I play the piano for a small Methodist congregation on Sunday mornings. They meet in one of the oldest Methodist churches in the South, a small, lovely brick building in a sleepy old town. It is not large enough to house a pipe organ. The pastor, who interviewed, auditioned, and ultimately hired me, is a young, 40-something woman, recently ordained. She and her husband – he sits in the pews with their three children every Sunday – are fugitives from a much stricter Baptist tradition.
I took the job for purely practical reasons; I needed a form of income that was not too time consuming but would enable me to help support my family while writing my dissertation. Yet, increasingly as time passes, I find myself surprised at my weekly reactions – emotional, intellectual, and spiritual – to the experience of having a woman preside. Her sermons bring up ideas that refuse to leave my mind, and everywhere in her speech are inclusive metaphors of female experience. Although, of course, some of the basic teachings and traditions of Methodism are distinct from Mormonism – the examples below will make that obvious – the parallels are striking enough that, while listening to her, I feel I am beginning to develop a vision of what real female leadership from ordained women would look like in an LDS setting. Here are two examples from sermons that have remained with me:
1. During the Christmas season, she — following the standard Methodist liturgical calendar — preached one week on the Magnificat, or the words of praise uttered by Mary when visiting her cousin Elizabeth (see Luke 1: 46- 55). The pastor centered her sermon by reflecting on narrative patterns of “calling” in the Bible, noting the arc from the Old Testament forward of God calling men and women, them refusing or balking at the prospect, God offering a sign, and the person accepting.
She offered Moses as one of the most familiar examples of these narratives, including Moses’ suggestion to God of Aaron as the more obvious candidate and the miracle of the burning bush.
Returning to the week’s Advent theme, the pastor then talked more about the Annunciation and Mary, noting that Mary didn’t reject her call from God; she simply marveled at it and asked how it would work, then glorified God in the Magnificat.
She said that Mary was the human that came closest to God in all of history and lived to tell the tale; that she became herself a “burning bush,” touched by God and yet not consumed by the fire. She then stated, “This makes Mary the greatest of the prophets.”
She added that when life throws us curveballs, perhaps we should experience them without trepidation or fear. Perhaps they are like the “shadow of the Most High” working in us; that our fear is really the “morning sickness” of a great work.
I was sitting on the front pew, about to return to the piano, and I was overcome and almost couldn’t play. I realized I had never really fully imagined a woman preaching to a congregation filled with both men and women and saying such things – using feminine metaphors about calling; claiming without fear that Mary was the greatest prophet. I looked out and saw the old men in the congregation nodding along placidly; saw that men – even old Southern men – can accept such notions. It was, for me in that moment, raw and beautiful.
2. Recently the pastor was delivering a sermon about idolatry. As is the case in most good homilies, she sought to make the concept applicable to her congregants, but the example she chose caught me up short.
She began speaking about chastity and Christian purity culture. (Here in the South, many Christians purchase purity rings, make purity pledges, and go through elaborate religious rituals involving promises not to have sex before marriage.)
The pastor was careful in her sermon – she emphasized that she was teaching her own daughter to be, in her words, “a good girl” – but then she paused. She explained that one of her daughter’s best friends had become involved with Christian purity culture. This young girl had become obsessed with the idea of her own virginity and that of her young friends. It was one of the only subjects she tended to linger on; it had become her metric for determining other peoples’ moral goodness. Virginity was everything to her. The pastor then said:
“For those for whom Christian purity culture becomes their central focus and their defining identity, could it be that purity and chastity are becoming their idols? That they are focusing over-much on what is ultimately something that impacts only a small portion of their lives; that instead of concerning themselves with the good works, kindness, and charitable living that helps us as Christians to try to make the kingdom of God here, now, among us, they are being distracted by hyper-focus on one small component of Christianity? And,” she continued, “after all, what is one of these kids to do if they make a mistake?”
She finished, “Our focus should be, in all things, to seek to make our lives this very day a heaven; to live the kingdom of God on earth. When we find ourselves obsessing over small details – and those details will vary from person to person – we are idolizing them.”
I admit that I am more than a little curious about how most Mormons would react to this second example. I am still turning it over in my mind, but it is clear that purity culture was, for her, just one representative token; she could just as easily have said modesty culture. (She has indicated through her sermons that, to her, what is good and important and liberating for one person can be a crutch for another; she is, mercifully, not one size fits all.)
I leave most Sundays now wondering what it would be like practically and experientially if Mormon women had the authority to preside, to reveal, to proclaim doctrine, and to make choices at an equal level with Mormon men. Would we hear more female-centered stories and metaphors? Would we talk about the psychological and spiritual effects of hyper-focusing on sexuality or modesty? What else would be different?
Wow. Thanks for sharing these ideas and experiences.
Amazing!
I absolutely love “our fear is really the ‘morning sickness’ of a great work.” Perfect.
And, as your post suggests, I love that the analogy came about because it was a woman who was preaching. How much are we missing by being one-dimensional?
I see it all the time. Idol worshiping prophets instead of Christ. I’m guilty of it when I come to understand some new component of the Good News, it’s suddenly all the things to me.
I love this, Galdralag! Thanks so much for sharing these insights. I really like your concluding questions. I think we should have women ordained in the LDS Church even if it were just a matter of procedural justice. But looking beyond that, I think you’re spot on in suggesting that we would be likely to get healthy shifts in (and expansions of) our teachings and approaches to things.
We’ve had sacrament meetings that, though not presided over by a sister, involved three sisters speaking for about 40 minutes. Sisters speak all the time in sacrament meetings, at a time when many churches still don’t allow women to speak to the congregation. How is that not revealing and proclaiming doctrine? The same kind of talks could just as easily been given by any sister in the church.
It sounds like women’s ordination would be the next logical step to take in your ward, Janie, and that the transition to allowing women to preside over meetings and preach on prophetesses would be quite seamless.
I find it ironic that the obvious parallel in the Hyperfocus idolatry sermon wasn’t immediately drawn to this obsession with priesthood.
I could say more but I’ll leave it at that.
That and where Christ references John the Baptist as the greatest prophet among the children of men stands as a stark contradiction to the commentary on Mary.
But otherwise some nice thoughts
Janie, I can see what you’re saying, but I think the two are only superficially similar. My experience with attending churches where ordained women preside and preach is that it has a much different feel. There really is something powerful, at least in my experience, in seeing a woman in authority in that context.
When I first encountered the idea of female ordination, however many years ago, I was very uncomfortable with it. In retrospect, I think a lot of my discomfort arose from unfamiliarity–without any actual encounters with ordained women, it was difficult to seriously imagine it. Probably the single thing that most shifted my view on this was going to divinity school and spending time with ordained women. I think one of the reasons Mormons are likely to be uneasy with the notion of a woman leading a congregation is that they simply haven’t experienced it, and it’s easy to see what’s unfamiliar as wrong.
This makes me think about the photos that Ordain Women put out recently of women giving blessings. I was really amazed by how powerful they were; they made me want to cry.
I loved this experience, Galdralag–thanks for sharing it.
To be fair, we are talking apples and oranges. You haven’t had any encounter with a woman ordained to any office in the Priesthood of God, and the story above is only concerned with someone ordained to an earthly priesthood which is a pale counterfeit of that Priesthood found in the Church.
Sounds like the one true priesthood in the Church has some catching up to do. That’s what happens, I guess, when you don’t make use of all your resources, and turn down candidates based on their genitalia.
“You haven’t had any encounter with a woman ordained to any office in the Priesthood of God, and the story above is only concerned with someone ordained to an earthly priesthood which is a pale counterfeit of that Priesthood found in the Church.”
If that’s the case, and yet women who are ordained to a “pale counterfeit” manage to do so much good, imagine all the good that could happen with women ordained to the true Priesthood!
Or imagine good women could do if they weren’t consumed by pride, and envy?
Since I don’t think being humble and selfless are mutually exclusive to holding the priesthood, I fail to see the relevance.
Thanks, all, for the comments.
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Mormon women are always too righteous, too wicked, too humble, or too proud for the priesthood. They’re always too interested in it or not interested in it enough.
Beautiful thoughts, thanks for sharing.
What a moving post – one that I will reread and contemplate. Thanks for sharing Galdralag.
Beautiful ideas! I have visited many other churches and am often impressed by the sermons presented! My kids are impressed by the rock music.
Reading this post took my breath away. I yearn to hear and feel the words of powerful spiritual women–women who rely upon the Holy Spirit to prepare and deliver messages from God. The topic is heavy on my mind today as I prepare to speak in Sacrament Meeting tomorrow. Thank you for sharing this; the Pastor’s example will shape my presentation tomorrow.