Community With no Distinction

I was browsing through a number of old sermons at my church a while ago and was saddened by one of the comments that was posted to it. The sermon was about how God's presence in our lives can change the ordinary into the extraordinary. I haven't yet listened to the whole sermon, but what I have listened to was very good.

There were two comments to this sermon. One comment was from a woman who was very touched by the sermon - brought to tears even. The other comment was simply one Bible verse, given with no explanation at all.

I Timothy 2:11-13
¹¹Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. ¹²I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. ¹³For Adam was formed first, then Eve...

You see, this was the first time that Imago Dei had a female preacher. This verse was quoted with no other explanation, argument, or offer for discussion. There was no attempt at dialogue or understanding. There certainly wasn't anything related to the actual content of the message.

I don't understand why people do this. What is so challenging about a woman telling a group of believers about her mission trip to the Sudan? I don't share this guy's view on women in ministry, but even if I did what possible benefit is gained by doing this? Even if I grant his view that women shouldn't speak in public that doesn't mean that this woman's message doesn't have value. It doesn't mean that you can simply dismiss her. God uses broken and messed up people to convey his Word to the world. Even if Heather Thomas' preaching in front of my church was somehow an abomination it doesn't mean that what she said doesn't have value.

The thing that pisses me off the most is that he doesn't even comment on what she had to say. For all we know he didn't even go to the service or listen to it online. He dismissed her without even addressing the thing she had come to say.

But the pastor I had in Seattle recently preached another sermon on this subject. Not the subject of women in ministry, but on how we dismiss people without even giving them a fair shake. Speaking on James 2:1-7 he discusses the vision of a 'community with no distinction'.

Richard Dahlstrom argues that if we are to be genuine witnesses and followers of Christ we need to be looking for opportunities to cross over into relationship with people we are uncomfortable with. We will never be challenged to go further into the love of Christ if we only spend our time listening to people who are just like us. But it's so easy, when listening to someone you disagree with, to only listen long enough to put them in a category. Then, once you've judged them as belonging to this category you are free to dismiss their viewpoint. The tragedy is that someone who continually uses this methodology will never learn anything. He or she will just have the attitudes they already have more and more reinforced. It's certainly much safer to live making 'distinctions among yourselves, and become(ing) judges with evil thoughts.' But we are not called to safety; we are called to radical community guided by the spirit of Christ in our hearts.