God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that, always having all sufficiency in all things, you may abound to every good work.  2 Corinthians 9:8

I’m vacillating this morning between two directions.

1. Write an extended rant against a particularly potent example of male-chauvenism dressed up as Christianity that a friend dropped in my “in-box” yesterday.
2. Give myself a break, save the rant for another day, and talk about my grandchildren.

WHAT KIND OF A WORLD? So I’ll start with the (above) priceless photo of David and Beks at the store this week. Definitely a classic. David is most certainly “Joe Cool” with his shades – upside down of course.

It may be the year 2014, and we may have come a long way in a lot of areas, but my grandchildren are nonetheless growing up in a world where, try as hard as we might, parity is still argued against by those who believe that someone’s status as a beloved child of God is nowhere near enough to make them equal.

PROBLEM-SOLVER: I love this picture of David working his way into the “child-proofed” tv cabinet. This is what Naomi wrote: “When he couldn’t get through the baby lock, he took the knobs off the cabinet, found the movie he wanted to watch, and put it in. Way to look beyond the problem, bud…”

• I pray that David (the budding problem-solver) will grow up to problem-solve the heck out of inequality;
• that he will work solutions to bring an end to sexism, racism, ageism, classism;
• that he will engineer ideas that will help people to see that repressing others because we don’t agree with them undermines the most sacred values we all cherish;
• that he will help to shape a world where the Gospel of Love stands as such a compelling alternative to the dictates of judgmental religiosity, that Jesus will see the words of his prayer honored and fulfilled: “That they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17)

MISOGYNY: And I pray that my granddaughter, Rebekah, will grow up well-equipped to fight against the kind of religious misogyny that still runs deep in mainstream Christian thought, and that is actively promoted via the evangelical press.

I’ll probably post more about this in a few days, but the article I’m referencing is “Why Peter Left the Building” by David Murrow.

Murrow’s piece summarizes some of the main points in Why Men Hate Going to Church. His book is widely promoted as a men’s ministry standard, but it advances lies about both women and men that do nothing to further the Kingdom of God and everything to encourage gender stereotypes rooted in the kind of social chauvinism that consistently confuses reactionary politics with Christianity.

SO WHAT? So, yes, I guess these photos of my grandchildren didn’t save me from some ranting!

But I’ve got to tell you, when I see their hungry minds – learning, and growing, and moving into the potential for influencing their world for good – I find myself praying hard that they will learn the truth about the Gospel of Love, and that they will be dynamic forces for hope, promise, light, and life.

Look at this picture of David, looking through the window and into his world, watching the construction and imagining the seemingly limitless possibilities…. It gives me such hope for tomorrow.

– DEREK