So, the Oscars have come and gone for a couple weeks now. Some of you watched them and enjoyed them like myself, and some of you didn’t for reasons I can only assume aren’t related to the movies themselves. And that’s okay. Admittedly, there is a lot of noise around award shows like the Oscars because of the social, hot-button topics they directly confront. It can sometimes feel as though all of this is being imposed upon us, thrown in our face as if someone is trying to force us to see the world in the same way they do.

This post isn’t going to try and convince you to accept every social platform the Academy supports, nor is it going to try and tell you what you should believe instead. I’ve written on #metoo and the Silence Breakers elsewhere and so if you’re interested, you can check that out. However, there is absolutely a shift taking place in our culture with movements such as #metoo, “Time’s Up,” and others of the like that are bringing women’s equality to the forefront of conversation. And with March being Women’s History Month, I thought I would take this opportunity to talk about a few things pertaining to the topic.

The Christian faith has always been on the forefront of transforming culture for the better. Granted, sometimes it has gone the other way. But, even in the Bible itself, women were on the front lines and were some of the most prolific evangelists for Jesus during his ministry, and especially after he rose from the dead. This was no small feat considering they’re coming from a place where women were considered lesser and in some ways, even property.

You have the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 who very well could have been the first female evangelist, the woman caught in adultery in John 8, The Mary’s (Jesus’ mom, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the sister of Lazarus), you have Priscilla in Acts 18, Phoebe and Junia in Romans 16 whom Paul mentions as leaders of their communities at the end of the letter, even in the Patristic period you have Perpetua and Felicity who were among those martyred for their faith by the Roman Empire. We come from a long line of really strong women who refused to be in the background despite their cultural handicap and through the message of Jesus, challenged people in their time and place. The world was a better place with their presence in it and their voices heard.

Today, women’s voices are starting to be heard in ways we have never heard them before. The entertainment industry is being very effective at bringing women’s equality to the forefront of media outlets, whether you agree with the way they are doing it or not. People are talking about it. And yes, it creates a lot of noise and that noise can be off-putting for some because we may not know what to do with so much noise, or we feel as though we are being shamed if we aren’t necessarily attracted to the noise itself. Again, I’m not trying to convince you of something here, but I would like to encourage you to ask why the noise has suddenly gotten a lot louder in the past couple years.

I think the fact there is noise in the first place indicates a problem. That problem would be the Harvey Weinsteins of the world. That problem would be workplace discrimination and unequal pay for an equal value of labor. However, the noise also has to be contained. The entertainment industry can keep bringing the noise, but I would like to see the Church be the place where the noise is contained and a conversation can be had in a safe way. The Church has a long history of diversity, inclusion, and equality and I think it should be the safest place in the world for people to disagree, question, doubt, or be curious regarding other opinions. People on different ends of the spectrum and both sides of the fences have always found common ground in worshipping God and following Jesus.

But how can we contain all this noise without becoming overwhelmed ourselves? I suspect many of us are skeptical with platforms being used in a way that is “in your face,” but we have to focus on trying to empathize amidst all this commotion and trying to understand more instead of assuming more. If we start to notice where all the noise is coming from, perhaps we can also start to fix it together. We need to find ways of talking about things that need to change without shaming those of us who might be afraid or skeptical of that change. Otherwise, the change will never actually come about. Taking a stand is great, but the only way that we can move forward is together.