Christianity is Suffering... with Damsel in Distress Syndrome

-Rev Melissa Fain-

It doesn't take much digging to get the message today's females are being given. If you want it done, go do it! Our Disney princesses are bold, strong and empowered. Our Barbies are anything they want to be. Our women seek answers; not wait for solutions. In an age where girls can join Cub Scouts, the song "Anything you can do" has new meaning.

​And this is why it's really difficult for me to sit through many contemporary worships. Outside of church, I'm being taught to fight for what is right, stand up against what is wrong, and be the action. Then I go into almost any weekly worship and hear the exact opposite. God will provide. Just wait for the Lord.

This is faith divorced from action! Our sermons need to be more than "Do you love me?" It needs to continue with "Then feed my sheep!" 

These churches have picked up the mantel of the Damsel in Distress. That's why it doesn't surprise me they all have men at the helm. They've were never told the dangers of this trap. The truth is, nothing gets done if you cloister yourself away in a tower waiting for someone else to do it. Sure, Prince Charming is our Lord and Savior, but the bible is like a messenger pigeon sending the message. "Meet me." Our salvation is directly tied to our understanding of that message!

This all might seem innocent to you. Who are the damsel Christians hurting but themselves? 

The problem is two-fold. 

I'm personally angry at the ministers. Picking up the mantel of ministry has serious ramifications if not done correctly. Encouragement should always come with preparations. Jesus didn't tell the disciples their road was going to be easy. No! Their path often lead to death in horrific ways. They were ready for that, because Jesus prepared them. When a minister sets up personal issues, it doesn't solve anything to give the congregation the symbolic cat hanging from a limb. "Hang in there! God's coming!" 

Ministers also get the point of view wrong. Gird up your loins, boys! Sometimes we don't need our situation to change; just our point of view. There are people living with little food, dirt floors, and no stable income. Those people still find God in this world. How arrogant of us if we spiritually struggle when the air conditioning goes out in our car! Then point of view is always understanding how God was already there. Sometimes we need to understand just how bad it could have been, and so we need to reflect on situations as the happened. Things could have been worse, but somehow they were not. That's often God's hand in the situation.

I'm also scared for those who could be helped by a better theology.  I'm not talking about the congregants sitting in the seats. I'm talking about the need that is not being met while they remain seated. We are always pieces of the Body of Christ. Our actions are always speaking God's love into the world. It is when that well in Africa needs to be built, but it doesn't magically stop when that project is done. There are ways God is calling you right outside your front door, and we are incapable of hearing it because of the horrible theology, "It will all work out in the end."

No! Sometimes it doesn't, because sometimes someone is called by God to stop it, and they didn't act. Not words. Not tweets. Action. #BringBackOurGirls did not really bring back anyone. In those cases, we are merely an outsider stating an opinion, not making the change in the world. 

Tell me that the phrase "It will all work out in the end," saved those girls. Bad things happen. Bad things happen to good people. Now go be the God's hands and feet, and change that.