When I first started the move across from the Methodist church to the Church of Wales, I met with the equivalent of the Bishop - the Chairman of the District, to be told in no uncertain terms I was ridiculous. I was expecting a reaction, but not that one! The issue that seemed to grab him solely, was the way the Church in Wales treated its women both clerics and laity. I responded by telling him Methodism was no shining example of embracing womenhood either!
When I travelled the journey of discernment in the Methodist church, being a woman was not the smooth route. There were all manner of questions on top of the normal ones, how if I married would I cope with other demands or raising children would tear me away from vocation. Which was more important my hypothetical family or my vocation? Would I celebrate the sacraments whilst pregnant? How could I work and be true to the Gospel and such like? To balance this, there were those who were gracious and only too keen to accept women both lay and ordained, as they were.
The Methodist Church started to accept women for Ordination in 1974, though some women had been Ordained in the primitive form of the Church beforehand. It was still very much a novelty to have a women and they normally fitted the "masculine" form and image. I was the only woman in my year group of nineteen students at college and definitely had to fight my corner many, many times in my three years there and in many different ways. This was in the body of students, as well as in the institution. It was at times a struggle and a lonely path to walk, but all the richer too. It was here that I experienced the power of The Methodist Church's Covenant Service which many of you know how much I did, and still do, value. Looking at things superficially it did appear equal and fair, but certainly was not. Scratch the surface and another world is revealed.
"I am no longer my own but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you, exalted for you, or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing: I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.'
The Methodist Covenant Prayer The underlining show the power of the words for me
I know you saw this photo only last week but look critically this was nine years after the Methodist Church Ordained women and how many women are there? What do the images of many of the men tell you?
When I was first in parish, I have told you that the first of my two churches didn't want a woman. In this church, as in many, all the officers were men and women only came into leadership roles as the men died or wouldn't take on such duties. Women were good for cleaning, flower arranging and making tea! They didn't think a woman could read in church or lead intercessions, be a warden or even a Reader. Women had issues, periods, menopause, women could not express ideas, thoughts and growth for the church.
Women adapted to this either by becoming more "male", they way they held themselves, appearance etc or they went to the complete opposite, where they also made a statement by the way they were/are. But none of this addresses what was and still is going on within the Church. The journey of women in the church is a slow one and now often on a better understanding, there are still many ups and downs and old prejudices hidden and embedded, but not always understood.
There are as many arguments raising why women should not be ordained from Scriptural to pure untidiness of women! From theology to practical things. There will be those who want it "their" way and hold the church back to a time and place it isn't in now. There will always be those who although accepting women's' Ordination will think women generally can not cope with large demanding churches, authority maybe over difficult males or posts in mainly male situations eg certain industries. There will be male priests who acknowledge women's Ordination because it is the acceptable thing to do within the Church that they too belong to and they want to succeed.
The Hidden History of Women's Ordination: Female Clergy in the Medieval West
Gary Macy
"For the first twelve hundred years of Christianity, women were ordained into various roles in the church. References to the ordination of women exist in papal, episcopal, and theological documents of the time, and the rites for these ordinations have survived. Yet, many scholars hold that women, particularly in the Western church, were never ordained. A survey of the literature discussing the ordination of women in Western Christianity reveals that most of these scholars use a definition of ordination to determine whether earlier references to the ordination of women were “real” ordinations that would have been unknown in the early Middle Ages. In the early centuries of Christianity, ordination was the process and the ceremony by which one moved to any new ministry (ordo) in the community. By this definition, women were ordained into several ministries. Four central ministries of episcopa (women bishop), presbytera (women priest), deaconess and abbess are discussed in detail in order to demonstrate particularly the liturgical roles women performed in the early Middle Ages. A radical change in the definition of ordination during the 11th and 12th centuries not only removed women from the ordained ministry, but also attempted to eradicate any memory of women's ordination in the past. The debate that accompanied this change has left its mark in the literature of the time. However, the triumph of a new definition of ordination as the bestowal of power, particularly the power to confect the Eucharist, so thoroughly dominated western thought and practice by the thirteenth century that the early definition of ordination was almost completely erased."
In this blog post I am not setting up a feminist view point, I would not say I am a member of the black and pink brigade or am a feminist, however I do firmly believe that I have been called by God to be a priest, as a women, and to serve here. I am a woman and that is not the same as my male colleagues. The journey can be painful and difficult, but so can it for men too! It is more about exploring together being open and equal and naturally we all have differing gifts and graces and are more inclined to different offices within the church. I will always fight my corner for justice, but that spirit doesn't define just who I am. I am delighted to be a woman and think women bring much to the church, Ordained or lay - much more and in more areas than just tea making or flower arranging, though both of these are of high importance. We bring ourselves, not cloned on male models, but on being women. I think because of the formidable journey many have had, we bring a refreshing depth, an honest commitment and as we are women we know so often what struggle is and have many transferable skills.
So this isn't a rant purely in favour of lay and Ordained women, but rather looking to male and female, black and white, evangelicals and radicals, gay and straight, disabled and able bodied and so on and then together in the love of God in Christ, responding like Mary and saying "yes" to God. It is also about the transforming journey which makes demands on both male and female as well as every other coupling in life and how we are challenged and changed through time.
"There is a line of women, extending back to Eve Whose role in shaping history God only could conceive And though, through endless ages, their witness was repressed God valued and encouraged then through whom the world was blessed
So sing a song of Sarah to laughter she gave birth And sing a song of Tamar who stood for women’s worth And sing a song of Hannah who bargained with her Lord And sing a song of Mary who bore and bred God’s Word
There is a line of women who took on powerful men Defying laws and scruples to let life live again And though, despite their triumph, their stories stayed untold God kept their number growing, creative strong and bold
So sing a song of Shiphrah with Puah in her hand Engaged to kill male children they foiled the king’s command And sing a song of Rahab who sheltered spies and lied And sing a song of Esther, preventing genocide
There is a line of women who stood by Jesus’ side Who housed him while he ministered and held him when he died And though they claimed he’d risen their news was deemed suspect Till Jesus stood among them, his womanly elect
So sing a song of Anna who saw Christ’s infant face And sing a song of Martha who gave him food and space And sing of all the Marys who heeded his requests And now at heaven’s banquet are Jesus’ fondest guests." John L Bell
Here is another garden tour. I do know how much you are enjoying these and if the virtual tours are removed, as we creep towards a more normal approach, let's finish the week with one a day!