Tag: Rachel Held Evans

Real Life, Thankful

When I haven’t been here…

I’ve been busy elsewhere!

I was really honored to have Rachel Held Evans ask me to guest post for her on SGM a couple months ago, and she was patient with me as I kept pushing it off to recover from crazy life stuff. I finally got her a draft, she pared it down from it’s original [ridiculous] 8 pages of text, and goodness. What a response. Thank you, folks. 

From the post:

If you’ve believed the lie that your worst day is better than you, the sinner, deserve, if you’ve identified yourself with the name of Sinner for so long it’s inseparable from your self-confidence, let me dare you to believe that you are worth more than that. The New Testament overwhelmingly refers to those who love and follow Jesus as “believers” or “brethren” or “saints.” Not sinners. Saints.

If your experience in SGM was negative in similar ways to my story, please hop onto the comments and tell SGM pastor Stephen Altrogge that my story isn’t unique. I’m not surprised at his response — as a man and a pastor in SGM, you are insulated from the insanity and instead become a cog in the system. Help him see his blind spots?

Thank you, Rachel, for hosting this. Your support of survivors of spiritual abuse is heartening.

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Back in April, my friend Kristen posted on Facebook that she wanted some models for her StoryTime workshop students to practice on. I had the day free, so I volunteered. I didn’t expect what happened next — I met the smart, sensitive, and delightful Megan Luckeroth, and we went exploring the Farm Park in Gaithersburg after talking for nearly an hour over coffee. We found flowers, horses, amazing trees, and got rained on. I loved it. She posted the shoot on her blog this week, and WOW. If you need a photographer in the Baltimore/DC area, she’s your gal.

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(c) Megan Luckeroth

 

Commonplace Links, Link Love

Commonplace Links 10/19

I’m dashing out the door to go to a wedding in Atlanta this weekend (and a quick stop to see my family on our way south – I haven’t been home since July, and I miss them!), but here’s this week’s links. I think you’ll notice two themes: “slut-shaming” (look it up) and how to interpret the Bible well. I’m passionate about these topics, so this was a good reading week for me. I don’t have time to summarize all of these links, but do explore and enjoy!

Rachel Held Evan’s new book is out (I’m going to read it in the car – it arrived on Wednesday, but it’s been a crazy work week and I haven’t had a lot of mental space for reading. Which is also why the post on lust and modesty isn’t finished yet. Look for it on Monday!), and she’s getting a ton of attention online. To be honest, I felt a little skeptical about her premise (“a year of biblical w0manhood,” where she takes biblical teachings on womanhood as literally as possible for a whole year), but as I’m reading more about it and skimming bits of the book itself, I’m realizing that her methods are not so much a sarcastic jab at taking the Bible literally, and more of a sincere attempt to interpret the Bible with intellectual integrity. Which is always her biggest goal.

Related:

A lot of fantastic analysis is going on regarding why the complementarian men appear to feel threatened by RHE’s book (and the controversy over her use of the word “vagina” in it). Some are saying that this is “slut shaming” (a tactic to embarrass a woman who steps outside of social norms in order to force her to abide by them).

Even if it isn’t, there’s been some serious examples of real slut shaming recently:

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Unrelated and enjoyable:

Have a great weekend!