Pentecost: Women in MInistry

Last week I introduced a poem by Frances Croake Franke. It was written to confront the non-ordination of women in Roman Catholic church. Franke herself was a nun, yet she spoke out for women in ministry-be they ordained or lay who say to the Lord ‘this is my body, this is my blood’.

It has not been that long since women were first allowed to take part in many ministries in the church and to, in fact, be ordained (in the Episcopal church at least). The journey for women to be accepted in ministry, especially into ordination (in the Episcopal Church) was a long journey detailed in this article and highlighted below.* Why does that history matter to the ordinary, everyday woman who wants to serve God, but doesn’t want to be ordained as a priest?

On the retreat last weekend, we came to understand that the 5 women we studied were, in fact, ordinary women, going about their daily lives when God stepped in. Then they acted with courage to be God-bearers to the world. That is what the Philadelphia Eleven and the other women (and men) who worked for generations to make all ministry open to women were doing.

By The Philadelphia Inquirer - © The Philadelphia Inquirer (acquired from The Philadelphia Ordinations), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43398366

A resolution passed at General Convention in 1976 (the same Convention that opened the door to women’s ordination) stated that no one could be barred from participating in the life and governance (italics mine) of the church…because of their gender. Prior to this few, if any, women were allowed on governing bodies (vestries) of local parishes.

By opening more avenues of ministry, the ordinary women in church found ways to use their God-given gifts and talents more broadly than on the altar guild and in sewing circles. Now, in most parishes, you will find women serving in all sorts of ways. Women are even acknowledged as leaders in historically male roles such as president of Standing Committee or other diocesan boards.

As ‘ordinary’ women, we are following in the footsteps of the ordinary women of the past who acted for and with God lead on and show us the way.

·       Ruth, the foreigner whose dedication to her mother-in-law gave her stature as the great-grandmother of King David.

·       Esther, an unlikely queen who saved her people by risking her life and being a whistle-blower.

·       Judith whose bold action of cutting off General Holofernes head routed the Persian army.

·       Mary (Mother of Jesus) who said ‘yes’ to God’s request to bear a child out of wedlock.

·       Mary Magdelene, remaining constant to the end was graced with bearing news of the Resurrection to the male disciples.

·       Lydia, Prisca, Chloe and the other New Testament female leaders who opened their homes and taught their neighbors.

·       Julian of Norwich, Hildegard of Bingen and other mystics across the ages, who stood up to popes and kings while speaking for God’s way.

·       Frances Perkins, Clara Barton, Florence Nightingale and others who went where ‘women weren’t supposed to go’ and did what others wouldn’t so that the ill and downtrodden had a voice.

·       The Philadelphia Eleven and those who followed who bravely stood for their rights before God.

·       Female priests and bishops in the church now who prove that there is no ‘male’ or ‘female’ in the call to ministry.

We are the heirs of those women and many others. Our faith fore-mothers give us the courage to say ‘yes’ to God ourselves. There is still ground to be plowed. Women may be active in multiple roles, but they are not necessarily accorded the same respect as a man. Women typically work harder to be seen as equal in talent. A lot may have changed over the past decades and centuries, in how women in ministry are perceived, and there is a lot still to do.

“Our daughters’ daughters will adore us and they’ll sing in grateful chorus ‘well done, sister suffragette’,” sings Winifred Banks in the Disney movie Mary Poppins. We can look back at our faithful fore-mothers and applaud ‘well done, sister in Christ’. And we can lay the ground work for our own grand-daughters.

Over the next few weeks, we'll look at some 'ordinary' women, whose lives were anything but ordinary. 

This week, I would encourage you to think about how your life and ministry are affected by the steps taken by women in the past. 

*Briefly, in 1855 the Bishop of Maryland ‘set apart’ two deaconesses. Not quite an ordination, but a first tiny step. Eighty years later, the Church of England found no reason for or against ordination of women; but stated they would continue to be excluded ‘for the church today’. Another 35 years passed before the lay deputies at the General Convention of the Episcopal church passed a resolution affirming female ordination, but it was defeated by the clergy.

Only 4 years later, on July 29, 1974, the “PhiladelphiaEleven” were ordained by three bishops (two retired and one who had resigned). These were eleven female deacons who had requested ordination. The action by the 3 bishops caused “great consternation among the church hierarchy” and the ordinations were declared invalid. This didn’t stop the women from serving in a few parishes, although priests who allowed this were charged with ‘violating the canons’.

At the 1976 General Convention, in Philadelphia, a resolution passed stating “no one shall be denied access” to ordination. To say that not every person or diocese supported this move is an understatement. Some bishops side-stepped the issue by referring women seeking ordination to other dioceses. Some parishioners left their churches. Even today, some people will change sides at the communion rail if a woman is doing the bread or wine. I remember feeling confused about the issue myself as someone who had just recently returned to the church.

Ten years later, a huge shift happened when the Rev. Barbara Harris was elected Suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts on September 24, 1988. Then in 2006, in an even bigger step, the Right Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of the Diocese of Nevada, was elected the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, USA. She served for 9 years, the maximum a Presiding Bishop can serve.

Pentecost: Women in the Bible

This weekend, I led a retreat that looked at the lives of 5 women of the Bible: Esther, Ruth, Mary Magdalene, Mary (Jesus’ mother), and Judith (from the Apocrypha). You can read a brief bio of each of these women.

These women are just a few of the many women in the Bible. Some have names, and many more are mentioned as the wife of…, or daughter of… Wikipedia has a list of women who are named in the. It’s a pretty impressive list, and doesn't even include the women without names. However, we rarely hear from or about these women in our Sunday morning lessons.

For many of these women, we don’t have anything more than a name. We don’t know much of their story or where they came from. For others, it takes some research through the Bible to learn about them. For instance, Miriam (Moses’ sister) is mentioned in Exodus and in Numbers. You have to tease out her story to learn that she was a dutiful daughter and later considered a prophet, and even later confronted Moses (and got leprosy as a result), and finally died.

As an author, that is what I do when I write a story about a Bible woman. I find all the bits of her story and then try to fill in the blanks. You can read how I told ‘the rest of the story’ of Miriam in my novel Miriam’s Healing. It is also what we do when we study a passage using lexio divino or other in depth method. We want to get into the story and learn who the woman is and what she can tell us.  

Over the next few weeks, we’ll take a look at the 5 women we discussed at the retreat this weekend; and see what we might learn about them. It may be that they are nothing like they are often portrayed in culture and even theology. We’ll see that they are brave and godly women, who acted for God. In some cases we might wonder if they made the best decisions. However, we have to also put them in the context of their time and place. We cannot impose 2018 values on a woman living a nomadic life in a patriarchal society 2000 years ago.

Come along and see what we might learn together on this adventure.

I’d like to share a thought-provoking, and moving poem I just recently heard. It is by Frances Croake Franke. I think the image by Jeremy Winborg catches the essence of the moments soon after Jesus birth (at least it was the best one I could find online that showed a human side of Mary). 

Did the Woman Say?

Did the woman say,
When she held him for the first time in the dark of a stable,
After the pain and the bleeding and the crying,
‘This is my body, this is my blood’?

Did the woman say,
When she held him for the last time in the dark rain on a hilltop,
After the pain and the bleeding and the dying,
‘This is my body, this is my blood’?

Well that she said it to him then,
For dry old men,
brocaded robes belying barrenness
Ordain that she not say it for him now.

(Son of Man, Son of God by Jeremy Winborg)

Pentecost: Not Alone

We’ve been looking at how God is working in and through us to make us diamonds and masterpieces. As we noted last week, it’s not necessarily the big and grand things that make the most difference. It can be the small things we do because we are women and men of faith.

At the Daughters of the King Assembly I spoke about last week; the keynote speaker was Deborah Smith Douglas. She is an author, speaker, spiritual advisor, and deeply faith-filled woman. Her topic was Deepening Prayer. Douglas reminded us all that in our faith journey, we are never alone.

She said, we are always in the company of the saints who have gone before. Some of these are well known women or men. Others are the everyday people who lived a life of faith and in doing so, changed their corner of the world. In fact, many of those considered saints, like Julian of Norwich or Mother Teresa had no aspirations for sainthood.

Mother Teresa, it has been learned from her letters, even doubted her own faith. She wrote, “Where is my faith? – even deep down, right in, there is nothing but emptiness & darkness. – My God – how painful is this unknown pain. It pains without ceasing. – I have no faith. – I dare not utter the words & thoughts that crowd in my heart - & make me suffer untold agony. So many unanswered questions live within me – I am afraid to uncover them – because of the blasphemy – If there be God, - please forgive me.” - Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light

A long list of others who doubted their faith could be compiled. The Psalms are full of David’s wavering faith and fears. Psalm 42 is just one of many.

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
   so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
   for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
   the face of God?
My tears have been my food
   day and night,
while people say to me continually,
   ‘Where is your God?’

These things I remember,
   as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng,*    and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
   a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
   and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
   my help and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
   therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
   from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
   at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
   have gone over me.
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
   and at night his song is with me,
   a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God, my rock,
   ‘Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
   because the enemy oppresses me?’
As with a deadly wound in my body,
   my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
   ‘Where is your God?’

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
   and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
   my help and my God.

David feels like he has been abandoned by God. People are even asking, “Where is your God?” He says “My tears have been my food day and night” and “my soul is cast down within me”. Yet ultimately, he is able to say that he will, “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”

Doubt doesn’t make our spiritual ancestors, or ourselves, any less suited to act on God’s call in our lives. Deborah Smith Douglas told the women at the recent retreat that we are part of the company of those who walk with and act for God now and in the past. She reminded the women that God rarely choses those with ‘clean hands’ or ‘pure blood’ to “come follow me”. Jesus chose fishermen and women to be his disciples. Over the centuries, God has used harlots, adulterers, murderers, cowards, and other widely assorted men and women. God uses you and me, too. 

This coming weekend, I will be leading a retreat that will look at 5 women of the Bible. Mary (Mother of Jesus), Mary Magdalene, Esther, Ruth, and Judith have been maligned, glorified, or ignored by history. We’ll see who they really were and what their lives can teach us about our lives of faith in the 21^st Century.

If Mother Teresa, John of the Cross, 'Doubting' Thomas, and many others throughout the centuries can wonder about their faith and calling, we do not need to lose heart when we have our own questions. As Douglas noted last weekend, we are not alone. We can find community with our fore-bearers through gratitude, intercession, drawing near to God, and simply loving God and our neighbor.

Do you ever think you are unworthy because you have doubts?

What do you do when you feel alone and far from God?

Next week, we’ll start a series based on the women we will discuss at the Aug. 17-18 weekend. For those readers who might be at the meeting, this will be a chance for further learning. Others may find it interesting to discuss with friends in book or Bible study groups. 

Pentecost: Plans

For the past couple weeks, we've looked at how God works at making us masterpieces and diamonds, even though at this moment in time, we may look more like a mess of paint or just dust. God's work often involves changes to our plans. Being remade, even if we are willing isn't necessarily an easy process. 

Max Lucado notes, in his book And the Angels were Silent, that we all have gifts to ‘move the Kingdom down the road’. Focusing on the episode in Matthew 21 where Jesus sends 2 disciples to get a donkey right before his entry into Jerusalem, Lucado goes on to say, “All of us have a donkey. You and I each have something in our lives, which, if given back to God, could, like the donkey, move Jesus and his story further down the road. Maybe you can sing or hug or program a computer or speak Swahili or write a check. Whichever, that’s your donkey. Whichever, your donkey belongs to him. It really does belong to him. Your gifts are his and the donkey was his.”

This past couple of days, I have been at the annual Assembly and Retreat of the Daughters of the King in the Diocese of the Rio Grande. Over the past 6 years, I was honored to use my gifts to move the Daughters of the King part of the Kingdom down the road a bit further as the diocesan president. Now it is someone else’s turn.

Of course, letting go of one ministry means I need to evaluate what to do with the time and talent I was using in that role. Proverbs 16:1-4 tells us, “The plans of the mind belong to mortals, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All one’s ways may be pure in one’s own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit. Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything for its purpose…”

As the citation notes, human minds make plans, but God weighs (tests) the spirit of the action. Only when we ‘commit our work to the Lord’ can we accomplish anything. I often ponder my gifts and contributions. Culture says that we can count our ‘success’ in numbers. Numbers of attendees, or purchases, or income. God doesn’t count that way. Back in 2016, Mark Roberts of Life for Leaders at the DuPree Institute remarked, “No matter the work you do, whether you’re a writer, a banker, a mother, a bricklayer, or you-name-it, your greatest success is the assurance that God values your work and that what you are doing makes a difference for God in the world.” 

We are often pointed to the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) as a way to measure our work for God. Are we producing or hiding our ‘talents’? Recently I heard a meditation pointing to the Parables of the Mustard Seed and Yeast as another way of measuring our ministry.

In those twin parables, Jesus tells the crowds, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches…[and] the kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” (Matthew 13:31-33)

It is not necessarily the big things that make the greatest difference or impact. It is the small, day-to-day actions, which point to God’s love, that can create the most change. It’s easy to think we must do more, give more, or get more involved in issues. Doing little things may not seem to make a difference. You may have heard of the woman who each year planted a few daffodil bulbs. Ultimately the entire hillside was covered. A little mustard seed in the ground, as Jesus notes, becomes a bush for birds. Something similar happens when you mix a little yeast with flour and water. The next thing you know you have a bubbly mixture that will become bread. The bread can feed a crowd. The teaspoon of yeast couldn’t feed anyone, but the bread it makes does. 

Whether you are planting a mustard seed of a ministry that someday turns into an international blessing, adding a few daffodils to a hillside, or yeast to water and flour, the end result is a blessing to those involved.  

What is your ‘donkey’, Max Lucado asks? What mustard seed, daffodil bulb, or yeast are you nurturing?How is God working in you to grow a great harvest?