Shattering the Glass Ceiling

Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins is a landmark case that serves as a prime example of a glass ceiling’s existence. Ann Hopkins, who was an employee of the Price Waterhouse accounting firm, was passed up for a partnership promotion for two years in a row. When Hopkins first learned that she was being denied the promotion, her supervisor had advised her that going forward, if she wanted another shot at the promotion, then she should make more of an effort to walk, talk, and dress more feminine; and to wear make-up and jewelry more often, and to style her hair.

Hopkins proved to be more than qualified for a promotion and often outperformed her peers, but her male co-workers believed they wouldn’t be comfortable working alongside her as a partner, because she didn’t fit the bill insofar as how they expected a woman to look and act. Upon being denied a promotion for the second year in a row, Hopkins resigned and sued the firm for violating her rights, in accordance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

It was ultimately determined by both the district court and the federal circuit court of appeals that the only reason why Hopkins was denied the promotion was due to discrimination based on her gender, and that it had nothing to do with her performance. Price Waterhouse’s burden was to prove that Hopkins would have still been denied the promotion if she had not been female, and the firm could not meet this burden of proof.

The case ultimately made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reversed both of the lower courts’ rulings, saying in a nutshell that Hopkins had failed to meet the burden of proof that would have established that she was, in fact, discriminated against solely because of her gender. The Court established the concept that a “mixed-motive” may have been at play in an employment decision, ultimately ruling in favor of Price Waterhouse.

Although Hopkins was denied the promotion, and despite being told that if she simply changed her appearance and behavior that she would be able to secure the partnership the following year, Hopkins was ultimately passed over anyway – making this an excellent example of glass ceiling discrimination. The partnership was visible (“the sky’s the limit!”), but no matter how hard she tried, and no matter how high she climbed, Hopkins simply could not break the glass ceiling.

Last week, we started this new sermon series “And You Will Be My Witnesses” looking at some lessons that I believe will be vital for the church as we move forward. I told you last week that there are many things that have changed in the last ten months and we talked about how some of those will be lasting changes in some ways. We then talked about how the church has and will continue to change at an accelerated pace.

We looked at three realities that assure us we can live with confidence and boldness as followers of Jesus. Those were the breaking of bread together, the gift of the Holy Spirit (which we will delve into more in a moment), and the ascension of Christ.

This morning, we are going to explore this gift of the Holy Spirit in light of the idea of shattering the glass ceiling. When people in the business world use the term "The glass ceiling", they are referring to an invisible barrier that prevents them from attaining the success they see others around them achieving. For years, women and minorities in the business world have complained about "the glass ceiling", rightly so in many cases! It is primarily used in the business world as it relates to keeping women and minorities out of leadership positions.

I want us to consider this phrase a bit more broadly. How about this:

A term describing the unfair limit placed on oneself or someone else that allows them to see particular opportunities, but that actually prevents them from securing those opportunities.

You see, almost every culture, almost every organization, almost every club, almost every group of people has someone on the outside looking in. They have been denied entrance for one reason or another, but likely because of who they are or are not.

Whenever there is an invisible barrier to achieving your goal, there is a glass ceiling. It is glass because you can't see it. It is hard and you can't get through it.

Some examples are — a man wants to have sole custody of a baby and the judge assumes it just won't work because he's a man. The difference between a man and woman is basically sex organs and there are very few jobs where sex organs of one type or another are necessary.

Sometimes it is blatant and it really isn't so much glass, because it's visible and a person is actually told you can't do that because of your __________. Many times, it takes other more subtle forms. Assumptions are made. A woman who is assertive is seen as unattractive and a harpy. She is a school marm. If she is not assertive, she is weak and can't get the job done. There is no way to win. A woman has a higher frequency voice and it will be called “shrill”. A woman is judged on her looks and told to smile. It may be assumed she is better at taking notes or making coffee. Then when a chance for advancement arises, she is seen as a subordinate.

Another area might be getting a book or story published. Mainstream fiction is men coming of age and women are expected to read fiction with male protagonists. However books with female protagonists are chick books. Very few boys sit down and read Little Women.

I am not going to speak to the issue of glass ceilings for minorities, gays or disabled, but I know they exist, even in the church.

You see, the church, the people of God, are not exempt from glass ceilings. In fact, we are going to spend some time looking at one such glass ceiling this morning as we look at Acts 2. There was a carefully constructed Jewish litmus test determining who was a member of the covenant people and who was not. We see these outsiders referred to in terms such as gentiles, strangers, pagans, and sinners. The Jews has gotten quite good at keeping people out.

Our text in Acts 2 this morning, details the miracle that shattered the religious glass ceiling.

While the Old Testament abounds with welcoming promise to all the peoples of the earth, the reality is that this promise was realized primarily among the Jews. The story of Acts will take us back to several ancient promises from Abraham, Joel, and David. The welcome was always there, but for some reason, the religious leaders never extended it to the gentiles. In Luke’s Gospel, we see Jesus breaking the glass ceiling in his daily encounters with gentiles and unclean persons—outsiders. The huge question of Acts is, “Can the people of Jesus—the body of Christ—do the same, or will they continue the exclusive Jewish club?”

Acts 2:1–13 NIV

1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

I wish I could have experienced the day of Pentecost. It had to have been an absolutely amazing experience. Looking back at verse 1, we see that they were all together in one place on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost occured during the Festival of Weeks, 50 days after Passover. There would have been a significant number of people in Jerusalem from all over the place, thus it likely was quite a crowded city. The occurence of Pentecost during a primary Jewish festival signifies the connection between God’s mission in the Old and New Testaments.

I want us to close our eyes for a moment. I want us to imagine the strongest wind that we’ve ever experienced. Imagine the sound and what it felt like. It might have been a scary time during a storm. I’m sure when people started to hear the sound of the wind, and notice it is described as a violent wind, they were startled and confused on what was happening. And if that wasn’t enough, to then see tongues of fire that come to rest on the disciples had to be mind blowing.

I want us to think about the idea of the wind and fire. We see the idea of sound from heaven and wind throughout the Scripture. Think of the sound that is described during God’s appearance on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19. Or the wind that is symbolized with the Spirit of God in Ezekiel 37 when the dry bones were breathed into. Or the wind that God sent to dry out the ground after the flood. Blowing wind brings thoughts of the creative and life-giving movement of the Spirit of God.

Then in verse 3 we see reference to the fire. Jewish tradition had long associated fire with the presence of God. In Genesis 15;17 we see the presence of God through a smoking firepot with a blazing torch. In Exodus 3:2 we see the account of Moses and God appearing to him in the burning bush. in Exodus 13:21-22 we see the Lord going before the people in a pillar of fire during the night.

This wind and fire provided firsthand evidence of the Spirit coming upon the disciples. Then in verse four we see the start of the account of speaking in other languages. I want us to realize a couple things about this miracle:

They were speaking/hearing real languages of the various people groups present, not just gibberish. They were not fluent in any other languages. It would truly be amazing for all of these people to hear in their own languages and local dialects these Jesus followers.

While the speaking/understanding in tongues is certainly quite the miracle, there is another layer to this miracle that I think we often miss. These languages would have been outsider languages to the Jews. The primary miracle is that the insider Jews were able to speak/hear the gospel in outsider languages. The glass ceiling of the Jewish club had been shattered and the gospel had been extended to everyone. This outside world is one the Jews would have deemed unworthy of the Kingdom. Take a look back through the New Testament? The message of God was always for all people, yet the Jews continued to miss the fact that they were called to share that message and not just with themselves.

They made it about them. They were the only ones worthy. Others were not. Think about how Jews treated Samaritans? Or any other Gentiles for that matter! It took a miracle such as the languages that we see being spoken and understood on the day of Pentecost to truly open the door to the gospel to ALL PEOPLE.

Certainly, they didn’t truly understand all about what happened in that moment. In fact, we see throughout the rest of the book of Acts continued understanding about what it meant to be the people of God filled with the Spirit, and what it meant now that the door was truly open to all with the glass ceiling the Jews had in place being shattered.

As we wrap up this morning, I want us to consider some of the glass ceilings that are in place within our culture, and even within the church today. Humans are rarely talked out of our exclusionary judgments on other people. It’s very hard to change our minds, particularly regarding deeply held prejudices and opinions. If someone tries to shame us out of our prejudices or opinions, we typically turn up our defenses.

Let’s consider for a moment at a couple of these glass ceilings (and there are certainly many more) that can and have been put in place in various ways in today’s context:

Race - how many churches are truly multi-cultural and reflect the communities in which they serve?

Politics/Partisanship - The church has become too far embedded in the realm of partisanship today, particularly in western culture.

We can find so many things that divide us. In fact, just this week we saw the results of what some of the deep partisan division created in our country and within the church. This isn’t a divide that has developed over the last few months, it has been brewing for many, many years. We see division in our country and world, and even more heart breaking among the children of God. The church, the children of God are called to and have citizenship that is separate from American politics. It transcends borders, languages (as we saw on the day of Pentecost), and any other dividing characteristic that we can put into place. There is a dangerous marriage between much of the church and partisan politics that does nothing to advance the Kingdom of God in this world, in the here and now.

We serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords friends! The gospel is for all, whether you identify as a democrat or a republican, or are from another country or an immigrant, whatever the case may be! These are just glass ceilings that we put in place to keep people out. There is nothing in the gospel about keeping people out of the Kingdom. In fact, we are to minister to all, including those who think differently than us, including the marginalized, including the poor, and including any other way we can define the least of these. If the gospel does not include good news to the poor and marginalized in our society then it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We CANNOT allow our identity as Christ followers and disciples be muddied by anything else. A saying I read this week from a fellow pastor has rung true with me all week in my devotional times - Presidents come and go, but he King reigns forever!

In closing, I want to call us to a week of prayer and fasting with the global Church of the Nazarene. Our General Superintendents have put out a call for all of the church to spend this week in prayer and fasting. Here is that call:

We have just completed celebrating the season of Advent and the arrival of the Messiah. Jesus came fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

What happens in one part of the world is not isolated but impacts us all. This is certainly true as we reflect upon the pandemic and the ways in which it has touched the whole world. This can also be said of political unrest, which creates uncertainty and destabilization around the globe. It is in these precarious times that God’s people turn toward the sure and certain hope that is found in Jesus Christ. 

As followers of Jesus, we seek ways to be loving, forgiving, and charitable. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He reminds us: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). He continues by telling us that we are called to be salt and light in our world: “… let your light shine before people, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Like the Lord we follow, we are called to be peacemakers and to have a positive impact as salt and light in our world. This cannot be done apart from God’s grace experienced through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Therefore, the Board of General Superintendents is calling the global Church of the Nazarene to a week of prayer and fasting beginning on Monday, 11 January. When the church joins in prayer and acts in unanimity with Jesus’ vision, we are assured that God will do what we cannot. 

Please, join us each day next week as we focus on the need for spiritual renewal within the Church and for healing the great divides in our world.

Monday — Pray for spiritual renewal and revival to come to the Church. 

Tuesday — Pray for peace and opportunities to show Christ’s love to others.

Wednesday — Pray for the persecuted church around the world and for our missionaries.

Thursday — Pray for those who are suffering as a result of the global pandemic.

Friday — Pray for unity among God’s people and for healing across the nations.

Saturday — Pray for those who have yet to come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Sunday — Pray for the Holy Spirit to fill us again so that we may be empowered to be Christlike in this world.