Resisting in the Wilderness

I have been in a wilderness period of my life lately.

I think we are always in the wilderness trying to discern the next best step in our faith, our families and for me the church I serve.

Being in the wilderness is not always a bad thing.

It is a time for me to reflect, to look at the things that maybe are not going well and examine what to do to bring fruit to the work I am doing.

I find the wilderness to be humbling at times. A time when we realize that maybe the things we have been doing in the past aren't working and that we need to move over, through and past certain mountains in order to move forward.

In this particular wilderness moment for me, I find myself resisting.

Resisting the way in which the world says I should act as a mother, a wife, a preacher, a woman

Resisting the way I am being taught in certain classes and challenging the theology of people who possibly have never been challenged.

Resisting what the UMC voted to changed in Jan. 2020 and trying to find a way over that mountain and storm that is coming.

I am resisting; and instead of it being a time of confusion and worry; I love it

I am challenging myself in ways that I never have before, standing up to people I never thought I could because I feel the fire of women like Shiprah and Puah in me.

Do you know these women?

It is a story in scripture that is often not preached but if it wouldn't have been for these women many of the Hebrew male babies would have been killed.

Pharaoh started to get worried that the Hebrew people, the slaves of Egypt, were going to get too big and thus start an uprising so he thought if the midwives just killed all the male babies the problem would be solved.

Well, he didn't count on Shiprah and Puah 

You see, they valued the life of those babies and were in those wilderness moment.

Having to decide if they should follow Pharaoh or do something a little different. 

They let the babies live and they told Pharaoh that it wasn't their fault b/c Hebrew women have babies much faster than Egyptian women and they couldn't get there in time.

Shiprah and Puah had fire in them; the fire given to us by God to change things in this world

The fire to resist what we are "supposed" to do 

Shiprah and Puah are two of the first women we see in scripture that are resisters, as they are early on in the Biblical narrative, and they pave the way for many women resisters to come.

Including all female clergy that are resisting this week to the comments made by John MacArthur. 

John MacArthur is an influential Pastor and when asked what he thought of author and Pastor Beth Moore he said he thinks she should "go home" because God did not intend for women to be Pastors.

He says that women are not feminist for equality; that they just want power. The power to Preach, the power to be CEO's, the power to lead educational institutions

And he is right, women do want that power because men have had it for themselves for too long 

To all the female preachers feeling in the wilderness after this comment, resist it.

Resist it and let everyone know that you are called by the very God that formed you in your mother's womb, that named you beloved and called you to Preach the Word of God for the people of God.

I think I kind of like being in the wilderness

In the wilderness, I am finding a new way of standing up for myself

In the wilderness, I am finding ways to humble myself in the presence of God

In the wilderness, I am finding that we are really on a wilderness journey for most of our lives; hoping for the day that God will lead us to our own promised land and that day will be beautiful, that day all will be equal and that day Shiprah and Puah will be there to greet me; 

And tell me that I preached the gospel and resisted just as they without fear of anyone and that is a holy resistance. 

One that Jesus too will see and know that he gave me the very Spirit to do so. 

Blessings to you all in your wilderness journey and always remember through all of it; you are enough, you are worthy and you are beloved.

-Pastor Ali