The Importance of Women in the Church and Beyond

This week is a week to celebrate women - the women who have come before us, the women who have personally shaped our lives, the women who continue to nurture and encourage us and also the women who are struggling to know their worth, find their identity or just hang on. We are all in this together! I remind you of this not just because this Sunday is a holiday that some women will celebrate, but also because of the historical significance of this week in our denomination. 

On May 4, 1956, by vote of the General Conference, The Methodist Church granted women full clergy rights, allowing them to be ordained as elders and deacons with guaranteed appointments. Let that sink in for a minute… It has only been 70 years since women have had full clergy rights in our church! This is definitely something to celebrate. At our Annual Conference in June, my covenant group and I will host the Clergywomen's Lunch for the fourth year and our theme is Elevate-Her (Celebrating 70 Years of Women’s Ordination). It will definitely be a time of joy and celebration for all of us. However, it will also be a time for us to join together and encourage one another to not take these rights for granted in a world where it seems that many of these hard-won rights are being challenged, reversed, and even taken away. We must not let this happen.

I have met so many women in my life who are truly called by God to minister to others, lead churches, serve as Bishops, and head up Global Agencies of the church - women who have and continue to have a huge impact on the people of the Kingdom of God on Earth! I'm sure we have all had at least a few women in our lives who have exemplified the love of Christ, nurtured and blessed us and even inspired us with their grace, sense of calling and compassion for others.This a week to celebrate those women as we work to make sure they (and all of us) have the opportunity continue to serve and work in the roles to which we have been called.

There is one woman I would like to lift up this week who has greatly blessed me over the last few months. Her name is Rev. Samantha Johnson. I met Sami last year when she and her family had just moved here (her husband, Josh, is a military chaplain) and they brought their daughter, Susannah, to Vacation Bible School. Since then, they have welcomed another child, Jacob, and become regular attenders of our church. They are also very involved in our other ministries. Sami and Josh are both ordained clergy in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). We have been blessed by Sami preaching at Wednesday Night Worship and the 11am service and leading discussion at Old Stone Coffee House. 

Every now and then you meet someone who you just know is filled with the Holy Spirit and a calling to minister to others. That is Sami. She has an easy going, peaceful, loving quality about her that just shines the light of Christ into the lives of others. You can truly feel her grace and humble confidence in who she is in Christ. She is simply a blessing. And she offers all of this to us while she and Josh raise two small children. I am so grateful to her for being a beacon of light and encouraging me to never stop advocating for women like her (and all those who are called) to be able to share their gifts and talents with this world that so desperately needs them. 

So, this week, I am thankful to the women who have come before us, the women who nurture us, the women who lead us, the women who advocate for us and the women (like Sami) who do all of this with a baby in their arms, a burden in their heart or a struggle we know nothing about. This world needs their voices and their guidance. 

"She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue." Proverbs 31:26

Grace and Peace

-Pastor Madeline