This week our study of Ephesians reached the infamous 'household codes' in chapters 5 and 6. I had had a great time working with these and thought I had something worthwhile to say about the implied tension between the 'egalitarian unity' experienced 'in Christ' and the everyday relationships within the 'household'. How did the 'father of the house' (I can't remember how to spell the Latin name) balance the equality he had in Christ with his roles and repsonsibilties in everyday life? And how are these issues mirrored today when my 'sister in Christ' is actually my mother or my 'brother' my boss? I looked forward to sharing my thoughts with the congregation...
My readers' rota had blessed me with one of my best readers - reliable, prepared and expressive. She began to read "wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord."
No sooner had she finished the sentence than a loud 'oh dear' arose from the back row and the entire congregation fell about laughing. All credit to my reader, she gathered her composure and read on to the end of the allotted chunk.
As it happened, the outburst was helpful - my opening thread on this verse was how it has been abused to advocate doormatism (new word for today) among women whose partners are abusive and how that is not, I believe, an authentic reading. It also struck me how fortunate I am to have a congregation who will accept, even enjoy, such an 'irreverent' response to 'holy scripture.' I stuck with my prepared material and I hope that the congregation got something from it, even though the utterer of the outburst assured me firmly that the author of Ephesians (my phrase) was wrong!
It seemed significant in some small way that this happened a couple of days after I read a little book called 'Spiritual Lemons: Biblical Women, Irreverent Laughter & Righteous Rage' by Rev Lyn Brakeman (who obviously is as good at snappy titles as I am). In this book of what she terms 'midrash' she endeavours to explore how the 'lemons' of human emotion, anger, powerlessness, shame and so on, can lead to a fresh encounter with, and understanding of, God. It is easy to criticise the book - the writing is very American and very rooted in a 20th century culture which somehow grates when placed in the mouth of Sarah or Jephthah's daughter - but behind it is some careful study and thought. I am not too sure of her intended audience, since the easy style sits almost at odds with her references to the Jesus Seminar, but it is a refreshing little book of meditations which seeks to give permission to exactly the type of outburst and laughter we experienced on Sunday. I wouldn't rate the book as an all time great, but it did stimulate some thought even if not quite as piquant (for me) as the writer intended.