Saturday morning, and I'm feeling like my time here is just about done. Two weeks is longer than I've ever been away from the kids and Clark and I woke up feeling the sting of homesickness. And then guilt layered on top because this is the experience of a lifetime and something I've always wanted to do.
So this morning's plan is to visit a shabbat service in a local synagogue. My first thought about all of this is: I don't wanna. When we get there, women will be divided out from the men, placed in our own seperate-yet-unequal space which will be smaller and further from the men. I'll likely have to put on a scarf or a hat or a skirt or something because in this culture when a woman enters a holy space she needs to cover something. It makes me feel claustrophobic to put a scarf on my head.
But I don't want to rock the boat so I won't complain. If you are a woman in this place, you pretty much do what you are told because if you don't some holy man will come out of nowhere and yell at you in a language you can't understand. And forget about being a pastor - I have no authority here.
So what am I going to come away with after this? Maybe a better understanding about why Paul's message in Galatians 3:28 was so important to the early church: There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. On the other hand, there are so many Christian churches here that treat women badly, so who was really listening to him anyway?
Maybe the point is why its so important to my church in my context. Women have incredible gifts for leadership (I'm thinking of my sisters back home now). And better still, true partnership among people - both men and women - has been an important part of our church's ministry for a long time.
Anyway, did I mention that I can't wait to be home?
