Inviting Women

                                                                              Junia Icon

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.Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys.

Romans 16:7-9 NRSV

Recently I mentioned visiting the McMichael Gallery for a wonderful new exhibit called Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment. It features the work of 33 artists who were usually not invited to show their work with male counterparts. Few of them received the recognition they deserved during their lifetimes, even someone such as Emily Carr who had the support of Lawren Harris.  There are also pieces in the exhibit created by Indigenous women artisans whose work will never be attributed, sad to say. 

This was meant to be a complementary exhibit following the 100th anniversary retrospective for the Group of Seven painters, a decidedly male bastion. The pandemic meant that Univited didn't open until this year, but it was worth the wait.

As we meandered through the rooms of captivating works my mind went to the "uninvited" women of the bible. There are actuallly many women in the stories of scripture, although they are often unnamed. They just don't get the airplay that men often do even there are heroic figures such as Miriam, sister of Moses, in the Hebrew scriptures, or another Miriam (we know her as Mary Magdalene) who was the first witness to the Risen Christ and arguably the first Chriistian evangelist. 

At least one woman in the New Testament was masculinized by translators because they weren't comfortable with the implications of her role in leadership. Paul seems to offering a shout out to Junia as an APOSTLE! The gender police added an "s" to her name to transform her into an acceptable guy, although more recent translations have corrected this.  As Junia was allowed to be a woman again some scholars questioned whether she really was regarded as an apostle. It never ends. 

Far too often in history women have been univited, not included at the table, either literally and figuratively. While we are learning, slowly, to recognize the historical and present-day gifts of women, we need every nudge and jolt possible to set us in the right direction.

 It has been argued, persuasively, that because Jesus' Last Supper was a Passover meal his women followers would have been present but we don't see that in many paintings, do we Leonardo?  

I'll be presiding in worship at Trenton United Church in a few weeks, so I think I'll explore this topic. And yes, there may be aspects of this blog entry which find their way into my message. 

Here is the cover of a new book by Ashley Wilcox which explores the passages about women in scripture which intrigues me. I do wish I still had a book allowance!