Couple of things happening this week with women in the work world.

First, there’s this short survey that describes five vocations that were traditionally male-dominated but have, over time, flipped such that they have now become the majority domain of women. Want to guess the vocations? Go ahead. I’ll share the list at the bottom of the post.

And then there’s Sheryl Sandberg. You might have seen her on the news. Sandberg is the current COO of facebook, but she has an extensive and elite corporate history, having served as the chief of staff for the U.S. Treasury Secretary and as a V.P. at google. In addition, Sandberg holds an M.B.A. from this little east coast college called Harvard.

Sandberg recently published a book called Lean In. And while I haven’t read it yet (it’s on order), it’s got some buzz. Like a swarm of bees kind of buzz.

On one hand, you have folks who view Lean In as a prophetic call for women’s empowerment in the workplace. Building on Sandberg’s TED talk (with its 2 million views, thank you very much), Lean In calls women to take risks, chase their goals and, yes, lean in to challenges. Here’s a blurb from Jim Collins, author of Good to Great:

“Sheryl Sandberg has done a tremendous service with this work. It offers a vital and sharp message, for women and men. We need great leaders in key seats spread throughout all sectors of society, and we simply cannot afford to lose 50 percent of the smartest, most capable people from competing for those seats. Provocative, practical, and inspired!”

On the other hand, you have folks who take issue with Lean In, primarily basing their objections around Sandberg’s life situation. How, they wonder, can someone who lives in such affluence call for a gender revolution, when so many women have nowhere near the options that she does? In an editorial on cnn.com, Susan Faludi writes this:

“You can’t change the world for women by simply inserting female faces at the top of an unchanged system of social and economic power. ‘You can’t,’ to quote (Charlotte) Bunch again, ‘just add women and stir.'”

In any event, reading some of the Lean In articles, I was struck by one particular aspect of her story, and that is that she was championed. Sponsored. Vouched for in her career. Simply put, Sheryl Sandberg benefited from the advocacy of some of the men around her.

Specifically, she was sponsored by a guy named Lawrence Summers. Summers served as Treasury Secretary under President Clinton, and while I don’t know anything about the nature of their relationship or Summers’ motivation, I do know this:

Sponsorship is a key strategy for overcoming male privilege.

In his book Connecting, Leadership Professor Bobby Clinton defines sponsorship this way:

“A relational process in which a mentor having credibility and positional or spiritual authority within an organization or network relates to a mentoree not having those resources so as to enable development of the mentoree and the mentoree’s influence in the organization.”

I dare say that Sheryl Sandberg would not be in a place to write her book without Summers and his intentionally opened doors. Sponsorship works.

To use my response rubric, sponsorship is one way that men can commit to use their privilege to empower women around them. In the end, I don’t mean to say that sponsorship will fully solve the problem of male privilege, but I do mean to say that it’s a start.

If we’re ever going to find a more widespread vocational parity, we have to start somewhere.

Here’s the list: pharmacists, accountants, physician assistants, photographers and bartenders. How’d you score?!?

This week I’m looking for Tertullian at InterVarsity’s Urbana Student Missions Conference. Urbana rules. Do yourself a favor and follow the streaming this week here.

In honor of Urbana, today I want to celebrate the fact that God has called men and women to partner together in mission.

Remember Pentecost?

The first believers are gathered in Jerusalem. There’s a big sound, a violent wind and–wait for it–tongues of fire. TONGUES OF FREAKIN’ FIRE. The promised Spirit has come and with that the mission of Jesus is empowered and ready to launch. In the midst of these miracles the multiethnic, multilingual community is suddenly able to understand one another. As a crescendo, in verse 12 the community asks “what does this mean?”

Good question.

Now, if I was Peter, standing up to answer that question and interpret the magnificent moment, I might start by quoting Jesus. After all, Peter had walked with Jesus for 3 years. Why not offer up a zinger like Mark 8:31-32?!?

Instead, Peter starts by quoting the prophet Joel. You know, Joel. That book you’ve never read but Peter’s listeners would have known quite well.

Here’s the quote:

¹⁷ “‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.
¹⁹ I will show wonders in the heaven above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
²⁰ The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
²¹ And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

I love Joel. He had it right. In the last days, when the empowered people of God share his Gospel in word and deed, the message of salvation will be carried by all people. All people. In particular, by men and women. We’ll each be serving. We’ll each be prophesying. We’ll each be eagerly sharing the faith so that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

We need each other.

To be sure, God’s church needs help. We needs more tongues of fire. We need to understand one another across differences. And, we need to learn how to partner together as men and women in mission.

Here’s hoping that this Urbana, my 7th, will trigger a new generation of men and women who will move the mission of Jesus forward as a gender equal and reconciled community.

What about you? How have you enjoyed gender-equal partnerships in mission?

Make no mistake about it, Jesus was born into a culture wrapped in male privilege. In fact, the gender climate in first century Palestine was several orders of magnitude more biased in favor of men than our culture is in this country. Women in Jesus’ day could not own property or testify in court, and they couldn’t leave the home without the permission of their fathers or husbands.

Or consider the prayer the Rabbis would pray each morning:

Blessed are you for not having made me a Gentile, Blessed are you for not having made me a slave, Blessed are you for not having made me a woman.

Imagine your pastor starting his quiet times each morning with that little gem…

Each year at Christmas time, we hear lots of stories about Mary, mangers and magi. We talk about shepherds, spices and stars. But it seems to me we rarely talk about Joseph. Joseph, engaged to Mary and soon to be father of the incarnate Lord. This weekend I was struck by Joseph’s side of the story, recorded for us in Matthew 1:18-25:

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

This passage gives us a window into Joseph’s world. Imagine it. You’re engaged to a woman who is suddenly pregnant. Not only is she pregnant, she believes that the baby she is carrying is the long-awaited Messiah.

As if that’s not enough, the Jewish law, which you follow devoutly, is clear. “Do not commit adultery” is commandment #7 and Leviticus 20 sentences adulterers to death. On top of that, Roman law dictated that if  a husband failed to divorce an unfaithful wife, he would be considered a panderer for treating his wife as a prostitute.

Add all of this up and toss in the male bias embedded in the culture, and you would expect Joseph to bring Mary before the elders and charge her with her crime.

If you’re Joseph, on one hand, you love Mary. On the other, the law is clear. What do you do?!?

To be honest, at first glance, I’m unimpressed with Joseph’s decision to divorce Mary. I want the gender revolutionary Joseph. I want him to so say, “I know what the law says, but I’m with you Mary. We’ll fight this system together!”

But take a closer look, because Joseph’s solution is more nuanced than that. He’s decided to “quietly” divorce her. You see, Joseph is concerned with both the law AND with Mary’s well-being. He wants to honor God by observing the law, but he also wants to spare Mary from a public shaming. To pursue a quiet divorce would likely cost him. After all, going public would mean that he would be given Mary’s dowry; it would also mean that his reputation would be preserved.

Against every cultural expectation, then, Joseph chooses to honor both God and Mary. Gender revolutionary? Maybe not. But sometimes revolutions start with subtle actions from righteous people.

Perhaps because of Joseph’s righteous and compassionate heart, the Lord decides to intervene. Joseph meets an angel, and the theophany cements his resolve. After that he’s all in.

This Christmas, let’s remember Joseph. A man of righteousness and compassion. A man who became a gender revolutionary.

In the end, I love how the story ends for Joseph. He gets his wedding. He gets to name Jesus. He gets to parent the Word Made Flesh. In fact, later, when Jesus is identified as a carpenter in Matthew 13:55, you get a window into just how much influence Joseph was allowed to have in the life of the young Messiah.

As we’ll see in a week or so, Jesus was revolutionary in his treatment of women. Ultimately, I wonder if Joseph taught him that too.

What about you? What small step could you take to bless the women around you today?