For some reason this morning when I woke up, the TV was tuned to Fox Business (?) and Don Imus was on it (?) and there was this woman named Lori Rothman critiquing the new Eagles documentary.
Not only did she not make any substantive comments about the documentary, beyond that the Eagles have "let themselves go a bit" (wait until you're 60, sweetie), but she said that she tells her daughters, "it's really good to be short like you are, because you can wear any shoes you want, and you can date any guy you want."
What is this, 1942? 1982? Clearly I have missed the memo about the rules here lately.
Children of Lori Rothman, you can wear any damn shoes you want. And date any person you want. Man or woman.
Last night at dinner at The Cracker Barrel, a new friend asked me, "What is your creative outlet?"
I thought about it. I sing, I knit, I write... "I blog," I said. "With a group of women in Christian ministry. Some are ordained, some are discerning a call, and some of us serve in lay capacities. Also we have some supportive men. Women in ministry - it's my passion."
As we talked further and I described the RevGalBlogPals, who they are and what the group has come to mean to me, I wondered WHY. Sure, you folks are some of my closest friends...even though I have never met some of you. But why iswomen in ministry my passion? (I work in international education - about which I am also passionate - but this is where I spend many of my off hours.)
Because - I think - I see the descriptor, "woman in ministry" as ME. And I learn every day about the discrimination and unfairness that beset and beleaguer my sisters who serve Christ in the church. It happens,most likely, because of their gender. That is wrong. That is not fair. That has to change.
I'm a feminist and proud to say so, but my Master's thesis on French Feminist Deconstructionist criticism was never, ever a passion. I'm a Christian, and while my understanding of that evolves constantly, I am generally grateful for what that means to me. I have been Episcopalian all my life, and I fight with that a lot. None of this is static or simple. It's the confluence of those things, and what I hear from a wide ecumenical spectrum, that raises this to such importance. That is the MY part of my passion.
My family tree is filled with strong (Episcopalian) women, all of whom have been church leaders. I was raised to expect to participate as a leader. My grandmother and great grandmother were DOK's and Acolyte Mothers. My aunts have all been leaders in their churches. My mother was Sunday School superintendent, youth group leader, chorister, many other things. I have been on two Vestries, taught Sunday school, led youth group, sung in choirs, served as lector and LEV.
However... in TEC women were not ordained until the 70's, and even then it was irregular. I've never had a woman priest in a parish I belonged to, never saw a woman celebrate Eucharist until an Ash Wednesday visit to the Boston Cathedral in the late 80's. It blew my mind! The first woman I knew on the path to ordination was Mary Green, who was ordained Deacon from St. Francis, College Station in the early 90's.
So I understand that women's ordination is a new-ish idea, and takes time to spread. But it's so utterly logical to me, that my expectation is that it will continue to spread. We need to help it go forward. And not everyone wants that to happen. In fact, there are forces working against us all the time. So, there's the passion part.
As of today, I have been newly enraged at the refusal of a particular bishop to (in the immortal words of the movie Risky Business, "be a courageous person and open the door." Regular readers of this blog already know what I am referring to. A grave injustice has been done, and done, and done again. And added to, and insulted. We're not gonna take it.
I'll let Twisted Sister sing me out here:
OH WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT NO, WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT OH WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE
WE'VE GOT THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE AND THERE AIN'T NO WAY WE'LL LOSE IT THIS IS OUR LIFE, THIS IS OUR SONG WE'LL FIGHT THE POWERS THAT BE JUST DON'T PICK OUR DESTINY 'CAUSE YOU DON'T KNOW US, YOU DON'T BELONG
OH WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT NO, WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT OH WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE
OH YOU'RE SO CONDESCENDING YOUR GALL IS NEVER ENDING WE DON'T WANT NOTHIN', NOT A THING FROM YOU YOUR LIFE IS TRITE AND JADED BORING AND CONFISCATED IF THAT'S YOUR BEST, YOUR BEST WON'T DO
WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT NO, WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT, NO! NO, WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT
WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE JUST YOU TRY AND MAKE US WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT COME ON NO, WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT YOU'RE ALL WORTHLESS AND WEAK WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE NOW DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT OH CRINCH PIN NO, WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT OH YOU AND YOUR UNIFORM WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE
When I was in junior high school, we did a stock market simulation. It was, I think, a full-day exercise...we were all in a big lecture room and we were given a certain amount of stocks, then we could buy and sell during the day. "News reports" came via teachers throughout the exercise.
The president got sick at some point, but I held on. Other bad things (I can't remember) happened, but I hung on.
The market tanked, and I lost everything.
I remember thinking, "I should have known, when X and Y happened, to sell out." That was clearly the lesson of the day.
Over the last few years, DH and I have watched the proliferation of McMansions in the areas surrounding us, and said to each other, "Where are all these people coming from, and where are they getting the money for these houses!?"
We drew back in disbelief several years ago at the news that a family of our acquaintance, who had recently entered their second bankruptcy, was building a new home in a master planned community. "That can't be true..." we said to each other, "how could they get a mortgage?" It was. They did. And here we all are, together on this merry go round gone mad.
My question: What were we supposed to have done differently? In the past years I've paid off my sizable consumer debt, with the excellent assistance of Consumer Credit Counseling Service and the support and encouragement of my excellent spouse. My husband has built a thriving contracting business. I work in education.
Were we not paying attention? Were there smoke signals? Why is the "I should have known" not so very clear as that time when I was 13?
When is this simulation over, and when can we stop spinning?
10. A man's place is in the army. 9. Men with children might be distracted by their parental responsibilities. 8. Ministry is unnatural for men since their physical build suits them better for chopping wood. 7. Man, having been created before woman, is an experiment, not the crowning achievement of creation. 6. Men are too emotional; see how they respond at sporting events. 5. Handsome men will distract female worshippers. 4. Pastoring is a nurturing role; historically, women have been the nurturers. 3. Men are too prone to violence and would be dangerously unstable in conflict situations. 2. Men can still be involved in church work without having to become pastors. 1. Jesus was betrayed by a man, whose lack of faith and subsequent punishment symbolizes the subordinate position all men should assume.
This body work I've been doing for the last couple of years is truly amazing. It's part talk therapy, part movement work, and part teaching my body to feel its feelings and not intellectualize every single thing. Tough for a booky girl like me.
The result so far is a lot of old baggage shed, and that I have some energetic hot spots in my body core that twinge when I am angry, upset, frightened, etc. So then I have to stop and say, "What's that about?" The 12-steppers call it "sitting with the feelings," instead of running off to medicate them with your drug of choice...whether that be alcohol, narcotics, or even if it be food, TV, exercise. Whatever you use not to think, not to feel.
The last few days have been very talky for my body. I have a constant bad feeling. It has to do with an injustice to someone I care about very much, perpetrated by an organization I care about very much.
I bring it up because I saw part of an old movie on TV this morning that got me thinking. Powder was released in 1995 with the tagline, "Pure energy has a name." The basic theme of the movie is that we are all part of everything, and all connected to each other. No matter what you call that, or how you explain it, I believe in that. We are called to carry each others' pain and lift up each others' joy.
The question is, what else are we called to do? What can we do? What is possible to redress injustice, and how are we called to effect change? Many of my friends at the RevGals Preacher Party are considering justice today, in light of the Isaiah passage and some with reference to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is celebrated January 21.
Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.
Isaiah 42
Sure wish I could get to a beach today. I'll be waiting and listening with my favorite coastland in mind.
I'm sick with shock. Just learned that Elastigirl was not approved by the Standing Committee to continue in the ordination process in this diocese. Apparently they 'did not perceive that she had a call to ministry.' Um, what?
Will you please, please pray for her and for her family...and for the many of us to whom she ministers regularly and inspiredly?
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