Leaning into the Gospel

Dear People of Christ Church,
This week, I'm mulling over all things episcopal: episcopal in the sense of "Episcopal," as in, our church, and "episcopal," in the sense of "related to things relating to bishops." (Greek episcopos=overseer=bishop). The slate of bishop candidates in our diocese was released in January, and during February, candidates who join the slate by petition (those who have gathered the correct mix of clergy and lay delegate signatures across our diocese) are being background checked and will be announced in March.  It won't just be those five from the nominating committee! This week also saw the release of the bishops' slate in the suffragan (assisting) election in Maryland.   All the candidates were women, which was at the same time entirely troubling and entirely great.

I recently read Sheryl Sandberg's book, Lean In, a corporate manifesto for professional women to focus harder on their careers and reject the things that (she sees) hold them back. Sandberg's point is that, too often, women undermine themselves in subtle ways, and before they know it, have lost the opportunities that would have been available to them had they only "leaned in" further to their work. We don't ask for raises, we don't speak up, we let our spouses get away with leaving too much childcare to us. Sandberg's book has been well-criticized by many different corners, first and foremost because she is talking to such a narrow segment of the population, a relatively un-diversified group of people who are already leaps and bounds more privileged than most Americans, nevermind women or men on a global scale.  What's more troubling about the book is that there's nothing about all the structural inequality that leads women to get stuck in their careers, or never to start them at all.  If you couldn't go to college because you got a part time job at CVS to take care of your family, there's not a lot of room for "leaning" anywhere before you fall over.  

Since I read the book, I've been thinking a lot about how it does and doesn't translate in the Christian life.   The Gospel doesn't measure our worth by our salaries or the size of our office, so why should we chase after those things?  Well,  our Gospel for this Sunday does say something about not hiding your light under a bushel, and I think that can go for our secular work as well as for our faith in God. 

But Maryland, oh, Maryland.  If I was a little disappointed to see just one woman on the slate in Massachusetts, it was so much worse to see all those women on the list.  This is the definition of a double bind: in a circumstance in which the outcome you want (women bishops) is sure, why would you not want to have it be certain? Because it just points to how stuck we already are, that either there is an assumption that a woman would never get elected unless running against only women, or that just being female is a job requirement. This is the structural change that Sheryl Sandberg doesn't get and that we in the church don't do a great job with either. 

The charge in baptism is to "respect the dignity of every human being," which includes working for inclusion of all people's skills, on every level, at all times.  We need men and women toget her in our sacraments, men and women together in the choir, men and women on the altar guild, menand women and all those in between who don't identify with either, to listen for God's call in their lives.  That, as the Prophet Isaiah says in our reading for this Sunday, the fast that God chooses. That is God's desire for the church.  What can we do here at Christ Church to share ministry more effectively?  Where are you called to stop hiding your light?  

Blessings,
Sara+ 

PS: See a piece on my blog that this is based on & some conversation about it on the church website Episcopal Cafe.
  

April 20: Episcopal Priest Barbie

Last week, I received an invitation to go on the Callie Crossley show. Crossley hosts an hourlong interview show on WGBH (89.7, weekdays at 1:00), and I'll be going on tomorrow (Wednesday, April 21) with the Rev. Julie Blake Fisher, creator of the facebook group "Friends of Episcopal Church Barbie" and rector of Christ Church Kent, Ohio. I had noticed "Rev. Barbie" online before, but hadn't really looked at it until I got the call from the radio show.

Barbie, rector of St Barbara's By the Sea (in Malibu, of course) has been getting quite a bit of press-both from those who think it's cute and funny, and those who think it's mocking and ridiculous. Of course, Barbie herself is kind of a freighted question; she's reinforcement for all the unhealthy body image stuff that girls and women experience in our culture, but she's also such an iconic image of American childhood. I had Barbies, and my son always looks at the dolls in the store. (The other day, we noticed that astronaut Barbie, first introduced in 1965, is back) Blake Fisher has put together a full sacristy of vestments and equipment, right down to the thurible. She put it together as a hobby and an ordination gift for a friend of hers; it's not quite available at your local big box store.

I find it fascinating that this is getting so much press; if I'm a priest, and I'm a woman, why shouldn't Barbie get to be one, too? Instead, I've read comments about how ordination just "doesn't stick to a woman"--it slips off, like Teflon. Or, they call her a "priestess," and talk about how it's debasing the church. I forget that there is such vitriol in some corners of the world for who I am and what I do. I grew up in a church that had a woman priest when I was in high school, and I never thought the ministry was closed to me for that reason. I had all kinds of other critiques and questions for the church when I was growing up, but my own gender (as far as ordination went) wasn't one. I came to Christ Church almost five years ago and wondered what it would be like to be in a place where there had never been women clergy before. Once I was here, though, I became your pastor, not just the person behind the altar, and we do pretty well together! There is plenty of sexism in the world and I think my eyes are pretty open to it, but this is one place where I just haven't really felt it once we got to know each other. As a female leader in the church, I'm glad to be able to give to girls the same gift given to me-the sense that this is normal, that there is no part of God's work here on earth that is not open to us.


So hopefully Rev. Barbie is an entryway into a broader conversation about women in ministry. Even with a female presiding bishop, we still have a long way to go in the church. There is still a stained glass ceiling! Women still tend to get called to more marginal churches, and are still more often in part time work. I was so excited when Trinity Boston, called Anne Bonnyman to be their rector; they're one of the largest in the country, and that is surely a good sign. With the consecration of Mary Glasspool as bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles coming up, it's notable that not only is there no comment that she's a woman, the amount of comment that she's a lesbian is less than we would have thought as well.


So here we are, getting on with our work together, men and women, young and old. This Sunday, our "GPS" (God's People Serving) Ministry Discernment Group will host a session for the congregation to do an Appreciative Inquiry conversation. You might remember in 2009 when we did this as part of the rector search process. This time, it will be an effort to help us craft a mission statement for the church and chart some strategic goals for the next several years. What is it that makes Christ Church special to you? Please stay for a while longer on Sunday to be part of this. Contact Jonathan Duce or Marcia Luce if you would like to give your input but won't be here this week.


Blessings,
Sara+


The Callie Crossley Show on WGBH

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