Wise Women

I attended an excellent seminar on Suffering at Equip over the weekend. The cuds are still tasty after two days of rumination. Judith Nichols was a vessel of sympathy, Biblical wisdom, real-life-experience and practical advice without nonsense. She handled the topic with a firm and warm hand, masterfully waded through the ethical and spiritual landmines.

Couldn't help being struck by how important it is to be an older woman to carry that off.* Yes, being old doesn't equate to having wisdom gleaned from life experience, nor even to godliness (I've added it to the list)! But there was something about Judith's graceful age that contributed to the gravitas and richness of the seminar. The deep pitch of her voice testifying to her years of living, the lines testifying to the ranges of expressions that have adorned her face and her stillness stripped of youth's fidgeting. They say: this woman has lived and she knows what she's talking about.

I've been writing a sermon on Job and I have somethings to say about suffering which are quite tough to hear. But I'm anticipating that those hard truths will sound trite, unfounded and unsympathetic if they are delivered by someone who is young and looks like a teenager. This is the criticism of Elihu. (Sometimes Asian genes aren't a help!)

Titus 2 gives a teaching model that is often neglected by a society which greatly values youth and qualifications. It is distinct from the peer-mentoring and the profession-lay models. The ideal is that the older women shall teach the younger.

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

~ Titus 2:3-5 (NIV)

Older women's prior experience and a life worthy of imitation are assumed. God gives a growth model that prizes goodness, relationships, personal conduct and practicalities. These things are to be taught by older women so that no one will malign the word of God. Is this not a lovely collision of love and truth in the practice of Christian community?

Perhaps we place too much emphasis on the qualifications and activities of the "senior" woman of the ministry to the programs. Meanwhile, we often overlook the value of older women of the group, whose wisdom and experience can encourage godly living which testifies to the goodness of God's word.

*I sincerely hope she doesn't mind this post!