Emancipation Proclamation and the Leaning tower of Pisa

Concerning the message "Emancipation Proclamation" give by Pastor John Hatcher on Friday Sept 9, 2005 @ CFNI


It was the day of confirmation, I just knew in my spirit would be coming. There is still no "specific reason" that I know of as to why God made such life changing paradigm shifts in our family to get me to CFNI...but maybe this message holds part of the key. Brad has told me for years "you have a message to teach and I have a song to sing...we should really work this out sometime!" and part of me always hid behind him and said "NO WAY! Do you have any idea what my friends would say??"

I wish Brad could have been at school with me yesterday for Pastor John's message. Somwhow I know a look of affirmation and a smile that said "I told you so" would have gently crossed his face.

Pastor John asked for us to turn to Genesis 1:27...male and female He created them...Imagio Deo....in the image of God. After reading the scripture he asked all the women in the sanctuary to stand up. Pastor John asked the men "In whose image are these women created?" To which the men responded "in the image of God". He asked the ladies to sit down.

We then were directed to turn to the passage in Matthew 22 where the pharisees were trying to trap Jesus by asking if they should pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus asked whose inscription was on the coin. The pharisees replied Caesar. Then render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God what is God's. Pastor John then asked again, "Men, in whose image are these women created?" The men responded in unison "in the image of God". Pastor John continued, "then render unto God what is God's". I felt a tear sting the corner of my eyes as the men in the congregation offered up a thunderous applause.

The atmosphere in this place is like none other that I have experienced in an educational setting before. When I attended a denominational Christian college, I had been the only female at that time to have ever taken the Biblical Greek class...it was simply men's territory. I was newly saved and naive enough to just do what God was leading me to do and that was prepare for ministry. So after I got saved I immediately went off to Bible College. I was too new in the faith (only 9 months old) to realize that there was a raging storm surrounding women in ministry--but I became educated real quick! I remember my Greek teacher razzing the men in class after our first Greek exam when I made the highest grade in the class. He said," you men are not going to let a woman show you up in Biblical languages are you?" There were lots of chuckles and giggles through the classroom and I sat there intimidated beyone belief. I felt like a scared mouse that had been tossed to a group of cats as a play thing. And that feeling has never left me. I have argued with God for over 10 years that He must have made a mistake where I was concerned. Surely I heard Him wrong...but God was relentless in pursuing me. All those feelings came rushing back as I looked around this sanctuary filled with men of God recognizing their female counterparts as co-laborers, called of God for the sake of the Gospel. I suddenly felt like I was in a safe place and God had encamped about me the presence of the Balm of Gilead. Suddenly those intimidating feelings I once knew was replaced with numerous memories of my husband encouraging me to be a part and minister with him, to share the message God has placed on my heart. I remembered numerous times that my own Pastor David had told me "I believe in the call of God on your life". I remembered Pastor Rob telling me that I had been extremely useful in his ministry teaching the youth to be campus missionaries. And the tear that had stung my eye gave way to a torrential flood that had been dammed up for over 10 years. It was a cleansing cry. It was a healing cry. And I swear I could feel the shackles fall off of me.

Pastor John also took us to the old and familiar passage of Mary and Martha. He said when you look at a dictionary, the primary definition is always #1 and then the secondary definitions always follow in behind. He said that he had never heard a sermon taught over Mary and Martha that was not a secondary definition interpretation of the passage. This of course peaqued my curiosity. He went on to explain that it is important to know and understand the culture in which a passage is written so you know what it meant to the people it was written to. He explained that in the culture of Mary and Martha it was not "proper" for a woman to be in a learning situation...but here comes Jesus turning traditions of man on its ear and relaying a proper foundation of truth for his followers. In this story we see Mary "sitting at the feet of of Jesus". This was a specific term used in the tuteledge of a student by rabinnical order. It is the same concept we see as Saul/Paul was studying "at the feet" of Gamaliel. So in this passage Jesus has made Mary on the same level as his disciples in terms of teaching/learning opportunities. I found it to be of very specific interest when Pastor John pointed out the fact that it was not the men in the room, nor the disciples, nor Jesus himself that was upset that Mary was found "at the feet of Jesus"...it was Martha!

Now many sermons have have been taught that Martha was upset because she was left to do all the chores and "women's work" by herself. Pastor John asked us to look deeper than that into this passage. He shared that culturally it was the responsibility of the woman to make sure the decorum and propriety of her home were in order especially when guests were over. And here was Mary "sitting at the feet of Jesus" learning (which was highly immodest and improper of women at that time.) So Martha asks Jesus in a sense to help her move Mary along into more appropriate behavior in doing the "women's work"...and Jesus' words are a healing balm to my heart! Jesus said, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only ONE, for Mary has chosen the good part WHICH SHALL NOT BE TAKEN AWAY FROM HER."

Jesus basically told Martha that she needed to have a paradigm shift in her own heart. He gently told her "no" to her request to move Mary on to more appropriate behavior and even further protected Mary's choice by saying that He would not allow that to be taken away from her.

My heart just aches for all the years I felt the condemnation of a few friends (mostly women, which I find interesting!). I heard a line in a song yesterday that so beautifully expressed my sorrow over those lost years of ministry time where I wanted to please those few friends more than I wanted to obey God. The song said "I wish I could get back all those years, not for myself, but so that I cold give them back to You, Lord". OUCH!! Talk talk about conviction!!

Thoughts were still lingering in my mind this morning about our dinner conversation last night when I was sharing with Christopher the story of the Moravians. We had dinner at CiCi's pizza. On the wall was a picture of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Suddenly I was fixated on the picture. I have seen pictures of the tower my whole life but I could not recall the story as to WHY the tower was leaning. So I asked my family..."What is the story behind the leaning tower of Pisa?" Chris piped up without missing a beat and said the builders had not realized that the soil they built upon was a sand based soil. I almost laughed and asked him to repeat what he had just said. The only respone I could muster was "WOW! That will preach!!"

So this morning before sitting down to write this blog, I went and researched the Leaning Tower of Pisa and sure enough...Chris was right! Here is what one of the websites had to say concerning the tower:

"...They decided to continue building it, but they knew they could not repair the foundation. The foundation was fine. It was the land they built upon. Interestingly, the name Pisa means marshlands. The soil was a mixture of sand and clay and was not solid enough to hold that foundation, no matter how solid or level."

Simply Amazing!!

Lately I have been a humbled mass of clay on my Abba Father's potter's wheel asking nothing more than HE reshape me into the person He needs me to be to carry out His purposes for my life and that of my family. I am starting to wonder if my being sent to CFNI has been a critical mission to get some foundation repair work done so that my testimony of being "a city on a hill" does not topple over with the defective foundation that was previously laid.

Father God, destroy the building and rebuild me if necessary, but at all cost make sure that Jesus is my firm foundation and the faithful cornerstone of my life!!!!

Dawn