As a female priest in the Episcopal Church, it only takes one comment on Twitter “leaving my bubble” for me to open the app and see multiple comments telling me I’m worshiping Satan by being a female priest. Some choose to go with the age old “you’re going to burn in hell.” The worst times are when I see a lovely woman share pictures of her ordination, just to have someone in the comments saying she is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Some even go out of their way to find the church where she serves, post a link, and ask their followers who also hate women priests to leave 1 star reviews on Google.
I think sometimes those of us in denominations that ordain women might too quickly forget how recent the decision to do so was, or how many still think women cannot hold leadership positions in the church. Seeing a woman at the altar is so very normal to some of us, that we forget how women in leadership positions in the church still face harassment for daring to follow God’s call. Over the past 12 years of my ordained ministry, I’ve become a little desensitized to these comments, but I’d be lying if I said they don’t ever get through to me.
When the moments of pain from these insults surface, on a good day, I am drawn into prayer. Namely, prayers of gratitude for the first preachers of the gospel I now herald: the women at the tomb, of which Mary Magdalene was one.
Mary Magdalene might as well be known as one of Jesus’ disciples, given how she lived like them. She traveled alongside Jesus and his disciples, then stood beside his disciples as he was crucified, joined to them in their grief, all of them losing their beloved friend. However, unlike the disciples, Mary Magdalene didn’t just watch him die—she also found the empty tomb. Upon seeing it, she told the good news that we now call the gospel of eternal life, the resurrection that makes us Christians. She fled the empty tomb, letting her voice—even though it trembled with residual grief and surprise—still speak clearly into the muddy waters of existence as we know it.
And what a scripture we receive, in which this good news of resurrection that promises us eternal life comes to us from the lips of a woman. The very first proclamation of the cornerstone of the Christian faith, the belief that makes us Christians, comes from a woman—the very first preacher of the gospel.
However, the hope she heralds is obviously not gendered. Mary Magdalene exists as a saint who represents all who bear witness to Christ in our world, all who are willing to witness the horrors of this world and still dare to believe hope does not disappoint. The witness of Mary Magdalene rushes to meet and care for all who stare into the pain of death and are, by God’s grace, met instead with resurrection.
Mary Magdalene shows up to us after witnessing the emptiness of the tomb, so that when we stare into the very full tombs of our lives, we remember that God is on the way to transform that death into eternal life.
[Image Credit: Manigault, Edward Middleton, 1887-1922. Christ Appearing to Mary, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.]
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Litany of Women for the Church
Dear God, creator of women in your own image
born of a woman in the midst of a world half women,
carried by women to mission fields around the globe,
made known by women to all the children of the earth,
Give to the women of our time
the strength to persevere,
the courage to speak out,
the faith to believe in you beyond
all systems and institutions,
so that your face on earth may be seen in all its beauty,
so that the church may be converted to your will
in everything and in all ways.
We call on the holy women who went before us, channels of Your Word
in testaments old and new, to intercede for us
so that we might be given the grace to become what they have been
for the honor and glory of God.
Saint Mary Magdalene, minister of Jesus,
first evangelist of the Christ;
Saint Scholastica,
who taught her brother Benedict to honor the spirit above the system;
Saint Hildegard, who suffered interdict
for the doing of right;
Saint Joan of Arc, who put no law above the law of God;
Saint Clare of Assisi, who confronted the pope
with the image of woman as equal;
Saint Julian of Norwich, who proclaimed for all of us the motherhood of God;
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who knew the call
to priesthood in herself;
Saint Catherine of Sienna, to whom the pope listened;
Saint Teresa of Avila, who brought women’s gifts
to the reform of the church;
Saint Edith Stein, who brought fearlessness to faith;
Saint Elizabeth Seton, who broke down boundaries between lay women and religious;
Saint Dorothy Day, who led the church in a new sense of justice;
Mary, mother of Jesus,
who heard the call of God and answered;
Mary, mother of Jesus,
who drew strength from the woman Elizabeth;
Mary, mother of Jesus,
who underwent hardship bearing Christ;
Mary, mother of Jesus, who ministered at Cana;
Mary, mother of Jesus, inspirited at Pentecost;
Mary, mother of Jesus, who turned the Spirit of God into the body and blood of Christ,
pray for us.
Amen.
(from Sister Joan Chittister)
I would never offer comments as you and other women have experienced, but I, too, early on, was against women’s ordination, until I was asked to represent the parish at a Diocesan Convention years ago. I’m 81-years young, so I vaguely recall her name was Patricia McCormick. Pastor McCormick offered an opinion on an issue that was so Christ affirming that my opinion changed immediately, and I endorsed women’s ordination from then on. Why would we deny women the opportunity to express and confirm our faith, and the blessed sacraments if they were as dedicated as Pastor McCormack? May the God of ALL continue to bless your ministry and that of women everywhere.
Thank you for this beautiful reflection.
This is a message of hope as we Christians are a people of hope. Please write again.