for Justice, knowing what that truly means, but always remember that Justice […]
Every once in a while, God gives us a profound spiritual lesson in the form of juxtaposition, events of eerie similarity yet contrasting spiritual points by their very nature. It happened when Mother Teresa died (5 September 1997) at around the same time as Princess Diana (31 August 1997). The world grieved more at the loss […]
Why Bother to Pray? Message preached by Barbara Shafer at Advocate Condell Medical Center on April 27, 2014 Ephesians 3:7-21 We’re beginning a new sermon series today entitled Prayer: More than Just Conversation with God. I wanted to do a series on this because prayer is simultaneously one of the most important things Christians can […]
When Leaders Fail Us For the second time in my life, I’ve been watching from the periphery as a pastor I admired has resigned over moral failings. Having learned some lessons about how to handle things when leaders fail us, I thought it might be helpful to share these lessons with those who may be […]
