According to my handy Presbyterian
planning calendar, today we are supposed to "Celebrate the Gifts of Women". My
first response is to wonder why we need a special Sunday for this. I think
this church affirms and celebrates the gifts of women all the time, through the
choir, our organists, Sunday school teachers, our elders, scripture readers,
your associate pastor, dedicating prayer shawls made by women…my list could go
on.
But then I remember that this
wasn't always the case. It has been a long road to get here, so maybe we
should take a Sunday to remember all of the women who fought to give us these
opportunities. Let's begin our remembering with scripture, where many women
are not even named. Sarah, in the Genesis text, is an exception. While there
are many books devoted to male prophets, kings, and disciples – there are many
women who are only known by what they were or what they did – the woman at the
well, the Canaanite woman. Last month's Presbyterian Women Bible study focused
on the stories of the hemorrhaging woman who was healed when she touched Jesus'
cloak and Jairus' daughter who was raised from the dead – two of the main
characters who are not given names.
Then jump ahead in history 1900
years. Just last year, we celebrated the anniversary of 100 years of ordaining
women elders and 50 years of ordaining women ministers. I often take for
granted the opportunity I have to serve God the way I do. This is a pretty
cool job…and 50 years ago, it wouldn't have been possible. Can you imagine
feeling called to do something and have people tell you that you can't because
of your gender? Even today, it is not possible for women in some denominations
– there are some churches where women cannot even lead an adult Sunday school
class if there are men present.
I know the verses these churches
use to prevent women from church leadership, but I wonder what they do with the
passages about deaconesses. Or that the very first Christian preacher was a
woman. After Jesus' resurrection, it is Mary Magdalene and the other Mary who
are first to learn of Jesus' resurrection and go to tell others about it – they
are the first to proclaim the Good News – I think God was ready for women to
take leadership in this newly forming church, but I think the disciples'
response to them indicates that people were not ready. They don't believe
them.
So we have come a long way, but
there are still many women who face challenges because of their gender. I am
currently in a Bible study with other educators and ministers in the
presbytery. It is not intended to be women only, but it happens to be that way
this year. We are reading a book called "Back to the Well: Women's Encounters
with Jesus" which is a wonderful book if you are looking for a next selection –
for women or men. We spent our first hour and a half just on the
introduction because it asked questions such as "How does your gender affect
how you read the Bible?" or "Has your experience with the Bible changed
throughout your life?" Since it was female church leaders who were gathered,
many of the thoughts shared had to do with our experiences of being women in
church leadership – and the double standards that many of them have experienced.
I realized that I am extremely fortunate to be here with you. I did have one
member who grew up Baptist tell me that she was uncomfortable at first with women
being in the pulpit, but that she prayed about it and God changed her heart. I
appreciated her honesty. But this is the only instance when my gender has even
come up.
But some of the other women in the
Bible study had some very interesting stories. One, who works at a large First
Presbyterian Church, said that she has to wear hose and skirts or dresses on
Sundays. And often when she preaches, she gets more comments about her new
hair style or outfit than on the sermon. She even had one member tell her that
she should wear more make up to highlight her features since she was on
stage….Surely they would never say that to a male pastor. The only time that
I have experienced anything like this was in the church where I interned in
seminary: I was told not to wear pants if I was going to be helping with
worship. I'm glad that's not the case here – I'm wearing pants today. And I
don't think I own panty hose anymore.
Even with these stories of double
standards, I find hope in one story of a young girl, who had only been in one
church with one pastor, who was a woman. This little girl asked her mom one
day, "Mama, can men be ministers?" because she had only known a female pastor.
We all have different experiences. So I hope that one day there will be more
experiences like this young girl, that people don't know anything different –
that they all experience wonderful leadership from women in a variety of ways.
While it is good to remember our
history and to acknowledges challenges that still exist when it comes to
gender, this sermon is not all about women. It's about how we are ALL baptized
into one body – that there is no longer Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or
free. That even when we as humans have our own hang-ups about our differences,
God does not recognize our divisions. We are all heirs according to the
promise made by God to Abraham and Sarah.
In one description of the book of
Galations it says that Paul is writing this letter in response to what he calls
the "present evil age" at the beginning of the book - that "this age displays
the propensity of individuals and groups to imagine themselves superior to
others. The letter celebrates a freedom God gives to persons who identify
through faith with the crucified Christ, thereby entering a new spiritual world
marked by peace and unselfish love of others."
I'm pretty sure that very
description could apply to us now, not just Paul's audience. Is our present
age any less evil? How many divisions do we have? How many groups still think
that they are superior to others? We still divide ourselves male and female, black
and white, Democrat and Republican, rich and poor, gay and straight, young and
old, Northern and Southern, and perhaps the most stark divide here in South
Carolina - Clemson fans and USC fans. Everyone in my family are passionate Carolina fans. Seriously, when we're in the car, Russ is far less likely to let a car get
in front of us if it has a Clemson sticker on it. And my cousins were taught
not to color with the orange crayon because it was a bad color. Though some
take it too far, this is mostly a light hearted rivalry. But there is a
division that runs much deeper, especially here in the south.
Since we have just celebrated Black
History month, I wanted to spend some time discussing the divisions of race, in
particular black and white. Just as it would be nice to not have to have a
Celebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday, it would be nice to think that we really
don't need a Black History Month. My mom works at a middle school in Mt. Pleasant. Part of their celebration of Black History month included a poster contest.
Interestingly none of the African American students entered the contest.
Perhaps with the election of Barak
Obama as the 44th President, they didn't feel the need – maybe we
have moved past our divisions. But when we were at the mall yesterday, there
was a whole kiosk dedicated to Obama merchandise – framed pictures, t-shirts,
hats. I thought about it, and I can't remember merchandise like that when
President Bush was elected. I was reminded about how big of a deal this really
is for 2009. While I think electing our first African American president in my
lifetime is great, and something I really didn't expect to happen, I am white –
and I wonder what this means for African American parents who can tell their
children that they really can be anything they want to be when they grow up,
even president of the United States.
But even with the progress we've
made, there are still people who think their race is better. Just as Paul was
writing against the Jews feeling superior to the Greeks and feeling like they
deserved God's love more, I was talking with a teenager who was recently
invited to join the KKK here in Summerville. At first I thought, surely he was
kidding – I have a tendency to be gullible so maybe he was just pulling my leg.
But his friend confirmed his story, and then he went on to say that the guy had
a business card and was a knight in the KKK. I didn't know what to say to
that. Am I really that ignorant to think that that level of racism and
delusions of superiority doesn't still exist?
I've been accused of being too
idealistic – I am too young to know better, it's just the way things are, you
know – just accept it. But I think that's not what these verses in Galatians
are saying. We are all one. We have differences that should be celebrated and
embraced. Life would be pretty boring if we were all the same. But our
differences don't make us more or less deserving of God's love and grace.
Christian faith affirms the
essential equality of all persons before God. What would our lives look like
if we really didn't use these divisions to judge people? What if all you knew
was that God loved them and that Jesus Christ died for them? How would you
treat people? We are all children of God through faith, all brothers and
sisters in Christ. How should you treat family? Not judging, hurting, or
dividing. But accepting, loving, nurturing, and encouraging.
Last week we participated in the
baptism of Kristen and Kory Brame, and the words from Galatians were used. And
we affirmed that they were being welcomed into the family of faith. It is our
responsibility to ensure that all are welcome in this family – regardless of
background, race, or class, to make these verses about baptism a reality, not
just an idealistic dream.
When I hear the Galatians passage, I want to add so much to
Paul's list of no longers – and I focus on all of the isms that we've created –
this is my 21st century version:
For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through
faith. As many of you were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with
Christ. There is racism no longer, sexism no longer, agism no longer, classism
no longer, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to
Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.
How much more could we accomplish as a people of faith if we
focused on our oneness rather than our divisions…if we celebrated and used all
of our gifts and worked together – Jew and Greek, male and female, old and
young, rich and poor, gay and straight, black and white – all God's beloved
children, all heirs of the promise made to Abraham and Sarah…all diverse
members of the household of God, but all one – with one faith, one Lord, one
baptism.
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