Speak into the Dark: Women’s Voices and the Gospel

There is power in a story. There is power in words.

Genesis 1 and John 1 both talk about the power of words. God speaks into the darkness and Bam! Light. John talks about how all things are made through the Word. In fact, without the Word, “nothing has been made that has been made.” Words are how God reaches His people, creates new worlds, and makes things. Word is what He calls His son. Words carry weight in Christendom.

As do stories.

And blogs.

Three years ago I clicked on a link that took me to this blog via a Huffington Post article called “Don’t Carpe Diem.” Glennon Melton, the author of this article—and of the book Carry On, Warrior, The Power of Embracing Your Messy, Beautiful Life—was not only a mom of young kids (like me), but a woman trying to follow God and love a “world in need” in the best way she knew how—through her words.

In “Don’t Carpe Diem,” Melton explains why “seizing the day” is so hard to do with kids. There are too many diaper changes, tantrums, and lost socks, too much lack of sleep, to seize a whole day. She argues instead for Carpe Kairos, seizing “God moments.” If you can find some Kairos while cleaning and cooking and carpooling, call it a day well seized. To her, parenting is sacred, mind-numbingly boring, rewarding, and challenging, (akin to what monks do in a monastery, hence her blog name, Momastery). She argued for parents to take off the pressure of being perfect and let God in.These are places where words have power, places where women speak truth, share stories, and live into bearing the image of God, and by doing so, actively take God’s love to a world in need.

What a welcome relief that was me. I had been battling hormones from a tiring and hard pregnancy, still mourning the loss of my career and the identity I found in it. Her words breathed fresh air into my spirit. Melton came and affirmed that, yes, mamahood is hard, but I am not alone. Instead of condemnation for not measuring up, she reminded me to embrace grace and “Carry On, Warrior.”

It wasn’t until I read Carolyn Custis James, who wrote When Life and Beliefs Collide in 2002, that I realized that Melton was not the only one to call me a “Warrior.” James writes that the Hebrew word to describe woman is ezer, which means “help” but also refers to military assistance and rescue. Ezer practically means “warrior” when it is used to describe God. “Woman,” it can be inferred, is a helpmate that is also ready to do battle. Hard times come, James writes. There are dark times of need (“the keep-swimming times,” to quote Dory the fish) and, James argues, women have to have a strong study of God and how He works, a strong theological base, so to speak, to do battle, for our mates and families. Using examples from the Bible—her chapters on Mary and Martha stand out—James in When Life and Beliefs Collide points out great female theologians who used their theology to battle in this way. She explains how they called on God and related to Him in times of needs. We need these women’s perspectives of how God works in order to see Him working in our lives today.

As I read more of Melton and her “monk-ees” at momastery.com, I saw her theology at work in living and powerful ways. Melton doesn’t just write about parenting and its travails. She pours out the tough stuff in her life, the dark stuff we all deal with. Call it sin, call it brokenness, Melton isn’t afraid to share how she stays sober; how she still wrestles with bulimia; how her marriage fell apart and then was slowly put back together; and how she clings to the hope she has in Christ. She knows Truth is catching, and on her blog, one can find more stories of hard situations in other people’s lives: people who are sick and dying, and who are mourning incredible losses. She knows there is a world in need and we can actively love others by telling the truth. She tell her stories in order to speak light and hope and grace into dark places of this world.

Momastery’s Facebook page has over 300,000 likes. People of both genders respond to the honesty and the Gospel in her messages. She has even created a non-profit with other like-minded women to meet the needs of those touched by her words. She is fulfilling that command in Matthew 10:7-8: “As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.” She freely gives the good news of what God does, even when it is in the form of heartache.

What happens at Momastery and other places where women speak up is what I call Isaiah 61-ing:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God;  to comfort all who mourn.

There’s also some Matthew 10-ing:

So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

There is power in stories that tell the truth about the Light and the Darkness in this broken world, the power to set people free. Isn’t it time, women (and men), to speak up and share their stories?

In January, Sheryl Sandberg of Lean in and Facebook fame, published an opinion piece with Adam Grant called “Speaking while Female” in the New York Times. In this piece, they describe some gender biases against females in the workplace. They reference one study that found there is no incentive for females to speak up. Women are not perceived as more helpful, like males are, when they speak up. If women are at a senior level, speaking up hurts their performance evaluation by a 14 point drop (whereas men’s evaluations increase by 11 points if they speak up often). They also went onto say that when workplaces started to adjust for it, everyone benefited.

I get it. It is hard to speak up, even without documented evidence that women are penalized for it. But there is such a need. I do not know where the church is on this spectrum of hearing and valuing female voices. I do not know if the findings of a similar study would be the same or different. I hope they would be different. I believe the church is supposed to be different. It should be a place to welcome all voices and perspectives of those God has made in His Image—but is it? Or have we left that work for the blogosphere?

Back in 2011, Erin Straza reviewed another Carolyn Custis James book called Half the Church Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women. According to Straza, “Carolyn Custis James looks at the brokenness and suffering in this world and sees a solution: The Body of Christ. She calls every one of God’s image bearers to become active in taking God’s love to a world in need.”

Melton is doing that with her blog. Others are, too (Christianity Today’s Her.meneutics comes to mind). These are places where words have power, places where women (and men) speak truth, share stories, and live into bearing the image of God, and by doing so, actively take God’s love to a world in need. Good things can happen when women speak. Isaiah 61 happens when women speak; indeed, God calls us all to do so in Matthew 10. God is working in the dark, in the imperfect mess of our lives, in the here and now. Let’s hear about it. Or, in the words of 1 Peter 2:9, “. . . you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, . . . declare the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.”

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