Equal to the Apostles

Are you planning to celebrate the Feast of Saint Mary Magdelene today, 22 July? To the left of this post, the icon by Robert Lentz features Mary holding an egg. Legend has it that when Mary went to Rome to preach the Resurrection to the Emperor of Rome, he was more than dubious. Pointing to a basket of eggs he exclaimed that he'd no more believe in the resurrection of Jesus than he would that the eggs were red not white. At that point, Mary picked up an egg and it turned bright red.

Long after Anne Bancroft portrayed Mary Magdalene in the annually aired t.v. special, "Jesus of Nazareth," I, a woman answering the call to ordained ministry, took Mary Magdalene as my personal saint to kick some ecclesiastical keester!

As a kid, I remember sitting in church while my mother preached the sermon. Yes, at the traditional 11 am service. Yes, from the pulpit. And, yes, very well, thank you. What was shocking to me was not that my mother preached. I was shocked by the reaction of Mr. Myers, the kindly, older gentleman who shared our pew and every week provided me with peppermint patties and spearmint gummy candies. Upon witnessing my mother deliver the sermon, he with much disdain and disgust exclaimed, "a woman ought to keep quiet in church!" So much for my Sunday morning "Sugar Daddy."

I've been ordained 23 years in the United Methodist tradition and....sigh...have my own stories to tell. Members from one congregation called the District Superintendent (my boss so to speak) and said that I was re-writing scripture. Why such an accusation? Because the previous Sunday while preaching from the text where Jesus calls his disciples to go and fish for disciples I read "Jesus called them to fish for men and women." GASP! In previous centuries, the disillusioned and much a-feared congregants probably would have fetched wood and kerosene as well.

I remember getting into a bit of a tiff with the senior pastor of my first appointment when during rehearsals for the youth-lead Easter pageant (which I was directing), he showed up at rehearsal and told the young teen playing Mary Magdalene that "Oooh! Watch out! You're playing a prostitute!" Now, pause for a moment to unpack how incredibly inappropriate his comments were on literally every level. Of course, I jumped in with a loud (shocked?) diatribe on how scripture never says Mary Magdalene was a prostitute and that fasle view is derived from male-dominated, chauvenistic, fearful influences in the church that wanted to try and keep women silent and stupid. It's hard to know how to be helpful and educational at times.

On this Feast Day for Saint Mary Magdalene celebrate by proclaiming what you know to be true no matter who tries to silence you.

Raise a glass to all the strong women who have nurtured and continue to shape you with their grace and courage.

Be bold. Be Beautiful.

sj;