I know what it is like to be a groom celebrating a marriage, but I don’t know what it is like to be a bride. I could use my imagination, but I know it will always fall short. If I had been a bride, would I have been joyfully ecstatic; would I have been anxious or even fearful; would I have been reluctive or even passive? I just don’t know.
Most of the time in the Scriptures, marriages are happy occasions with a few exceptions. In a very male-dominant society, St. Paul used the metaphor that the church is the bride of Christ. As a male, how do I wrap my mind around that? Women may be more conscious of how our gender impacts our understanding of life, even the life of faith.
In the present world I am conscious of t0he need to say “sisters and brothers” even in a church known as the Church of the Brethren. I am less sure that I always recognize how my gender affects my understanding of life, and the life of faith.
While I wonder if too much can be made of gender difference, I am also sure that too little can be made of its importance. I think that when Paul writes, “In Christ, there is no longer male nor female,” he did not intend to imply that there are no differences. Even though males and females are different in some ways, we still can be one in Christ.