Beloved - all.

This week we celebrate Mary Magdalene, one of the truly great women we meet in the Holy Scriptures. There is a myth, I have heard loudly proclaimed, that Christianity seeks to subordinate women. Now, it may be true that over the centuries the Church has done this, but Christianity itself, I would argue, honours holy women equally to holy men. Genesis 1:27 'So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.' Jesus defends women in Matthew 9, 15, 26, Mark 14, Luke 10, 13, John 4 and 8 from the unfair criticism of the men around them. Paul, so often quoted by those who would put women on a lesser stage, cites a number of woman in church as “my co-workers” inferring their equality with him in the proclamation of the Gospel. We are all equally God's children, and equally loved and honoured by God's grace.

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