When I was in high school I told my mother I wanted to be a minister.

Why not?

Carl in our Westminster Fellowship at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Dayton was going to be a minister.

We had helped organize a Teen Canteen for kids in the neighborhood.

We went to youth conferences at Miami University.

How I loved Morning Watch! Reading the Bible, I was sure Jesus wanted me to follow him.

We preached on Youth Sunday.

Why wouldn’t I want to be a minister?

My mother had to take me aside and tell me the facts of life in the Presbyterian Church. Women could not be ordained as ministers. I was stunned! Nearly everyone in my family was a minister, a missionary, or a church leader. I had no idea there were RULES about who could do what!

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA had first offered the presbyteries a chance to vote for the ordination of women in 1922—after women were given the franchise in national elections.

The presbyteries voted “No” to ordaining women in 1922.  In 1930 the General Assembly tried again. This time the presbyteries voted “Yes” to ordaining women elders, but “No” for clergy.

26 years went by. There were no women elders in Westminster Church. I went to  seminary, got a  Masters in Christian Education. But in my class was a woman from Syracuse, NY. Her presbytery had advised her to take the full three-year course for the Divinity degree because, they said, “By the time you graduate this denomination will be ordaining women clergy.”

Her name was Margaret Towner, and in 1956 ordination was approved, and she became the first woman in the Presbyterian Church USA to be ordained to the ministry. By 1958 fifteen more women were ordained. 

They were answering the call, “Daughters, dance your dreams awake.”

What are our dreams? Why be ordained? 

God calls men and women to all kinds of ministries, as  Chapter 12 of  I Corinthians  makes abundantly clear. There are varieties of gifts. The body of Christ has many members, each with its own function and all are honored. From the beginning women had played an important part in Jesus’ ministry and were leaders in the early church. Though no women are named apostles, Mary Magdalene seems to have played that role. There is evidence that later some women functioned as both priests and bishops. However, the line against women in leadership tightened.

But women kept receiving the gifts for leadership – preaching, caring for the church family, and witnessing. Why couldn’t these gifts qualify women to be part of the community of church leaders? If the  spiritual gifts for ministry were given by God, didn’t God intend that they be used? Why couldn’t the church accept the female recipients of these gifts?

Once in a while a woman broke through into public service. We read of Deborah this morning. Her gifts for community building and wisdom were recognized, and in Judges 4:4, we read that she was “judging in Israel.” The song in Judges 5:7 describes the benefits that came to Israel because of her judging,

“The peasantry prospered in Israel,

            they grew fat on plunder,

because you arose, Deborah,

            arose as a mother in Israel.”

When the Canaanites oppressed Israel, Deborah was called on to lead the troops against Sisera’s army. With Barak as military commander, they led the troops to the Wadi Kishon, urging the troops on with the shout, “The Lord is indeed going before you!” And the Lord threw Sisera’s army into disarray.  Judges 5:11-12 recalls the triumph, 

“To the sound of musicians at the watering places

there they repeat the triumphs of the  Lord,

the triumphs of [the Lord’s] peasantry in Israel.

“Awake, awake, Deborah!       

Awake, awake, utter a song.” 

Deborah called Israel to trust in the Lord who could save them. Their homes would be safe. They would be enriched by trade. Their daughters would not be carried off to become slaves of the Canaanites. Their young men would not die in battle. Judges 5:31 expresses the dream, 

“Friends of the Lord would be like the sun as it rises in its might.” 

            There would be peace.  

            “And the land had rest for 40 years.” 

Psalm 68:11 describes God’s call to women to carry forth the good news,

“The Lord gives the command;

            Great is the company of women

                        Who bore the tidings.” 

Daughters, dance and sing your dreams awake.

The 216^th General Assembly called on the church to celebrate the leadership of women in these anniversary years that mark the journey of the church toward the ordination of women: 

            1906—deacons (UPNA)

            1930—elders (PCUSA)

            1956—clergy (PCUSA) 

In the first two years after 1956 16 women were ordained as clergy. Then, as now, their ministries covered a broad spectrum of concerns. The first ordained woman in Chicago presbytery (and I mention Chicago because that is where I am a member and know the stories) was the director of a church-related neighborhood house serving the poor. The second woman was at McCormick Seminary as director of Field Education. The third was Associate Pastor of LaGrange Church in the suburbs of Chicago—the church where she had served as Director of Christian Education. 

Others among the first 16 served as pastors of small churches—urban and village, as a missionary in Japan, a children’s curriculum editor, a pastoral counselor, a  hospital  chaplain, a college professor, a prison chaplain, and as Christian Educators in large churches. About half were in ministry in  congregations,  the  other half in all kinds of specialized ministries. The same distribution is true today. 

About 40-60% of today’s seminarians are women. Sessions today are balanced between men and women. Women are providing service as clerks of session and stated clerks in presbyteries and synods. Not yet at General Assembly—but that day will come! In the fullness of time. 

These years of celebration call us to recognize the leadership of women—ordained or not. 

The Women’s Ministries office of the General Assembly Council has established four Celebration committees—Princeton, NJ, Chicago, IL, Atlanta, GA, and San Francisco, CA. We have a wonderful Chicago-based Planning Team, which I chair. We are  sponsored and supported by the Presbytery of Chicago, McCormick Seminary, and the Women’s Ministries office.  

We have a four-pronged approach 

(1)  to foster celebrations in congregations, presbyteries, and synods. To that end we have invited the 46 presbyteries in our five neighboring synods to establish planning teams and to be a part of a network with us. Over thirty-six presbyteries have responded; 

(2)  to sponsor a grand Celebration event called, “A Flame in our hearts, a Fire in our bones,” on November 5, 6, and 7, 2005 in Chicago. You are all invited.  I  am  wearing  a  pin based on

(3)  the logo—four women of different ethnicities and ages tending the flame of God’s call in our hearts; 

(4)  to  record the history of the journey toward ordination in the Presbyterian church, and 

(5)  to work to eradicate violence against women and to improve the welfare of women at home and worldwide. 

We have made delightful discoveries—Louisa Woosley seems to have  been the first woman ordained in a Presbyterian denomination—the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  Nolin Presbytery in Kentucky ordained her in 1889. The synod wouldn’t recognize her ordination, but she went on to serve congregations anyway. We discovered Dorsie Hays who grew up in Louisa Woosley’s congregation and who became an active elder in Ohio Valley Presbytery of the PCUSA. Louisa Woosley is the source of our theme. She wrote in 1891 in Shall Women Preach? 

“The women are coming. . .knocking at the doors of various denominations for admittance. They say, ‘this subject is a flame in our hearts, and a fire is kindled in our bones.’” 

As a part of our November Celebration  we are recognizing women that presbyteries have chosen to honor. These are the “Flame Tenders” for our day.  Lake Huron wants Ann Moe recognized. Besides being a member of session, she has served as moderator of Lake    Huron    Presbytery,   served   on   Synod   of   the Covenant [of which the Cincinnati Presbytery is a member] committees and is now a member of General Assembly Council and is liaison to the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. The Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy (St. Louis) is recognizing the Rev. Evlyn Fulton, former Executive Presbyter of Giddings-Lovejoy and a long-time  leader and advocate for women in the church. Prospect Hill Presbytery in Iowa has named Barbara Tollefson who, among many leadership responsibilities, has  volunteered at Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska. Her daughter is the Rev. Rebecca Tollefson, Director of the Ohio Council of Churches. 

Daughters are dancing their dreams awake. 

We look to the welfare of women beyond our church and to the women who are helping release the bonds of violence—domestic violence, dormitory rape, the violence of nature, being sold or tricked into the sex trade, the violence of poverty and economic exploitation, violence against women with same sex partners, and violence against those who risk ridicule and imprisonment for their defense of the ways of Jesus our Teacher.

Our Scripture reading from Acts 12 told of Paul’s imprisonment. He was bound with chains, had to sleep between two soldiers, guards at the door. But in spite of these obstacles an angel stole into Paul’s cell and awakened him. The chains fell from his wrists and he was led out of prison, past the guards, through the gate which had been locked, and into the street. He was free. “The Lord has sent an angel,” he cried.

We know angels like that. Angels who get past restraining walls, overcome resisting guards, unlock chains, open iron gates, and lead prisoners to safe ground. Many of them are Presbyterian women working their miracles in the community, in schools, in medical facilities, in government, in homes, in the church. God is sending them out as angels.

We can take the opportunity offered by these years of celebration and remembrance to give thanks for the freedoms we have received from our foremothers and rededicate ourselves to the eradication of the violence and oppression that chain women to a host of prisons. The Lord sends us on this mission.

Daughters, dance God’s dreams awake.