Hannah is a nobody, the insignificant wife of an insignificant member of an insignificant tribe. Compared to Eve, mother of all living; Sarah, mother of God’s people; or Deborah, judge of Israel—who is she? Just a barren women loved by her husband but jeered at by a younger, fruitful wife (1 Sam 1:1-8).
Author Archives: Jean Williams
Stress-throwers and stress-absorbers
Life, Sola Panel
Are you a stress-thrower or a stress-absorber?
A stress-thrower blames things on others and expresses stress in anger; a stress-absorber blames things on themselves and expresses stress in anxiety (I think I’ve got that right!). This useful distinction was taught to me by Tom Cannon, a chaplain I used to work with in university ministry. In our family, we have both stress-throwers and stress-absorbers.
Deborah: a mother in Israel
Life, Sola Panel
Deborah, judge of Israel, is a poster-girl for egalitarianism in Judges 4-5. She’s undoubtedly female, and she’s a leader of God’s people: a judge who delivers God’s rulings, and a prophetess who speaks God’s words. Like the other judges, she’s used by God to deliver his people when they turn from their idolatry and cry to him for rescue from their enemies. Her husband is virtually absent from her story and, if she had any children, they aren’t mentioned. If the New Testament seems to say that women shouldn’t teach or have authority in the church, surely Deborah shows that these restrictions are cultural and can be laid aside in our more enlightened society!
Sisters for those with no sisters
Life, Sola Panel
I grew up with one brother and no sisters. I love my brother, and never longed for a sister (unlike my daughter, who loves her three brothers, but has always wanted a twin sister). But I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a sister.
A remarkable woman
Life, Sola Panel
I met a remarkable woman the other day. To be honest, she’s not the kind of woman I normally feel comfortable with. She’s had an immoral past, a pagan background, and a life of change and crisis. She’s brave, shrewd and outspoken. I might as well come out and say it: she was once a prostitute. But I reckon she knows more about God than any number of women from safe Christian backgrounds (like me).
A theology of milk and other ordinary things
Life, Sola Panel
Last year I read this statement, tucked away in a footnote in a certain august magazine:
… Paul isn’t talking [in 1 Corinthians 10:31] about just any old eating and drinking (as if there is such a thing as a godly and an ungodly way to drink a glass of milk!), but about the specific issue of sharing in fellowship meals with unbelievers.1
The bit in brackets disturbed me (although, as I read on, I was reassured2) because I’m convinced that the Bible has a huge amount to say about seemingly inconsequential things like how to drink a glass of milk. (more…)
Girl crushes and a petulant princess
Life, Sola Panel
Have you ever had a ‘girl crush’? You know, that admiring, platonic devotion women sometimes feel for other women. (The male version is, of course, the ‘boy crush’—most often expressed in adulation for preachers and thinkers like Don ‘The Don’ Carson and or John Piper.) Perhaps you adore Elisabeth Elliot, that beloved missionary. Perhaps you revere Susannah Wesley—she of the apron and the many children. Perhaps you idolize one of those regal, older women—someone you know who radiates calmness, wisdom and humility.
Sarah, wife of Abraham, seems like an ideal candidate for a girl crush. Her very name means ‘princess’. Her beauty was legendary (Gen 12:11). Many women (I’m one of them!) have been inspired by the Bible’s call to imitate her persevering faith and trusting submission (Heb 11:8-12, 1 Pet 3:1-7).
So when my Bible study group came to Sarah’s story, I think we were all expecting something pretty special. But we were unimpressed.
Talking about predestination with children
Everyday Ministry, Sola Panel
It’s the question that every Christian parent knows is coming sooner or later. I’m driving when six-year-old Thomas pipes up from the back seat. We’re alone, which doesn’t happen often in a family of six, so it’s a precious time for us. Deep thoughts are clearly running through his head: “Mummy, why do some people believe in Jesus and not others?”
Motherhood and …
Life, Sola Panel
It’s time for some free association. I’ll give you a word. Close you eyes and tell me what springs to mind. Ready?
Motherhood.
What did you come up with? Kids? Caring? Apple pie? I’m pretty sure none of you came up with the word ‘salvation’! But in the Bible, motherhood and salvation go hand in hand.
It is not death to die
Life, Sola Panel
I was driving the kids home from school when I saw something you don’t expect on an arterial road heading into a major city. It was a horse-drawn carriage, taking up the left-hand lane, slowing the traffic to a crawl.
Temptation and the garden
Life, Sola Panel
All our temptations are garden temptations.
I don’t usually talk much about gardening when I lead Bible studies, but recently during our study on Genesis 3, I asked, “What does the Garden of Eden show us about God?”
The answer? God is abundantly generous. He didn’t give Adam and Eve a dry loaf and a cup of water; he gave them a beautiful garden brimming with varied, wonderful fruitful plants to eat and enjoy (Gen 2:9).
And what was God’s word to the people he’d made? “Eat! Eat freely from every tree in the garden!”1 There was only one tree they weren’t to eat from, and that was “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:16-17). In other words, the only thing they weren’t to do was to rip God’s authority away from him, and decide good and evil for themselves.
But that’s not the way Eve saw it.
Kids@church/Click: Some great material for your children’s Sunday School
Review, Sola Panel
I teach Sunday School for children regularly, but I don’t always have the time and energy to write my own lessons. So last year I found myself in the market for Sunday School material.
Thanks to a friend trawling through the shelves at a Christian bookshop, what I discovered was kids@church, put out by Youthworks in conjunction with CEP. (In Britain, it’s published as Click by The Good Book Company). I suspect that lots of churches in Sydney are familiar with this material, but many other churches aren’t.
Woman to woman: Answering the call of Titus 2
Everyday Ministry, Sola Panel
In this article for women and their pastors, Jean Williams talks about discipleship, women’s ministry and how to become the sort of woman who has been shaped and moulded by the word of God. (more…)
A very Sola Panel survey (Jean Williams)
Review, Sola Panel
One of the things we’re doing as we wrap up the year here at Sola Panel is to ask our contributors to share some of their highlights for the year from the world of reading and the web. Here’s Jean Williams’s contribution:
(more…)
Making it to the end
Life, Sola Panel
The year is winding down, and life is unravelling a little around the edges. I’m no longer so keen to get up early and read my Bible. Chores go neglected. The kids’ homework tapers off, then stops. The days I planned so carefully at the start of the year and launched myself into with shiny new enthusiasm gradually become chaotic and disorganized. (more…)