Women's Day and Faith

 

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae,
  so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints,
and help her in whatever she may require from you,
for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well.
Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus, 
and who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks,
but also all the churches of the Gentiles.  
Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus,
who was the first convert^[ in Asia for Christ. 
Greet Mary, who has worked very hard among you.
Greet Andronicus and Junia,  my relatives who were in prison with me;
they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.

Romans 16:1-7

At my mother's memorial service this past November I observed that she had been more of an influence on the development of my faith through her strong, capable witness than my late father, who was also a United Church minister. I thought about her as we approached this International Women's Day, and I have little doubt that many of us can point to the women who have shaped our lives in every aspect, including our spirituality.

I grew up in a denomination which began ordaining women in the 1930's and while my mother had started life in the Salvation Army she was an officer until deciding to come over to the dark side of the United Church. In my seminary training and during nearly 40 years of ministry the emphasis was always on recognizing the gifts of both women and men. The United Church has hardly been perfect in achieving the goal of equality but I am often startled by how regressive many denominations are in this regard. I found a blog post from 2006 -yikes- in which I reflect on a book I was reading at the time of the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. Here is a portion of that post:

I am reading The Lost Apostle by journalist Rena Pederson, about the passing mention of a woman in the last chapter of the apostle Paul's letter to the church in Rome. Her name is Junia, although for centuries this person was called Junius in many translations. It is clearly a woman's name but it was changed to the masculine form because she is described in verse seven as "prominent among the apostles." The reasoning was that a woman couldn't have been identified and honoured by Paul as an apostle, so the name was altered. The book is not scholarly in style but it is very readable and intriguing.

For so long the church has either marginalized women or treated them as though they are "armed and dangerous." Actually, a number of religions have relegated women to second-class status, arguing both that this is God's will that and that they are really held in higher regard than it appears. These arguments are far from convincing, at least for me.
How do we honour women in our midst as the people of faith? How do we say that their roles are important? Perhaps we begin, as Paul the supposed misogynist did, with the names of those we cherish.

Quakers, astrophysics, and Women's Day in my Groundling blog!
https://groundlingearthyheavenly.blogspot.com/2019/03/quakers-andastrophysics.html