Grandchildren. Hands down, the best thing about “growing
old"! Can I get an amen??
Our first grandson is just over
a year old, and we’re expecting grandson number two in mid-September. Baby Jack was showered this weekend by dozens
of family members and friends with more gifts than he will ever receive on this
side of his mom’s tummy. While he was
given lots of practical things…like a crib mattress, stroller, car seat, and a diaper
pail…the really fun stuff were the tiny little outfits, shoes, and hats that
celebrate his miniature manhood. From
football jerseys to shark swimmies, no one will mistake this little fella for a
girl!
Our kids, both of them, made
the now sort of routine decision to find out the gender of their baby. I was a little ambivalent, since for so many
years (like thousands) families had babies without this information and it
seemed to me that the mystery was part of the fun. However, I have to admit that it has been so
sweet to call these boys by their names from before we actually held them in
our arms and we have had so much fun preparing for their arrival with boy
stuff.
That said, I have been thinking
this weekend about how odd it is that the generation so enamored with
discovering, preparing for and celebrating the gender of their babies while
still in their mommies womb is the same generation clamoring for our culture to
stop insisting on gender identification.
Isn’t that weird?
Recent headlines have announced
the increasing demand for gender-neutral restrooms (there’s one in the White
House) and locker rooms. Sweden has
adopted a gender-neutral pronoun. And
the University of Vermont is now recognizing a third gender: neutral.
Over the weekend, I noticed among the posts and pictures about the lives
of my friends and family on Facebook an illustration of a woman with this
“thought bubble” above her head:
“The
problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be
rather
than recognizing how we are.”
What?!?! This from the young people spending millions
of dollars on elaborate “gender reveal” parties that include secretly colored baked
goods, or sealed boxes of pink or blue balloons, or some equally creative means
to announce the gender of the
as-yet-to-be-born baby. Couples then
register for gender-specific clothes, design nursery décor with gender in mind,
and agonize over a name (or two) for their little prince or princess. Honestly, I’m scratching my head.
Never in our history has so
much been made of the issue of gender.
And, while I’m not exactly sure what she means, to whatever degree the
lady with the bubble articulates the direction we’re headed, we’re on a pathway
that leads not to freedom, but to destruction.
It should go without saying
that the gender “idea” began in the mind of God, the only Being who actually
possesses the power to create whatever His will determines.
“So God
created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him; male and
female he created them.”
[1]
The audacity, therefore, to even
articulate a thought that begins with “the problem with gender” demonstrates
both an ignorance and a willfulness that is worrisome as I think about the
future for my grandsons.
There are (at least) two
equally challenging issues before us as Christ-followers. The first is that we must rediscover (or
discover for the first time!) the glory of God’s plan for gender. This was not an afterthought on His part, a
casual slap of paint on the canvas of creation.
People were created by God in His
image – male and female. That
statement is stunning in its significance.
We’ve heard the details over and over from the days of picture books and
coloring pages to felt boards and “Bob and Larry’s Creation Vacation”[2],
but I’m afraid we’ve lost the marvel and power of this incredible act of grace
at the hand of the Creator of the Universe.
How will we, as a church, recover the joy-filled, God-glorifying,
hope-inspiring plan of the Father for male and female if all we know of that
plan is relegated to caricatures and stick figures? How will we “recognize how we are” without
digging deep into the heart and mind of God through His Word?
Second, and perhaps more
sobering, is that we must examine our own hearts to identify the willfulness
and self-rule that entertains (aka “likes” on Facebook!) such a thought that
begins with the words: “The problem with
gender…” Those four words, strung
together as they are here, are a powder-keg of rebellion because the suggestion
is that
God made a mistake.
That His
plan was flawed.
That the creation is better, wiser, more
clever than the Creator.
So we make our own way. Choose our own path. Live independently. This is, after all, the American way. (Cue the
Battle Hymn of the Republic.)
Except that several thousand
years ago another woman had a similar thought to the one that appeared on my
Facebook feed. Picture Eve as she is
depicted in the first few verses of Genesis 3.
With the beautiful but deadly serpent in the background, the “thought
bubble” above her head reads: “The
problem with God’s plan…”
Turns out we’re not terribly original. Sigh.
For this evening, I’m clinging
to the last few verses of Genesis 3 --- the Gospel verses where Jesus defeats
that lying enemy[3]
--- as I enthusiastically and without reserve declare: Yup…it’s a boy! Anybody got a problem with that? J
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