Channel Surfing

This evening I spend my time doing some quality furniture assembly, so while I wore out my fingertips with non-power-tools, I got caught up in a little channel surfing. Landed on Wife Swap. Though I've seen the show before, I'm not a devoted viewer. But this evening, as I sailed past in my surf, I heard them say one of the wives was a Quaker pastor, so I stopped to see what she was all about. Having grown up Quaker, I try to check in on my roots now and then.

Well, if she were to serve as the denomination's spokeswoman (as I'm sure she'd take high offense to being called a "spokesperson"), then I'd just as soon not even be associated with the denomination at all. I was extremely disappointed.

At the beginning of the show, as they introduced the families, they did show her behind the pulpit. That was where any reference to the Lord seemed to stop. I went on the show's website just now and read the first part of her manual (each wife has to write a manual for the wife coming in to her household...and the manual includes a general synopsis of the family as well as an idea of their weekly routine and household rules) - and other than the reference to her occupation, I never would have known she knew anything about God at all.

She's very into the feminist movement and insists that her daughters understand they are not "defenceless" people. She doesn't approve of women being treated as a piece of "meet." Oh - and did I mention she homeschools? (Maybe her husband teaches the spelling part.)

Speaking of the homeschooling - I found it interesting that her manual indicated she (and her husband) did not want the kids "trapped in a patriarchal educational system surrounded by mindless social drones," but yet her husband (the patriarch) is a high school special education teacher. Hmmmm.

The other thing that really baffled me was what seemed to be missing from her weekly schedule. HER JOB. I didn't read that part word for word yet, because of time, but as I skimmed through it...I found the sleeping in and the watching public television and the schooling and the QT with the empowered women in training and the family outings...but other than preaching on Sunday morning, I didn't find much about her work with her church. Goodness, my pastor is at the church most every day of the week...and he visits people...and counsels people...and goes to the hospital...and pitches in on almost any kind of need a congregation member could have...and THEN he preaches a sermon he's worked hard to prepare.

The inconsistencies were disturbing, but even more disturbing and disappointing (she would like that last word - it's a big part of her method of discipline according to the manual) was just the lack of shining any sort of light for God. What better avenue could she have been given to leave a positive impression than an hour in primetime TV? And yet even the wife she swapped with made a comment about "And you're a preacher?" It made me sad, but I had to agree.