Submission

In preparation for our impending marriage (44 days to go!), Matt and I have talked quite a lot about what we think headship and submission mean in a Christian marriage. Believe it or not, for those who think I'm a raving feminist, we will be having a reading from Ephesians at the wedding, and a sermon that will address this topic.

I'm not going to go into a lot of detail now about what we think about submission and headship - I'll need more time for that than I currently have - but I'd like to share one thought that we received from Tim MacBride (preacher and musician extraordinaire, and associate pastor at my church). He said that if there are gender roles in marriage (he's not entirely convinced of the headship/submission distinction) it's not about who takes leadership or responsibility, or who gets to make the decisions. It's about who gets to be the bigger servant.

I think this is kind of reflected in the most common argument that Matt and I have. We're generally pretty good with arguments - we don't have too many. We've occasionally conflicted over big issues, but have always managed to sort things out. The issues we disagree over most, and generally refuse to compromise, are ones that don't matter at all. But this exchange, in the comments on this post and quoted below, is our most common argument:

chindogu said... My Fiancee is cooler!

lara said... Nuh uh! Mine is so much cooler!

chindogu said... I think not. Yours is cool, but mine is definatly cooler!

lara said... Nuh uh! Mine is definitely the cooler fiance!

chindogu said... I demand that you submit to my headship! My Fiancee is cooler!

lara said... OK!

It's the only time Matt would ever demand that I submit, and the only time that I would submit to such a demand!

And yes, I know, it's sickeningly sweet. We're kind of like that at the moment...