(A Dialogue Sermon)

Man: Good morning! It's a pleasure to be here in the pulpit. But you may have noticed that I have someone in the lectern vying for equal time.

Woman: Yes, indeed. This is a feminist age, you know — a time of equality between women and men, a time for women to catch up on centuries of lost time in subjugation and oppression.

Man: That may be, but do you intend to regain all the lost time this morning?

Woman: No, but at least I'd like to make some progress.

Man: I don't blame you. Sometimes women have been badly maligned in our Christian history. Listen to this quote from John Knox, of the early Calvinist tradition. He said: "To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, or empire above any realm, nation or city is repugnant to nature, contumely to God, a thing most …