The Church's Feminine Mystique
by Aaron
Next time you attend a worship service, look around you. Do a quick census of the men and women around you. How many of each gender do you count? In many places in today's congregations women outnumber men 2 to 1. Where are the men? Men make up fifty-percent of our population yet are under represented on Sunday mornings. A recent article in the Washington Post, "Empty Pews: Where Did All The Men Go?" talks about this phenomenon.
Although anecdotes do not prove points, two stories from my growing up in the church come to mind. First, during my stints in the Lutheran Youth Organization and the Lutheran Student Movement, my female peers always made up the majority of those attending leadership events. Second, working at camp, I witnessed the difficulty our director had finding male staff. He always had to turn away several female applicants but had to search diligently for young men to fill the counselor positions. Where are all these men?
Are men perhaps turned away by the feminine mystique of worship? Flowers on the alter, worship leaders in "dresses," and talk about how a man unconditionally loves you might not be that appealing to the masculine mind.
When I was in Egypt, I saw paintings of Saint George upon a white horse slaying the fiery dragon of sin in nearly every cathedral, church, and monastery. What happened to the fight against sin and the marching of Christian soldiers battling the forces of evil? Can this imagery be rescued from those who would use it to demonize and persecute rather than defend and build up? What about the self-discipline such imagery might entail? Ought we not raise up such examples as models of self-control and service?
I know for me personally the idea of the band of the crusaders known as the Knights Hospitalers (see the article at Bartleby.com) has great appeal. Originally they aided pilgrims with hospitals and protected them on the routes to and from Jerusalem. How might telling the stories of these vigorous faith heroes affect how men see their lives in the Body of Christ today?
Although anecdotes do not prove points, two stories from my growing up in the church come to mind. First, during my stints in the Lutheran Youth Organization and the Lutheran Student Movement, my female peers always made up the majority of those attending leadership events. Second, working at camp, I witnessed the difficulty our director had finding male staff. He always had to turn away several female applicants but had to search diligently for young men to fill the counselor positions. Where are all these men?
Are men perhaps turned away by the feminine mystique of worship? Flowers on the alter, worship leaders in "dresses," and talk about how a man unconditionally loves you might not be that appealing to the masculine mind.
When I was in Egypt, I saw paintings of Saint George upon a white horse slaying the fiery dragon of sin in nearly every cathedral, church, and monastery. What happened to the fight against sin and the marching of Christian soldiers battling the forces of evil? Can this imagery be rescued from those who would use it to demonize and persecute rather than defend and build up? What about the self-discipline such imagery might entail? Ought we not raise up such examples as models of self-control and service?
I know for me personally the idea of the band of the crusaders known as the Knights Hospitalers (see the article at Bartleby.com) has great appeal. Originally they aided pilgrims with hospitals and protected them on the routes to and from Jerusalem. How might telling the stories of these vigorous faith heroes affect how men see their lives in the Body of Christ today?
posted by Aaron at 4:30 PM
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