Contemplating Women and Church Leadership

Dear God of Pentecost Fire,

On that blazing morning in Jerusalem, when the Spirit fell like a thunderclap on a hundred and twenty believers huddled in an upper room, You did not sort them by gender before pouring out Your gifts. Peter stood in the streets and quoted the prophet Joel: "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." The Greek word doulous — servants — carried no asterisk, no footnote, no exception clause.

I think of Priscilla, who corrected the eloquent Apollos in his theology. Of Junia, whom Paul called "outstanding among the apostles." Of Phoebe, who carried the letter to the Romans in her own hands — a deacon entrusted with the most important document in Christian history. These were not exceptions to Your plan. They were expressions of it.

Forgive us, Lord, for every season when we quenched the Spirit's fire because it burned in someone we did not expect. Forgive us for the sermons never preached, the congregations never shepherded, the prophecies never spoken — all because we closed doors You had opened.