Please pray…

My talk about the womanhood project at Baylor University elicited a response from Diane Montgomery, which was republished at the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood’s gender blog this morning. Diane did a great job responding with depth and conviction to some of the points I made, and I’m especially grateful that she included a link to the talk so that it can be discussed in context. 

I’m asking for prayer because this represents a critical turning point in the project in which I will be engaging in some important conversations with those who might not, at first glance, agree with me.  With all of my heart, I want this to be a productive, fruitful, and grace-filled conversation. So please pray that I do my part to set the right tone, listen well, and respond with humility. 

As I said in a comment after Diane’s post, it is not my intention to belittle or mock the Bible (which I love and value in my life!) nor to marginalize women who interpret the Bible differently than I do. Mostly I want to encourage women to show a little more grace to themselves and to each other when it comes to the very difficult task of applying what the Bible says about women to their lives.  

I’ve already made some mistakes. (For example, I think using the phrase “frump month” was a poor choice of words. I would never want to imply that women who choose to wear long dresses and cover their heads are frumpy! Quite the contrary! I was just feeling insecure about the frizz- fest occurring on my own head as a result of growing out my hair and I said the wrong thing.) But I am committed to learning from those mistakes, listening better, and providing a platform from which a diversity of women can share their perspectives with one another.  I’m convinced that we can find some common ground, even around this deeply personal issue.  

So today I’d like to open up the comment section to any questions, observations, or ideas you might have about the project. I’ll try to jump in and interact as much as possible. 

(Note: Look for the big Proverbs 31 auction next week! I FINALLY finished all the sewing projects and have a feeling we’re going to raise some good money for World Vision’s orphans and widows fund!) 

Thanks so much for your engagement and support.