Becoming His Story. Mary-Elsie Wolfe
Читать онлайн.| Название | Becoming His Story |
|---|---|
| Автор произведения | Mary-Elsie Wolfe |
| Жанр | Журналы |
| Серия | |
| Издательство | Журналы |
| Год выпуска | 0 |
| isbn | 9781927355534 |
A Female Apostle Is the First Evangelist
Martha: Convicting Faith Leads to a Demonstration
of the Power of God
Mary (Sister of Martha and Lazarus):
Demonstrates Costly Followership and Passionate Faith
Through Her Love and Devotion to Jesus
Women at The Cross:
Resolutely Loyal and Unwavering Until the End;
First to Hear of Mission Completion
Mary of Bethany: The Unrelenting Leader
To Live like Jesus
Women Lead the Way, Enlarging our View by Following
Women Leading in the Church Move Us Closer to the Fullness
of God’s Completed Work
The Prominence of Women in the Early Church
To Lead like Jesus
Jesus Defines Leadership:
Leadership Theory Draws from Jesus
The Love of God is the Foundation of Christian Leadership
Giving Power Away in Order to Foster and Realize Vision
Discerning the Birth of New Vision for the Church:
A Cause to Recommit to Women in Leadership
Leaders Follow Jesus, Then Invest in the Making of Other Leaders
Learning From Jesus, Living Like Jesus, Leading Like Jesus:
Becoming the Best Story Ever
Acknowledgements
Copious thanks to my family, extended family and friends who have through the years encouraged me to finish this project! To my mom, dad, siblings and daughters for cheering me on in life and loving me. Special thanks to Kathleen Fletcher for your constructive feedback and hours of proofreading. Thanks to Marina Hofman Willard for guiding this process with dedication and patience—especially with footnotes—and for your pointed comments that very much improved the end product. Thanks to my husband, Grant, for walking this journey with me and encouraging my dreams. Mostly, thanks to Jesus, who leads my way, infuses in me undying hope and models for me what love looks like!
Preface
What if there was something new under the sun? What if we are
participating in changes that will someday define this period as a new era? Some would say we live in such a time. Certainly, church as we know it in the Western world is changing. I say Western world because many parts of Christendom around the world are flourishing, but change could certainly be reflected in the church worldwide.
Many Christian leaders are reassessing how Jesus understood church, how the early worshipers congregated, how we arrived at the forms of church we now attend. As leaders, men and women, we want to rise up to that challenge and discern what God is doing among us. In some traditions, some circles and some theological camps, women aren’t always encouraged to fully participate. This book seeks to inspire women to fully engage in that call—and to inspire men to challenge the women in their lives to rise up to meet God’s mission.
God could more expediently enflame a bush, give repeated Damascus-road experiences, or keep fleece dry amidst the dew. Instead, he chooses to share the journey in partnership with us. Even with our many foibles and imperfections and our inability to fully listen or understand, God patiently guides us along in his mission. As our hearts grow to understand more fully his heart, we also share in his joy. The Psalmist glimpses the fullness of this joy, reminding us that a single day in God’s presence is better than a thousand elsewhere (Psalm 84:10). God calls us to a lifetime of such days in his joyful presence. Every day we have the opportunity to experience God’s deep call and presence in new ways. As the people of God, we embark on that journey. We allow God’s Spirit to work in us. We learn from Jesus. We live more like Jesus. We lead like Jesus. All as his Spirit indwells ours. As we allow God’s story to live in our story, we are in a sense becoming his story. Jesus says, “remain in me, and I will remain in you” (John 15:4). The more we do, the more we have opportunity to live in the abundance to which God calls us (John 10:10).
That is not to say that we don’t routinely face challenges in our daily life—anxieties about family and friends, health challenges, financial irregularities, physical or natural tragedies, and even the minutia of daily routine and rituals. But how we invite God into those challenges can encourage us to a deeper understanding and revelation of his love. Furthermore, it can rewrite our story as one of transformation, inspiration, and adventure—as God’s story increasingly becomes part of ours.
In the 1980s teen-slacker classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the title character makes a profound statement: “Life moves pretty fast. [If] you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” As the rock group the Rolling Stones found out since popularizing the song Time Is on Our Side 40 years ago, life moves quickly. I’m not sure most of us grasp life’s speed until we are well into our 30s. I recall a conversation with my paternal grandmother when I was about 11—words that meant very little to me then. “You won’t understand this now,” she said, “but life is much shorter than you think.” Not that I’ve reached the age when she transferred this wisdom, but I get it. I’m now convinced that time moves more quickly every year that I live.
But take comfort. If you live in partnership with the living God, he promises to satisfy you “with good as long as you live,” even renewing your youth (Psalm 103:5 NRSV). That means that even if you feel that you have wasted time and it’s just too late, with God there is always hope. As long as he keeps us on this earth, we are invited to this privileged partnership. We are invited to allow his story to grow into ours.
If you feel that you are someone who has wasted time, consider St. Augustine. For over 30 years, he overtly resisted God’s grace, while his praying mother anticipated his eventual divine encounter. Today, he is considered one of the most-noted theological influences of Western theology among our Christian Fathers and Mothers. The apostle Paul was personally responsible for persecuting Christians and supported the stoning of Stephen (Acts 8:1). Paul admitted as much in his letter to the Galatians,