2-7-21
Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our
Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
During this time of “Coronatide Winter,” I’ve noticed so
many things being turned into Hashtag Challenges. Some are fun – go look up
#TargetDressChallenge, you won’t regret it! But some are also serious.
I’ve seen my pastor friends doing the
#danglingerringchallenge, which I assumed was for fun – until I heard the story
behind it. Turns out, last year an African American woman pastor in the
Methodist church named Chenda Innis Lee was repeatedly harassed by one of her
members for wearing dangling earrings during their Zoom worship, and that
member wrote multiple letters saying that her choice was “too distracting.”
As women in public ministry, myself and my female
colleagues over and over again have been forced to defend our calls to
other people. All women I know have experienced inappropriate comments about
how much we weigh, how we do our hair, the clothes we wear, how young we look. I
personally have been mansplained, stalked, harassed, and called names online
and in real life. Our calls are belittled when the culture automatically
assumes that the ONLY acceptable pronoun for “pastor” is “he.”
The words we use are very important. The Gospel of Mark
isn’t wordy, but Mark knows what he’s doing. He’s painting for us a picture of
Jesus who is a man of both words AND action. Jesus chooses his words carefully.
He means what he says and leads by example. And when he calls us to follow, he
expects us to do the same.
It's actually a little amusing to me that we are STILL in
the first chapter of Mark, but there is so much going on here – healing one
person, then healing a lot of people, then Jesus needs some down time. Then
Jesus preaching and heals some more. But it all began with one person – the
mother of Simon’s wife. I think it’s pretty cool that they told Jesus about her
fever right away, and that Jesus got right to it and healed her.
And then she got up and began to make everybody some
sandwiches… oh wait, what? That’s NOT cool! The feminist in me rankles a bit at
first to her response to the gift of new life…. as she seems
to repeat the broken systems in place in her old life.
But maybe, just maybe…. Simon’s mother-in-law does
something in chapter 1 that none of the other disciples get around to doing in ALL
of the chapters of Mark. She was the first disciple of Jesus who actually behaves
like one.
This woman was healed and restored, to respond
out of her gratitude as a mode of true discipleship,
following in Jesus’ (Future) footsteps. Though Simon, Andrew, James, and John
were CALLED first, SHE is first to live out her call. SHE,
who was not even given a name in Mark’s Gospel. SHE is the one who shows us the
way – opening her home and her doorstep to be the staging ground for the
healing of an entire city in need.
She was the first woman in Mark, who followed Jesus, as
arguable the first diaconal minister, and she certainly would not be the last.
Jesus is on the move, and these women keeps pace with
him, more so than their male counterparts. Women ministered to Jesus and even
stood vigil at the cross. Women were the first to witness the empty tomb on
Easter morning. Women like Priscilla, Tabitha, Junia, and a pretty cool one
from Greece named Lydia, and also many, many others worked solo or side by side
with their male counterparts to help be midwives at the birth of God’s kingdom
here on earth.
Female bodies are sacred, blessed, chosen to for this
holy work, when the rest of the world, even in the church, would rather not
acknowledge this, or even recognize all the ways we harm one another by not
honoring this call from God comes to all kinds of bodies.
Jesus came to earth in a body. Jesus healed bodies – cast
demons from them, restored them to health – and also fed them. …. And by the
way, he also took care of his body with rest… all still within the first
chapter in the Gospel of Mark. Not a bad beginning.
Unfortunate for us, we still seem to be at the very
beginning of working on this particular justice issue. It is 2021, and little
girls can grow up to be anything they want to be, including pastors, right? We
sometimes forget that there are still denominations that call themselves
Lutheran who do recognize women’s ordination. 18% of the member churches in theLutheran World Federation do not ordain women, and many ELCA churches still
balk and calling a female pastor. In so doing, they are denying and rejecting
vital organs in the Body of Christ.
While the rest of the society values only certain types
of bodies are worthy, Jesus continues to insist that all bodies are loved and
worthy of being seen as holy – bodies of all abilities, ages, colors, genders, sizes,
and health levels. And all bodies deserve healing, rest, and care. In fact,
Jesus put his own body on the line to get this point across. And God thought all
bodies – including your body - are so important, that he raised Jesus up… in a
bodily resurrection. Probably the best offering in the #resurrectionchallenge
Whether you wear dangling earrings – or not – you are
loved and you are called. Whether you need to step back and make space
for rest or are ready to lean in and eager for the work that is to come, you
are still loved and you are called. And as we remember that God loves,
creates, and calls all bodies to this work, we can create space for all the
different ways that we all can follow Jesus. Thanks be to God, amen.
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