Nicole’s e-Pistle

August 21, 2024

Hello, Friends!

I have fabulous news! By the time you read this e-Pistle, Bjorn and I will have signed the paperwork closing on our new home! It will be a while before we spend our first night in the house (lots of painting and unpacking to take care of first), but we are so excited to have reached our goal!

I felt inspired to center my message today around the word “house,” but as I was flipping through Strong’s Concordance, I realized most of the Biblical images around a house are terribly patriarchal and even misogynistic. While I usually do not feel at all threatened by patriarchal images in the Bible, as I read more and more passages that included the word “house,” especially in Paul’s epistles, I confess I got my dander up. There is a nagging undertone in some circles, even in my Christian Standard version Study Bible for Women, that says my place is in the home, quiet and submissive. What was supposed to be a fun reference to an exciting time for our family, quickly turned sour.

Has that ever happened to you? Are there parts of scripture that simply turn your stomach? It’s okay to say so, although it can feel intimidating to even entertain such a thought. My professor Dr. Raj Nadella said it best, I think, when he said that the Bible is like a beloved family member at Christmas Dinner. You may respect them and take what they say to heart, but it doesn’t mean you agree with everything that comes out of their mouth. Because love comes first in the relationship, it is okay to push back against the way their feelings and opinions differ from your own. It is healthy to engage in discussion over those differences, and when necessary for the sake of the relationship, to discern when it is time to agree to disagree.

I am a woman. I have a loving husband and two beautiful children (if I do say so myself). I am thrilled to begin nesting again in our new home, and most of my waking thoughts right now involve paint colors, furniture placement, and closet organization…

I am also not the silent, submissive, learn-in-the-home kind of gal. I am confident of my purpose and secure in the support of my family and congregation – I want to be clear that I have had no reason to doubt your love and support. However, for those who take Paul literally in our modern age, I do not boast of any kind of “usurped authority” (1 Timothy 2:12), for my authority to speak comes from God alone. I, therefore, submit fully to God alone and seek to do God’s will in all things…

It honors and humbles me to serve as your pastor, and I am indeed… home.