Julie Clawson - onehandclapping

International Women’s Day Synchroblog/Synchrosermon

Posted on January 26, 2009July 10, 2025

Each year on March 8 the world takes time to observe International Women’s Day. It is a day dedicated to the celebration of women’s social, economic and political achievements worldwide. In the United States, this official day of observance is rooted in women’s efforts to campaign for rights to work, vote and hold public office, culminating on March 8, 1908, when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter work hours, better pay, voting rights, and an end to sweatshop conditions and child labor. In the early 1910s, the concept gained recognition in the international community and grew momentum as women across Europe continued to fight for the right to work and protest against ensuing world conflict.

This year March 8 falls on a Sunday. I know Sundays aren’t typically big blogging days since they are days when we take time to focus on our faith. But for that reason, I think we should make an effort this year to bring our faith to the celebration of IWD. So I’d like to suggest a joint synchroblog/synchrosermon observance of the day for Christians. Too often in the church not only are the voices of women not heard, but the stories of biblical women remain untold. But the Bible is full of inspiring examples of women faithfully following God and making a tremendous difference for the Kingdom. So this year on International Women’s Day I invite men and women alike to take the time to explore the lives of these great women through a –

Synchroblog – on March 8 post something on your blog about biblical women. This could be your experience (or lack thereof) with learning about these women, a reflection on the life of a particular woman, an exploration of the ways women led in scripture, or a midrashic retelling of the life of one of these women. Have fun with it, push yourself to discover new things, and let’s tell these stories together.

Synchrosermon – these stories of women are rarely told from the pulpit, so I encourage those of you preaching or teaching on March 8 to include the stories of biblical women in whatever you do. The church often wont hear about these women or learn from their example, unless pastors and teachers make a deliberate effort to dwell on the mothers of our faith as much as they usually dwell on the fathers.

It’s not difficult. This isn’t like other negative or angry IWD blog endeavours I’ve seen (and participated in) in the past. It is simply a way to positively encourage women and let women’s voices be heard.

So if you are interested in participating, leave a comment here so I can post the list of participants. Feel free to promote this among your networks as well. And thanks for helping women continue to have a voice.

Remembering the Alamo

Posted on January 24, 2009July 10, 2025

So last week when Mike’s parents were here for a visit we took them down to San Antonio to do the tourist thing. Which of course included the obligatory Alamo visit. Mike apparently was obsessed with Davy Crockett as a kid and even insisted on wearing his coonskin cap to school. So imitating the so-called “king of the wild frontier,” we stuck the kids in some faux-coon caps for the whole photo-op thing. But as the other adults went to tour the “remove hats, remain silent” mission, I took my loud and boisterous kids out to play in the gardens. But as I did so, I had to explain to an inquiring Emma what exactly the Alamo was and why we were there.

I grew up in Texas and so had required Texas history classes in both 4th and 7th grades. The hero stories of David Crockett’s, Jim Bowie’s, and my ancestor James Bonham’s last stand fighting for Texas “freedom” fed my childhood conception of the world. I wasn’t quite as enamoured as Mike was, but this is Texas and constant repetition and countless field trips make an impact. I recall even getting a talking to from my grandparents for not showing proper reverence and gratitude on one family Alamo excursion. So as much as I grew up with those stories, they are in truth stories that are 1. only true from a certain point of view and 2. that I don’t want Emma to be brainwashed with. Hence my attempt to explain to Emma the story of the Alamo sans hagiography from my own biased perspective. What emerged was more of a story of greed, land grabs, racism, power, and machismo than heroic last stand. Call it revisionist, call it true, I want her to learn more of the story than I ever did.

The best part though was after I set the historical stage and told Emma that all those people came to the Alamo to kill each other, she thought for a minute and then told me “I don’t want to be like those people.” I loved that. The heroes we worship as children often shape what we value as adults. While there are historical figures that I would encourage my daughter to emulate and respect, I’d rather her not be encouraged to admire men who steal and kill for their own vainglory (no matter how history has re-interpreted their acts). I’d rather her know that all heroes are flawed and that every story has more than one side. I doubt she’ll hear that in school. So if I want to teach her to love others and to treat them with respect, I need to make sure the heroes she is given to admire model those characteristics. But unfortunately most of the heroes from America’s cultural mythology fall rather short on that account. I don’t want to avoid exposing her to history – we still visit the sites, tell the stories, and stick her in coonskin caps – but let’s just say that we will have our own way of remembering the Alamo.

Posted by Julie Clawson

Stay-at-Home Moms, Identity, and Service

Posted on January 21, 2009July 11, 2025

In December an Australian cell phone company refused to sell a phone to a stay-at-home mom because she didn’t have a real job. They told her it was company policy and that if she wanted a phone her husband would need to come in to buy it for her. No credit check or inquiry into her actual ability to pay for the phone – just a blanket policy to not sell phones to stay-at-home moms. The mother of three said she was shocked and felt like a second-class citizen.

When this story hit the news most women I know were similarly shocked. We’d like to believe that this sort of dismissal of a woman’s identity is a thing of the past. We are no longer simply Mrs. John Does, needing our husband’s permission and identity to make our way through the world. We are full human beings who simply have chosen to commit ourselves to caring for others. And we find the idea that caring for children isn’t a real job just because we aren’t stuck in a cubicle or get a paycheck for being on call 24/7 to be farcical in the extreme. But apparently the myth continues.

Recently a (childless) friend expressed jealousy that I as a stay-at-home mom had so much free time to work on my writing whenever I pleased. I just stared at him with incredulity and asked if he would enjoy writing articles or a book in 5 minute increments between changing diapers, playing dolls, wiping up spit-up, reading storybooks, and kissing boo-boos. Not that I mind doing any of that, but let’s be realistic, free-time only occasionally occurs sometime after midnight – if I can manage to stay awake that long. This work is real.

I find it interesting that in our culture another group of people who face a similar dismissal of their chosen profession are pastors. They are constantly compared to their congregants who have “real jobs,” or asked repeatedly “so what do you do all week?” Apparently those of us who choose to devote our lives to serving others for little to no pay somehow fail to be full human beings in society’s definition of the term. Even within the church which values mothers and pastors in its own way, we still aren’t considered as worthwhile or important as others in more traditional buy/sell/trade/manufacture money-making professions.

Even though scripture encourages us to serve others and to place others’ needs ahead of our own, our culture often views those as optional endeavors – goals to pursue after the real work is done. We don’t value service as a career choice. I often wonder what would happen though if we chose to realign ourselves and our cultural values with the biblical call to service. I’m not talking about mothers finally receiving the estimated $100,000 a year salary some say they deserve for all the occupational hats they wear, but simply starting to value people as people regardless of what they do and to see service as a whole life orientation instead of a free time option. Perhaps not only would stay-at-home moms (and dads) garner greater respect, but the amount of service given for others would increase as well. And there are plenty of areas in this world today that could use that service.

Or at the very least, it would be nice to have a world where a stay-at-home mom could buy a cell phone when she needs one.

Hope

Posted on January 20, 2009July 10, 2025

Today was awesome. Watching the inauguration was moving – and doing so in virtual community was inspiring. And I’m loving the pervasive feeling of hope being celebrated literally around the world today.

But that hope received some push back today. From the cynics who disliked Obama from the get go to the anabaptists who reject all government involvement for good or for ill. While these critiques have some merit, I believe they often miss the point. Most of us have no delusions that Obama the man represents that hope. Our trust is not in him, he has no power to save us. Yes, we like him (with good reason), but what we are celebrating is much bigger than a man.

It is a hope inspired by the winds of change. Change like no longer having the rhetoric coming from our country’s leaders be that of power, oppression, and domination but instead that of mercy, love, and justice. Of course we don’t trust in rhetoric, but it is what forms the zeigeist of the nation. Language does shape us and leads us in paths of action. If we immerse ourselves in the language of hatred and fear then that will become who we are. So to find ourselves in the midst of language encouraging service, justice, peace, love, and mercy, then yes I think there is cause for celebration. Cause for rejoicing in a vision of being that does represent the values of the Kingdom. It isn’t the kingdom itself nor is Obama in any sense a savior, but anything that encourages the values of the kingdom is yes, in fact, good.

And that inspires hope.

Making Justice Sexy

Posted on January 19, 2009July 10, 2025

The new U2. Awesome timing. Great song. Thank you Bono for kicking the world in the butt and telling us to put on our boots and get to work. There are days when hope seems real.

Get On Your Boots

Future needs a big kiss
Winds blow with a twist
Never seen a move like this
Can you see it too
Night is falling everywhere
Rockets hit the funfair
Satan loves a bomb scare
But it won’t scare you

Hey…Sexy Boots
Get on your Boots
Yeah…

Free me from the dark dream
Candy bars, ice cream
All the kids are screaming but the ghosts arent real
Heres what you gotta be
Love & community
Laughter is eternity if the joy is real

You dont know how beautiful
You dont know how beautiful
You are…
You dont know
You get it do you
You dont know
How beautiful you are…

If someones into blowing up
Were into growing up
Women are the future
All the big revelations
Ive gotta submarine
Youve got gasoline
I dont wanna talk about wars between nations
Not right now

Sexy Boots
Get on your Boots
Yeah…
Foxy boots

You dont know how beautiful
You dont know how beautiful
You are…

Sexy Boots
I dont wanna talk about wars

Let me in the sound
Let me in the sound
Let me in the sound
My God Im going down
I dont wanna drown now
Let me in the sound

Let me in the sound
Let me in the sound
Let me in the sound

Get on your Boots
Get on your Boots
Yeah…

The Emerging Crossroads

Posted on January 18, 2009July 10, 2025

So if you haven’t read it yet check out Stephen Shields’ article in Next-Wave Ezine Ten Years Out: A Retrospective on the Emerging Church in North America. It’s a good overview of the state of the emerging movement these days from some of its major leaders. And while I am increasingly uncomfortable with the growing tendency for some of the leaders to toll the emerging death knell themselves, the movement is obviously at a crossroads. And personally I’m torn regarding that crossroads.

On one hand, I’ve always enjoyed the diversity of the emerging conversation. The ability for people of different denominational heritages or theological traditions to come together as part of a conversation. People came to the conversation for a variety of reasons, but as messy or awkward as it sometimes got, everyone had a voice. But then it got too messy for some and perhaps to passe for others.

So I’m torn. While I want to retain the diversity, its hard to do when you are repeatedly told that you’ve pushed the conversation too far – made it too messy. It’s hard to respect the needs of others to express who they are and what they are comfortable with when they don’t want to talk with you anymore. Should we just part ways – each respecting that the other is different and let that difference define us? Or do we remain in community, agreeing to disagree and perhaps work through those differences? No one is going to stop being who they are just so other people will like them, but there are other ways to be in community. When God got ahold of us all and pushed us to grow and stretch the false boundaries of our faith, it wasn’t a one time event where we all ended up at the same place after asking a series of appropriate questions. It was a process that of course looks different for all of us. So I can’t be pissed off that others aren’t asking the same questions I am, but it would be really nice if they respected my need to do so as part of the ongoing conversation.

I liked what Tony Jones had to say about this in the article – “It concerns me when leaders who were formerly friends of mine back away from me and from emergent because they find my theology too risky. I think that’s sin, plain and simple. Friendship should trump doctrinal differences, and I’m quite sure that Jesus would agree with me on that”

I would love it if emergent could retain its diversity instead of splintering. I want it to be like the coffee shop I often go to work at. On any given day I can hear at least 5 or 6 different languages being spoken there. I love that. Too often we can just stay with those who speak only our same language and not expose ourselves to the diversity of the world around us. So even if we don’t always understand each other in the emerging conversation, I wish we could be willing to at least be part of the same conversation.

The Past and the Future Along a Texas Highway

Posted on January 14, 2009July 10, 2025

I have a new post up at the Deep Green Conversation blog – Seeing the Past and the Future Along a Texas Highway. It’s inspired by this West Texas sight –

Over the holidays we loaded the kids in the car and made our way from Texas to a family gathering in New Mexico. It’s been decades since I last made that drive, so I wasn’t expecting the site that greeted us in West Texas. Expecting miles and miles of rugged and mindnumbingly boring terrain, we encountered instead the juxtaposition of the past and the future.

Across the expanses of cotton fields, there rose, side by side, oil wells and wind turbines. Little did I know that Texas is the country’s leading producer of wind energy and that I was driving through the second largest wind farm in the country. What I saw simply were hundreds of turbines spinning steadily while towering over still oil pumpjacks In short, a spectacular sight to give one pause.

Texas was once synonymous with oil. My own grandfather made and lost his fortune as a supplier to oil companies. But that world is changing. Another family member who has oil wells on his property (a result of the “drill here, drill now, pay less” push), is seeing them run dry. The oil is running out. Some are drilling deeper at enormous expense, only to deplete the oil in a few months. The oil tycoons realize this—the petroleum-dependent way of life that made them rich is ending. The average person might not see it yet, but those with a serious stake in it sure do.

So while the environmentalists and hippies have pleaded for clean energy for years, it is finally being actualize as the rich and powerful big oil people seek out alternatives. These wind farms in Texas are mostly the creation of businessmen who know that the world’s brief dalliance with oil is almost over. Clean, sustainable alternatives are where they are placing their bets. Hence the scene in West Texas—still oil jacks, representing relics of the past, being dwarfed by the sleek gleaming wind turbines ushering in the future.

Of course I considered this and rejoiced in a future of clean energy as I drove past in my gas-guzzling car. The irony there is almost too palpable. I’m grateful though that some people, whatever their reason, are pushing forward in developing clean technologies and making them accessible. Those of us who admire that possibility, but who have yet to escape conventional options, need the help of others to create the infrastructure for clean energy. I can’t exactly stick a turbine in my backyard, and don’t have the cash at the moment to install solar panels or buy an eco-car. But I can support projects that are paving the way to making such options available to all.

Needless to say, finding a hopeful vision of the future made the drive through West Texas much more intriguing than I expected it to be.

Choosing Between Truths

Posted on January 11, 2009July 10, 2025

I care about truth. Twist the epistemological argument every which way and slander postmoderns as you will, but pursuing truth does matter to me. But in the myriad of options for interpreting the Bible, sometimes it is hard to claim one truth over another. It is difficult to know which truth I want to cling to – which holds the most meaning for me.

Before you get too weirded out let me explain why this is currently bugging me. I was considering the story of Josiah rediscovering the book of the law as recorded in 2 Kings 22. Not exactly a story I grew up hearing often (no animals so therefore not an appropriate children’s Bible story apparently). But one that resonates with powerful meaning – depending on how you choose to interpret it.

The few times I heard this story mentioned in the literalist/inerrantist churches I attended, the truth in the story rested on it being historically factual. As in everything in it actually happened exactly as written in scripture. The King miraculously found the lost books of the law, was convicted by the nation’s lack of regard for God, and turned Judah back to worship of the one God. The moral of the story being to always immerse oneself in scriptures lest one fall away from true worship. Josiah was a great hero of the faith, and we too should be sure to never forget our daily quiet time of reading the Bible.

Then there’s the source criticism interpretation. Scholars suggest that Shaphan and Hilkiah, representatives of two powerful families in Judah at the time, actually forged the supposed long lost document. Their agenda was to reform the religious practices of Judah, centralize the worship in Jerusalem as a way of unifying the Judean and Israelite people in the wake of the destruction of the Northern Kingdom by the Assyrians a century prior, and also to limit the power of the king by making him subject to the Deuteronomic Law. The truth lies in the representation of the communal religious story, as well as in a historical accounting that meshes with other historical knowledge of that period. It makes sense – helping to explain the difference between the Levitical and Deuteronmic law as well as the strong emphasis on social justice in Deuteronomy. There is not so much a moral of the story here as a solving a puzzle feeling.

Finally (for my purposes at least) there is the feminist interpretation. Instead of dwelling on the power plays of influential families in Judah, or on the heroic acts of a King, this interpretation focuses on Huldah. A lost gem of scripture she was the prophetess who interpreted the books of law to Josiah and delivered the word of the Lord to him. Amongst all in Judah, she was the only one faithful enough to the mandates of God to continue in the study of and devotion to scripture. And she’s a woman. Take that all you complementarians – here’s the prime example of women in the Bible not only preaching and teaching men (the King and high Priest at that!), but doing so in a major way. She’s more than a hero, she’s a symbol of hope for all us women seeking to break free of the church’s silencing and oppression of our sex. Historically true because it has to be in order for the precedent setting to work. But also true in the message of hope it conveys to women.

This is where gets messy. I see the truth in all three interpretations (and I am sure more exist as well). I don’t automatically assume that the Bible just couldn’t be actually representing historical facts. But neither do I dogmatically insist that such is always the case. The story is true whether that truth rests in its historicity or in its power as a cultural narrative. I wouldn’t really care except that I want to claim Huldah’s story and point to her as an historical precedent for women’s leadership in the church. I don’t want her to just be a manipulated (or manipulative) pawn in some ancient power play – I want her to be genuine. I want this interpretation to work.

And so I wrestle with truths. Amongst equally valid options do I simply choose the story that makes the most sense in my worldview? Or do I sacrifice resonating meaning for scholarship or theological camps?

Truth in the end is all about choice.

But more importantly – faith.

Love and Sin

Posted on January 4, 2009July 10, 2025

I grew up having the doctrine of original sin hammered into me. People are sinful – rotten to the core from conception. As a result, I always assumed the worst of people. Sin was a person’s defining character trait. And above all else they needed redemption – at whatever cost. So in interacting with people one focused on their depravity – seeing how they were sinful and even making sure they knew that as well.

The problem with that stance is that it makes it really hard to love one’s neighbor. And I mean really love them – not some silly “tough love” line about loving them too much to allow them to continue in sin. But loving them even amidst the mess. So in this mindset, when it was brought up that we should care for the poor who lost their homes in Katrina we were told that some of them are poor because of their sin. Or when its suggested that illegal immigrants should be treated with dignity and respect, some horrendous anecdote about a criminal act committed by an immigrant is mentioned. Or when its suggested that the homeless get fed, they are written off as undeserving addicts and alcoholics. The idea seems to be that if some sort of sin can be pinned on a person that gets us off the hook for having to love them.

But it can be dangerous to fall out of the habit to love. When we chose not to “in humility consider others better than ourselves” but instead dwell wholly on their faults we end up resorting to doing most things out of “selfish ambition and vain conceit.” Our needs reign supreme when we readily find excuses not to love others. Loving our neighbor then becomes a foreign concept.

Perhaps I’ve been too long in the emerging church world where loving others is just a given. Or perhaps spending the holidays with my family who thinks I’m an idealistic freak was a wake-up call. But it still shocks me when I encounter people who are genuinely confused as to why caring for the needs of others would be a motivating factor for doing anything. I want to believe love wins, but then I encounter so many people who can’t even fathom the concept. It’s just difficult when even the basic aspects of the faith can’t even be agreed upon.

At Year’s End

Posted on December 30, 2008July 10, 2025

So I’m spending the week at my parent’s place in Taos, NM. It’s gorgeous here, but kinda crazy keeping up with the kids in a new environment (not to mention the high altitude). So blogging is going to be slow.

But as the year ends, I thought I’d do one of those year end lists that seem so popular. I have a post up at the Emergent Village blog where I look forward to 2009, but here I want to look back at the books I read this past year. With the arrival of Aidan and the move to Texas, I didn’t read anywhere near as much as I normally do. And there’s a few books on this list that I read something like four times :). Of this list the ones I would most recommend would be Caputo’s What would Jesus Deconstruct and The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle.

So here’s my year in books 2008 –

Theology/Church
The Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight
The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle
The Fidelity of Betrayal by Peter Rollins
Finding Our Way Again by Brian McLaren
Jesus: Made in America by Stephen J. Nichols
My Beautiful Idol by Peter Gall
The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
Speaking of Faith by Krista Tippett
Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright
The New Christians by Tony Jones
Saving Women from the Church by Susan McLeod-Harrison