Stained Glass Cage

I sit in the pew and wonder
Is this the picture
I want to paint?

Women are seen
But not heard
Allowed to speak
But never listened to

Men are excused
For their wrongdoings
Championed
For their mediocrity
Always teaching
Never learning

What happened to mutuality?
To equality?
To reciprocity?

Why is the church okay
With binding up half its members
In a stained glass cage?

We sit in our cages
And call them home
We decorate them
To make our imprisonment less crushing
More tolerable

We paint the glass vivid colors
So we can't notice
The world outside our cages
We're not allowed to shape

We wait in our pretty, silent cages
For the men to give us a crumb of hope
That we really do matter

God didn't make our gifts
Contingent upon male permission
God didn't make mistakes
When he designed us just as we are
And God didn't put us
In our stained glass cages

Come out, dear sister!
Scripture beckons for
Your voice and your participation

It's time to tear down your cage
One beautifully stained shard of glass
At a time

Use your voice, O daughter of Eve
Who was created equal with Adam

Raise your voice and use it
To shatter your stained glass cage