Saved from SIlence

This is the title of a book I have been reading for Women, Voice, and Preaching this semester. It is about women finding their voice in preaching, but it speaks on other levels as well. The last chapter (if you can call it that) is called Coda and I think I have more written in the margins and underlined in the last few pages that in several parts of the book.

It starts off talking about the need for power and that in the technological age we have lost our voice. This makes me wonder how we go about maintaining power, gaining power, etc. Basically we do it by not allowing other voices to be heard. We have become a sound byte community and we talk in movie and TV clips rather than saying things for ourselves. The book contends that the church itself has lost it's voice.

Is the church about helping people find their authentic voice? HMMMMM would that be like, oh, I don't know, equipping the saints? I think the church has not only lost its voice, but has lost its very identity and its story. We ahve allowed ourselves to forget our story as it existed throughout the centuries and as it exists today.

Is the Christian story and more specifically the Presbyterian story about following Christ and living into the good news that is the saving power of Christ or is it about being the morality police? Is our story about a quest for earthly power or to live into the counter-cultural kingdom of God? Is it about looking at people and who God has made them to be, or is it about putting our own standards up first? God judges the heart, while we judge the outside of a person.

This book has raised questions within me and has helped me look at the importance of voice. How do we make sure we are not among those who oppress other voices? How do we become the voice, maybe the lone voice, speaking for those who cannot? How do we help raise their voice to get over the din of the world?

Wish I knew the answers, but then the questions would change.

Peace