Today I sinned.
Well, that’s what some people might call it.
I preached. Although I have known my whole life that some people believe women shouldn’t preach, it wasn’t until today that I realized these people would call it a “sin.”
This realization came about when I was chatting with a friend about her ministry position. Her church has recently allowed her and other women to speak from the stage in ways they haven’t before. After one Sunday morning when my friend was preaching, a woman came up to her with tears in her eyes. This woman had sensed an invitation from God to be a preacher, but was told she couldn’t because she was a woman. So for years she had prayed to God to give her a new invitation.
She had been told that her calling was a sin. The longings in her heart were pulled in opposite directions as she wanted to both be obedient to God through preaching, and also obedient through not sinning. She was riddled with shame, thinking her desire to preach the gospel was wrong simply because she is a woman.
But seeing my friend up on that stage, microphone in hand, she was empowered to stop praying that God would change her calling. This woman no longer felt like the gifts God had given her were supposed to have gone to someone else.
She could finally agree with God on who he created her to be. She could finally be a preacher.
I’ve been told many times in my life that I should not preach because I’m a woman. I just quite simply disagree based on the truth of Jesus’ invitation to women in Scripture, so that one’s easy to combat. I’ve also been told I cannot preach, which is more ludicrous because it speaks to ability, which I prove wrong by simply preaching. I can preach. I am able to preach.
Even with these oppositions, I never considered that the people saying it to me would think I was sinning. Sin is such a harsh, draw-a-line-in-the-sand word. The word “sin” conjures up images of death and destruction. It assumes pain, suffering, and hell.
Sin is something that separates us from God. Preaching doesn’t do that; at least, not inherently. There are plenty of bad sermons and heretical preachers; I’d like to point out that most of them are men.
Doesn’t it seem a little dramatic to suggest that a woman sharing the good news would cause pain, suffering, and hell? Jesus didn’t think so when he entrusted women to share the news of his resurrection.
Since the first Easter, women have been preaching!
In addition to Jesus’ example of entrusting women to preach, there’s an even stronger theological reason for women preaching. Professor Pete Enns said it best, “I affirm, support 100% women in gospel ministry performing any role that men have traditionally performed. The reason why is because they’re people.”
If we are to believe that God is who he says he is, and that we are who he says we are, then we are also to believe that women can preach and it is not a sin for them to do so.
Today I preached. I am a woman. It was not a sin.
Read the full story in The Power of Women.
