“From the beginning of creation God made them male and female.” – Mk 10.6
There’s something beautiful about the biblical creation story that points to everything in creation having a sense of purpose and design. Everything is created by God, who sees creation and declares that it is good. And it is the same with the creation of man and woman. There is design. There is purpose. There is meaning in being a man and in being a woman. We experience the world differently. Our physicality, our psychology, even our spirituality expresses our uniqueness as male and female.
Perhaps this is one of the great challenges of the Church in modern times to rediscover what it means to be created in the image of God and what it means to be created ‘male and female.’ How do we express our ‘being male’ and ‘being female’ in our Church, in our world and in our families? How do we celebrate this uniqueness in our vocations, our relationships and in our worship?
But perhaps there’s more to discover than just the interrelationship of men and women. What about the relationship between clergy and laity? The old and young? The ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’?
Can we see God’s design at work in the cooperation and balance of these complimentary relationships?