The Gift Of Equality … Hello weekend readers. Al and I are on vacation north of Steamboat Springs at a beautiful National Forest Park on the West Elk River with surrounding mountains. Our rangers are 5 women and 2 men and it’s been fun to share our stories and learn from them. And that is what my musing is about – men-women-and equality! Here’s why…

On July 19, 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention convened. Heralded as the first American women’s rights convention, the two-day event was held in the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York. The convention had been advertised on July 11, 1848 in the Seneca County Courier. Despite the minimal amount of publicity there were an estimated 300 attendees at the inaugural meeting! Women’s rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton made her first public speech on the initial day of the convention, which provided a framework then and still today.

“We are assembled to protest against a form of government, existing without the consent of the governed–to declare our right to be free as man is free, to be represented in the government which we are taxed to support, to have such disgraceful laws as give man the power to chastise and imprison his wife, to take the wages which she earns, the property which she inherits, and, in case of separation, the children of her love; laws test against such unjust laws as these that we are assembled today, and to have them, if possible, forever erased from our statute-books, deeming them as a shame and a disgrace to a Christian republic in the nineteenth century.”

Her words remain today as the foundation of equality for all people. William Lloyd Garrison wrote a song for equality for women. A quote from 1871 (in Old English) says “Then hail the day come when it may, as come it will for a’that, when woman’s worth o’er all the earth shall honored be for a’that! Co-equal, free and a’that through her enfranchisement our race, shall nobly rise for a’that immersed in God’s great grace.”

When God made Eve for Adam, he didn’t set it up where Adam would rule and Eve would serve. His original intent was that they were opposite but equal and would answer to one another as equal partners on earth. Eve was created to help Adam in the same way God helped him and partnered with him. Perhaps in Genesis 2:18 we could update the wording saying “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; let us create for Adam someone that corresponds to him, is equal but opposite, and will help him the same way I do.” And isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?

Jesus demonstrated the highest regard for women, in both his life and teaching and always recognizing the intrinsic equality of both men and women. He always showed the worth and dignity of women and valued their fellowship, prayers, service, financial support, testimony, witness and yes, their preaching. It’s no wonder the women were the first to be at the open tomb and the first to see Jesus! And the Apostle Paul was the same way.

God says that all people are equal no matter who they are. No one is above another yet in our world don’t believe that and sadly it continues to undermine equality that hurts people and angers God.  Let’s pray today for the gift Elizabeth Cady Stanton did when she stood up for equality for all. She was a sassy gal and she was right in the middle of reminding the people that no person white or of color should be put down. And let’s remind ourselves of this Scripture in Galatians 3:28 [Voice] “It makes no difference whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a freeman, a man or a woman, because in Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King, you are all one.”  Amen? – AMEN!!