Men of Issachar

1Chr 12:32: “Men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.”

Finished my last day of preaching practicum today and our professor took a moment to stand on a soapbox for the sake of preaching. He recounted his experiences with Kennedy and MLK assassinations, Watergate with Nixon and then posed to us his reflections over the past 24 hours.

The Democratic Party supported and endorsed an African-American President.

The Republican Party announced that they would have a female Vice-President.

He went on to mention that as pastors we are better orators than anyone as it is our craft and livelihood. But his point was that, in a few months, history will be changed for better or worse. This Presidential campaign has deep implications for religious institutions. For people who are afraid of multi-ethnic situations, for people who are used to the gender dominance of males, and for every single institution of academic, religious, business, and social ladder.

As part of a younger generation I have known that a time would come when my colleagues at Fuller, notably on gender lines, would not have to worry about gender being an issue in the process of ordination. With the possibility of a female being moved to the second most powerful position in our nation I suspect that most of those issues will start to fade away. I suspect that the ethnic issues will fade as well.

As I’m getting ready to move into another stage of life with graduation, my professor reminded me that there will be many things that will change. One comment from class was ‘I wish Dr. Scholer could have lived just a few more days to see this VP nomination.’ I think he knew that the time was coming soon; All he had to do was look in the eyes of the women he taught. He could see it in their eyes. I can see it there myself.

1Chronicles still holds much of the patriarchy that is common in the Old Testament. We are keepers of a different context, and I’m just beginning to understand the times.