"In addition, some of our women amazed us."

When I read this short sentence in Luke 24:22, and think of it outside of any context, it makes me smile. (In typical fashion perhaps, another case of men amazed by things they could have noticed long before had they paid attention? Say the phrase above in your best Homer Simpson accent.)

But the fuller context of these accounts of Jesus' resurrection in the gospels shows the interesting fact that after being raised to life, Jesus reveals himself to first to a woman (Mary) rather than to his core (male) group of disciples. He tells her to go tell the others. And through the angels at the empty tomb, women are among the first to be instructed to go tell the others.

I've heard people claim this or that place and moment as the "birthplace" of Christian missions. It would be not at all difficult to make the case that it really began with the women in the garden of Gethsemane who were charged by angels and by Jesus to "go and tell" others the Good News.

The impact of that moment -- the theological significance of Jesus' death and resurrection, the new covenant in his blood, the defeat of death's grip -- none of this seemed to be at all understood by Jesus' closest companions, male or female. Understandably, there was instead mainly confusion, fear, uncertainty, shock, and excitement.

It would take months and years for the impact of that moment to sink in, for the disciples, for the first groups of believers, for the Apostles who were soon after "sent" by Jesus. It would be years before the Apostle Paul would himself believe, and eloquently write that in Christ, there is neither male nor female.

(A separate and sizeable topic that I won't take the time to delve into this week is a discussion of the cultural, spiritual, and gender roles of men and women who follow Jesus around the world. Personally, I have more questions than conclusions here. One of my assumptions is that God did uniquely design some special characteristics and roles for men and women. But an observation is that many of the gender-based characteristics and roles historically seen in various human communities appear to be culturally based, and may or may not be very representative of God's "pure" and original intent for the unique roles of men and women. A topic for another day? Yes.)

Jesus started by sending women to tell the others. And Jesus has continued to send women -- single and married -- in uniquely powerful ways to be his hands and feet, both within communities and nations, and also across big cultural and geographic barriers.

In some of these places women have done things which men would be unable to do. In some, women have done a better job in areas that men are thought to be strong. All to the glory of Jesus and the service of God's kingdom on earth and in heaven.

Some pieces this week on urbana.org further explore this theme:
Feminism on the Field?
The Place of Women in World Missions (Urbana 73)
Little Women, Big God
Gladys Aylward (Great Cloud of Witnesses)

Pay special attention this week, especially if you're a male, to the amazing women of faith around you whom God has created "in our image" (God's choice of plural personal pronoun in Genesis when creating Adam and Eve) and whom God has gifted to "go and tell."

No, it's not a new band.

Scanning today's headlines, which are fairly typical, my first inclination is how much I am not thankful for in our world. Violence, anger, injustice, hatred, disease, disagreement, power struggles, suffering, lives cut short, excess here and not enough there.

But I'm going to turn that around and take note of a few things for which I'm thankful.

I'm thankful that today's news indicates the overall security situation is improving in Baghdad.

I'm thankful to hear the U.N. is announcing that there are only an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide infected with HIV rather than the higher estimate of 39.5 million from last year. That's still a staggering number of people, but it's over 6 million souls worth of better news than was thought to be the case.

I'm thankful for medicine that is becoming more accessible and effective to extend and improve the lives of people with HIV.

I'm thankful for organizations like World Vision, and millions of generous givers and volunteers behind these organizations, that can respond with urgency and infrastructure and expertise when there is a crisis like the cyclones that hit Bangladesh five days ago.

I'm thankful that Olmert is "optimistic over peace" today in Israel and Palestine. Because I've heard that before, I'm even much more thankful for people who live there, on both sides, who are determined to demonstrate daily the feasibility of peaceful coexistence.

I'm thankful that Pakistan has released 3,400 people recently jailed under "emergency rule."

I'm thankful for the third of a million new lives that were born today around the world, the significance they will bring to their communities and the ways they will shape history.

I'm thankful for churches around the world where people can strive together to know and serve God in their own culture and context.

And, on a whole 'nother genre...

I'm thankful for harvest and fall, my favorite season, the beautiful colors and the hunkering down for rest, to sift and ponder and store things up, wait for the new life and realization that will come on the other side of winter.

I'm thankful for hospice, and what it has meant in the life and leaving of people close to us this year.

I'm thankful for community, people to serve and to depend on for help. I'm thankful for people who are different from us which increases the amount that we can learn from one another.

I'm thankful for bounty and abundance.

Most of all I'm thankful for the creative and sacrificial love of Jesus; for God's grace, love, forgiveness, mercy, and empathy.

Have a peaceful, safe, thoughtful and prayerful Thanksgiving Day. 

Is there any circumstance that would warrant being ambiguous about the ethics of waterboarding, where a person is forced through the simulation of drowning?

No.

1) Waterboarding is torture.

2) Torturing any person (physically or psychologically) is wrong.

There need not be any ambiguity about either of these facts. But leave it to us sinful human beings to quibble over the precise definition of torture - and how we might go up to the edge of the torture line but not cross it; or even how to redraw the line since "everything changed after 9/11."

Did God's character, intent, or truth change after 9/11? As if God reeled back in surprise and said "Woa... ok, take the gloves off if you have to."

Whatever the "war on terror" is (so far an apparently self-defeating choice of words), any authority or legitimacy it might have would be severely undermined in the eyes of the whole world of onlookers, by any ambiguity by the world's superpower-turned-victim about whether or not torture is OK, or whether or not medieval techniques like waterboarding constitute torture.

Terror is real, it's on the increase, and of course it's not a simple problem, nor is fighting it, which we must.

But "waterboarding is torture is wrong" is very simple stuff. My kids' spelling words are harder than this. Not only is torture wrong, it's the dead-wrong way to fight terror.

So why can't we just SAY that? Why would an attorney general of the United States not be able to just say the obvious in the middle of a job interview?

What's at stake when our nation beats around the bush on this issue? We sacrifice a few little things like our credibility, our legitimacy, our friends and allies, our reputation, our trustworthiness, our moral voice as a nation on matters of justice and fairness in the world.

How could the United States apply pressure on a powerful nation like China in the area of human rights abuses, when our Attorney General (the former one or the new one) cannot simply say, "Waterboarding is torture, and torture is wrong and unacceptable," without ambiguity?

How can our nation talk about justice when we hold terror suspects for years without charging them or giving them a fair trial?

From a Christian perspective, what does God's word say about this matter?

Jesus left no room for "an eye for an eye" reciprocity toward terrorists. He declared the opposite approach, to love our enemies. Are we willing to believe everything Jesus said, or just the easy things?

Enemy combatants and suicide bombers were crafted in God's image every bit as much as you and I were.

Tainted? Yes, they are, and yes, we are.

Should murderers including suicide bombers be resisted and thwarted? Absolutely. But not with immoral techniques that contradict the sacrificial love and basic character of God (in whose image we are made), or the sanctity of every human life God has made.

Where is "pro life" advocacy when a torture victim needs protection? The pro-life posture, in faith, goes much farther than the womb.

Everyone who is not tainted in any way from what God designed for us gets to "throw the first stone" in this post-9/11 world.

For a visual quick tour of several far and wide parts of our world and its cultures, people who are all created in God's image, check out a random sampling of images:

People of the World
Faces of people all over the world. (You can search within this group of 85,000+ images, for example, for Korea or Congo. There's also the world map view.

Places of Worship
Places where people worship their God, gods, or dieties.

Beauty in Creation
A group of Muslim women photographers celebrating the beauty of creation together.

Chinese Culture
Photos about the Chinese cultural activities and arts.

Indigenous / Tribal Photos
(just like the title says)

Global Poverty
This group is about all kinds of poverty all over the world.

Christian Missions
Photographs of Christian ministries; of Christians in service to the world.

God's Artwork
God's creation... nature, mountains, wildlife, flowers, sky, beaches.

World Culture
"Let's register the resemblances and celebrate the diferences."

The earth is the Lord's, in all its fullness.

Question: If you take even 10 minutes to scan some of these images, what are one or two observations you come away with, regarding God's creation of and love for all these people and places, and what this means for the world wide church, and for you and me?