Photo by Nenad Stojkovic

By Joy Wong

Growing up, one of my favorite Bible story characters was Esther. I remember dressing up as Esther one Halloween, wearing all white as she did when chosen to be the new queen. White was one of my favorite colors for that reason, and I admired how she was a person of beauty and purpose.

In The Tao of Asian American Belonging, Young Lee Hertig writes of the subversive banquets of Vashti and Esther. In Vashti’s case, she threw a banquet for the palace women and refused to parade in front of the King’s drunken guests, making her banquet one of “bucking the system” of patriarchal power. In Esther’s case, she throws two banquets in a strategic mission, making her banquet one of “milking the system” to save her people (Hertig, 72). Hertig points out that though both women’s banquets had vastly different aims and results, they both had value and significance in their subversion.

Regarding the women in leadership seen all over the news today — Kamala Harris, Melania Trump, Nancy Pelosi, etc. — are they milking the system or bucking the system… or perhaps both, or neither? It certainly seems that women leaders still pose a threat to patriarchal traditions, evidenced by stories of women in powerful positions whose lives and families have been killed or threatened; for instance, Esther Salas, a federal judge whose son was killed by a misogynistic lawyer, or Sabar Sahar, one of Afghanistan’s first female film directors, who was shot by an anonymous gunman, the attack thought to be connected to her advocacy of women’s rights in her country.

However, you don’t necessarily have to be a woman with such a high profile to be subversive. When I used to be a worship leader, even leading a congregation which included men felt like subversion (or perhaps, rebellion) to me, who had been brought up in a conservative church which only allowed for male pastors, preachers, and elders. Even attaining an M.Div degree (which implied I was possibly preparing myself for pastoral ministry) at Fuller Theological Seminary (an egalitarian seminary) raised eyebrows and felt like rebellion. I always felt some sense of pride about it, but also a certain shame too.

I recall that I felt hopeful every time I met a woman pastor or even heard of a woman pastor. Just her mere existence gave me hope that it could be possible for me too, and though they probably didn’t know it, they symbolized and embodied for me a subversion of the patriarchy found in church culture.

Nowadays as a stay-at-home mom, I don’t really consider myself very subversive. However, I suppose my small act of subversion is in my affirmation of the women pastors and leaders in my life as well as the writers of this blog, amplifying their voices to be heard by more than those in their immediate circle. Whether you are a pastor or an official leader or not, writing and speaking out makes you a leader. May you all shine like stars, and may your voices be heard.

Joy Wong has an MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary, a BA in English from Princeton University, as well as four years’ experience in industrial distribution management.  She is a contributing author to Mirrored Reflections: Reframing Biblical Characters, published in September 2010.