Got Sisters?

Booklet for Sarah Sisterhood

I don’t. Have a biological sister, that is. And I’ve always been a little suspicious of the idea of Christian sisterhood. I’ve been gossip-burned and back-bitten enough times by women to make me question whether “true sisterhood” is really possible. Then again, I’ve been the chief sinner in spurning sisterhood, whether through my independence (“I don’t need anyone else”), elitism (“I don’t do crafts”), or my own tongue run amuck (“I can’t believe she called that ball ‘out’!”).

So what’s a nice girl like me doing writing a study of Gospel-Centered Sisterhood? The same thing every person who’s had their dragon skin peeled off by Aslan is doing when they recognize their need for the very thing that they most avoided. I’m way too old for isolation. I need friends who remind me that I’m wonderfully created, compulsively sinful, and marvelously redeemed. I have tasted sweet sisterhood, healthy relationships based on one shared core commitment — the belief that Christ has made us new. We want to live this radical lifestyle of a female disciple, and that means leaving the safe and familiar world of friends who comfort us in our habitual tendency to head down the path of least resistance. We want to be women who mature in Christ and come around younger sisters to water and nurture them.

Okay, I got carried away. I was going to tell you the outline I wrote this morning (after a year of thinking about this topic), but you’ll have to wait till tomorrow for that. Meanwhile, I’d love to hear from you — what do you think of when you think of true sisterhood?