a true prophet?
Tall Skinny Kiwi appears to do well at predicting what might happen next. A prophet, of course, in the biblical sense, was not so much a person who received spooky messages from beyond, but someone who was able to read the signs of the times. Much more my kind of prophet, really. And AJ (AKA Tall Skinny Kiwi) is predicting a few things for the decade 2010 – 2020.
It's beginning to look like it might be an interesting decade for me. Aslan seems to be on the move in all kinds of ways. How about you, readers? What do you hope or dream for? And what do you think are the signs of the times?
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Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
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What to do, if you strongly feel your church is going the wrong way? Silently suffer? Certainly not! That is not what church is for. Run away? No, not if you feel that this is the place where you need to be. As in human relationships there might come a point where you have to give something up because you realise it is pointless – but not before you have tried. So fighting i.e. campaigning is the obvious thing to do here.
I am not even a member of this particular church, but I think this is an issue for all of us, so I would do my part.
gladly!
I wouldn’t be much help, but for what it’s worth, I think it is a FANTASTIC idea.
But surely the people who most need to be challenged will be the people who have – and would only have – a male priest and would therefore be totally unaffected by this protest.
The people who would be impacted would be the people who already believe in the ordination of women. Preaching to the converted?
I’m all for some sort of protest and feel passionately that women bishop’s is a no-brainer that should have happened years ago. But not sure about the effectiveness of this.
I love it, but would only dare to do it if I was willing to lose my job. Shame, that…
wrong gender, and different denomination which is thankfully less obsessed by the gender of its leadership than it once was, but I think its a good idea. I would also commend Zoomtard’s comment on a similar theme at http://zoomtard.furiousthinking.org/2009/10/19/how-do-you-reconcile-this/
I’ve been thinking about this idea since it was first suggested. The part of me that wants to stand up against injustice is thrilled by the idea. The idea of some mass action is great, and what I feel we need (the letter written by senior women clergy last year and signed by lots of others did make a big impact). But I’m not sure if staying at home will give quite the message I want to give – I think of all the people whose minister is a woman who would mostly support her but they will be the ones to suffer. I don’t think I want to say the church can’t manage without me/us. I do want to say that putting up barriers and bullying isn’t the way to proclaim the gospel; that we need to really engage with each other;really listen; really work together. So how do we say that? I can think of campaigns: eg for women to be represented (and more than a token woman) on all Senior Staff meetings in every diocese; an insistence that there are some women who attend all bishops’ meetings. Changing minds comes through making real relationships and working together – this is the tragedy of the act of Synod and this is why fif etc can continue to manipulate those who only hear the superficial, partial story. But how to demonstrate a need to talk and listen properly?????
How about all the women who are involved in C of E filling every PCC, Deanery, Diocesan and General Synod place available? At every level Synods are stuffed full of men (in grey suits with grey hair). If you want to change the Church, be the change you want to see. You have a voice and a presence, use it instead of allowing the relatively small numbers of men to continue to drive the agenda. There are many ways of making a peaceful protest – being present rather than absent is one of them.
Fabulous idea – I’d do it.
I think people who are focussing on women priests staying at home are missing the point somewhat – it’s if all the women in the congregation didn’t turn up one day that would give the jolt.
I’d do it! And try to get all the ladies in our church to do it, too… (Some of the men would probably join us as well!)
Anyway there is certainly no need for men to feel unhelpful in this. If you like the idea, spread it! And if it works, we’ll need you guys to document the effects – as we obviously can’t.
I like this idea too!! my vicar (male) would love it and the only people left in the church on that day (if we did it) would be the people who constantly complain that anything new is wrong