Whatever He Says

There was a 9 year chunk of time, over thirty years ago, when our family lived with a group of people with developmental disabilities. That period formed my view of people with disabilities as people just like me, with the same human longings and weaknesses;  the same capacity for goodness or "Grinchiness;" greed or generosity; and any other virtue or vice.  Since then, I've worked in a system where staff support people in group homes, or their own apartments. The   Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms  guarantees the equal rights and freedoms of people with disabilities, but  I've often struggled with the knowledge that they and people without disabilities in the community experience very different realities in day to day life.   But change is happening as our agency and everyone in it, work towards our Vision Statement: People with exceptional needs belong to communities in which their God-given gifts are valued and respected. One important so...

Susan sent me a comment and I wanted to share it, to flesh out the discussion. Thanks for the added thoughts Susan! Ephesians 5:21 (New International Version) 21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. This is great wisdom and something that is not understood by most Christians, never mind the rest of the world. The preceding verse to the one you quoted is key for me. It says, "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ". Then Paul goes on to talk about submitting in the marriage relationship specifically. As you well know, I am not a theologian or a student in New Testament Greek, but what has come to make sense to me is that Paul is telling us always to be prayerfully willing to submit to each other. But in the marriage situation, when we are submitting, or deciding to submit, wives should keep these things in mind (respecting her husband) and husbands keep these things in mind (loving his wife). I think it is the right thing to do for a husband to sub...

Ephesians 5:22-25 (New International Version) 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. I found myself wondering what these verses really mean when I recently re-read the familiar passage. These verses seem oddly old fashioned in this age of equality. I find myself asking; does God really want us to do this; and does it mean that we lay aside our minds and “just submit?” In the hilarious movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, a woman said of her autocratic husband, "He may be the head of the family, but I am the neck and wherever the neck turns, the head goes.” We all laughed! What is it about that statement that is so funny? Is it the thought of the husband thinking he i...