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;

The right words

Your heart breaks for British soccer player, Laura Bassett, she, who kicked the ball into her own team’s net --- an “own goal,” a mistake seemingly too hard to shoulder.

Watch the reply of the game and you too break a little over Bassett’s bad break. It lost the game. For England. In the semi-final. Of the World Cup.

She is weeping….so much more than tears….she heaves as she sobs. One of her teammates holds her, cradling her teammate’s head that is buried in her chest as she walks her from the pitch.

Her coach comes to her and wraps his arms around her.
The announcer keeps repeating, “What can you say to her?”

Nothing.

She’ll hear it. She’ll read it. She’ll watch it ---- all kinds of messages of well-wishes and pick-me-ups. Yet, what she needs is space and support and knowing persons are there.

For most of us we have been on both sides of this moment ---- needing comforted and wanting to offer comfort. Why do we always feel we need to say something? We’re nervous and not knowing what to say so we too often resort to worn-out cliché’s.

Stop.

One does not need to say anything. What matters is that you are there....in the midst of it... with and through. That is enough.

sj;

Sanctuary

When I was serving as pastor at an inner-city congregation in Erie, a frequent sound was the yells and loudness of children. Play in the inner-city seems to have a rougher edge than it's more pastoral cousin of rural rough-housing. One night while leaving the church, a young girl came running up the sidewalk to the church door and said, "I'm safe." I asked, "From what? You OK?" She replied, "I am now. I always run to the church because it's a safe place."

I remembered this moment as I reflect upon the murders at the Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. I've always loved the concept of sanctuary --- the safe place where persons run to and are sheltered and protected. I grieve the loss of this and even more that in many places of faith it was lost long before a troubled young man with a .45 caliber gun entered a church prayer and bible study meeting.

The deep disquiet over Charleston is because it was such a common, frequent occurrence. I have sat in many a church meeting space on many an evening leading a Bible study and joining with persons in prayer. I have welcomed the stranger who showed up and joined the circle of study and reflection. If we are who we say we are, we must continue so to do.

After the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the United States, congregations all over the nation were posting various slogans and quotes on their sign boards. Many were of the "God Bless America" variety. At the congregation where I was the pastor (also in Erie), I put "NO FEAR" on our sign board.

Of all the places in our society, communities of faith must remain open, hospitable places of peace. All talk of having the ushers carry guns or mace and installing video surveillance equipment to check-out who is coming to our locked doors must be denied and stopped. Remember who we are and what we have been given --- we are a people of peace whom have received a spirit of love -- this was made abundantly clear in the mercy-filled responses of the family members of the nine persons killed while attending a Bible study and prayer circle open to all.