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Gender Justice

By Pastor Lisa Rygiel

We continue this week with another excerpt from the ELCA book entitled Forgive Us and Transform Us for the Life of the World. This week’s topic is What is Gender Justice.

For the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, gender justice includes everyone and is rooted in faith. Gender justice is for all people, and about all people so that all may flourish. Gender justice is a goal to make sure people do not experience discrimination or oppression based on sex (our bodies), gender (how we express ourselves), and/or sexuality. It is both individual (how we treat each other interpersonally) and systemic (how we think about people and how we treat each other through structures, institutions, laws, policies, and practices). No one should suffer from the sin patriarchy produces.

What does gender justice look like? It looks like women being taken seriously as ministers, receiving affirmations, or fielding comments about their sermons and not their hair. It looks like men embracing the full selves that God created, free to cry, be vulnerable, and be strong. It looks like men who do not need to bear the weight of being the only authority for their families. It looks like laws and policies that support both working and stay-at-home parents. It looks like a health care system that provides OB/GYN care for everyone — where Black women of all incomes no longer suffer higher rates of premature birth and maternal mortality than white women of all incomes. It looks like LGBTQIA+ people being treated equally under the law and hearing that God loves them.

Gender justice is rooted in a Lutheran understanding of faith. Because gender justice is about taking care of people, it is a form of neighbor love for everyone. Remember, a key Lutheran insight is that Christians are justified by grace through faith. We cling to God’s promise that we do not need to earn God’s favor. Instead, we trust that God’s grace transforms us through Word and sacrament. God’s love changes us. We believe that we are freed through Christ to love neighbors. God’s love changes us to be love for neighbors. In Christian community, we help each other practice neighbor love.

But what does Christian love have to do with gender justice? Justice is what love of neighbor looks and feels like in society. That is why the ELCA social statement Faith, Sexism, and Justice: A Call to Action refers to neighbor justice. That justice is how we express love for neighbors through structures, institutions, laws, policies, and practices in both church and society.

Gender justice, then, is a specific form of neighbor justice — love of neighbors through structures, institutions, laws, policies, and practices. Gender justice even plays a role in how we think about people according to sex and gender. In biblical terms, gender justice supports the flourishing of all people so that no one suffers harm based on sex, gender, or sexuality.

 

Nov. 11, 23rd Sunday after Pentecost
10 a.m. Sunday Worship

Announcements

  • Fellowship Time: Join us after worship on Sunday for coffee and conversation. All are welcome.
  • The Way Ministry: At 1 p.m. each Sunday, Zion’s welcomes the Way ministry to our fenced lower yard as they offer food and worship to the unhoused and others in need.
  • Children’s Choir: Children’s Choir is at 3 p.m. each Sunday, through Nov. 30, in the Fellowship Hall.
  • Yoga: At 5:30 p.m. Friday, join Cora Gardiner for yoga in the Fellowship Hall.
  • Weekly Christian Education Studies: Our study entitled By What Authority: Rethinking Early Christian History will not meet this coming week but will resume on Nov. 20.
  • Thanksgiving: Our annual community Thanksgiving Dinner is just around the corner. We need help with food preparation, packaging, serving, delivery, set-up, and clean-up. Sign-up sheets are on the bulletin board in the Fellowship Hall. We also are identifying delivery drivers, kitchen help, servers, and people to set up and clean up, among other tasks. Monetary donations are welcome. If you have questions, contact Norine Hazen. Remember, we have cancelled We are Turkey Fryday on Nov. 22 and now need additional help with cooking.
  • Winter Coat Drive: Again, Zion’s will partner with The Way to provide coats, socks, mittens, knit hats, scarves, blankets, etc. to those who need them most. During November, you can bring new or lightly used items to the Fellowship Hall. Place the donations on the stage and they will be collected and given to Pastor Clay & Mary Mason to redistribute to those in need of additional winter warmth.
  • Toys for Tots: Terri Watson again will be the Marine Corp representative for Toys for Tots in Las Animas County. She has placed a collection box in the Fellowship Hall for new, unwrapped toys. Monetary donations also are welcome. The donations deadline is Dec. 8. Terry says that baby toys (infant to 3 yoa) are particularly needed.
  • Donate to Hungry Families: Las Animas Department of Human Services and the South Central Council of Governments are accepting donations to provide SNAP beneficiaries with grocery store vouchers. Vouchers and cash are the most efficient way to provide food to families. Please consider donating! If you need to access these benefits, use the QR code at right.
  • Your Help is Needed: At 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15, hands and vehicles are needed to remove the remaining contents of Peggy Gustafson’s home and bring them to the church. We will be having a celebration of life service for Peggy at 11 a.m. on Nov. 29 with a luncheon in the fellowship hall to follow.

E-formation – 23rd Sunday after Pentecost, Nov. 16

How should Christians think about God’s power, granting wars, earthquakes, plagues, injustice, and strife even within families? This coming Sunday the gospel holds these examples of human suffering next to the word of Christ, who will save us.


Luke 21:5-19

The human fear of future terrors is perennial. Not breath-taking buildings, nor stunning art, nor religious affiliation, nor national pride, nor the stability of the earth, nor what our society likes to call “family values” will save: Christ is the one.

Malachi 4:1-2a

This passage is set next to the Lucan apocalypse because of its imagery of both judgment and mercy. The tree of evil will be burned up. Christians see Christ as the sun by which God will heal and bring justice. As also Christians fear future terrors, we can trust in divine healing.

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

In this, the final excerpt in the ecumenical lectionary from 2 Thessalonians, Christians are called to live in the real present, rather than in an imagined ideal future. Care must be taken that this passage is not heard as condemning those countless people who cannot find adequate work, which was not a problem that the early church faced.

Zion's Lutheran Church
A Reconciling in Christ Community

zionsluth@gmail.com
719-846-7785