It was a lovely funeral, celebrated for one of TBG's spin class buddies. It was a two-fer; her sister died three weeks before she did. They were both active in the church which hosted the service; their ashes were sprinkled on the grounds, beneath a cross, together forever.
The pastor knew them both quite well. So did most of the attendees. Stories were shared, praise was heaped, love was everywhere.... until it wasn't.
One of the stories revolved around a dance, referred to as a meet market. At least that was how I interpreted the sweet story to which it was attached, until mention was made of the meat and the heifers he saw there.
I tried not to gasp too loudly. The pastor smiled broadly, and repeated the tale, in all its cringe-worthiness, as he delivered the final Prayer for Peace.
I'd been able to find beauty in some of the passages he read. I was impressed with his kindness to the congregation, most of whom he'd seen just three weeks before. He was welcoming and thoughtful and his casual misogyny rankled all the more because of that.
This is why an 1864 law can be passed in modern day Arizona. The disrespect, the obliviousness, the hurt that any woman who'd ever had that insult tossed her way, all this from the pulpit, from a man of God, an authority figure.... this normalizing of the indefensible is why we are where we are today, teetering on the edge of electing a sexual predator to the highest office in the land.
It's just not right.
Ughhh! Sorry you had to sit through this. What an awful blot on an otherwise touching service.
ReplyDeleteTruly a blot.
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My God, you have got to be kidding me. Having a guest share such a story was bad enough, but to have the pastor repeat it is just beyond awful. I cannot begin to tell you how much this belittlement of women enrages me, and these people call themselves Christians!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he doesn't even remember it happened.
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Ugh...what a terrible thing to do at a funeral, or any event for that matter. The return to an 1864 law did not surprise me too much in our very strange times. I have said over and over that there are those trying to return us to 1950 and now I'm figuring there is a whole 'nother group trying to get back to the days of slavery. With people like that so-called religious man, we are doomed to that "turn-back."
ReplyDeleteThat he wasn't "woke" to the comment is what is so disturbing, right? Women with brains and rights are so terrifying that we have to turn back the clock to when females were kitchen/children/uneducated/not in the workforce/without credit of their own..... and don't get me started on how hard it was for me to get birth control in the 1970' s anyplace but Planned Parenthood.
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So much for the "man of god". Just awful.
ReplyDeleteI was so upset.... up til then I was ready to join his congregation.
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