When God Calls Women (Synopsis)

When God Calls Women (synopsis)

The First Woman Apostle

Mary Magdalene

Go and tell my brothers and tell them that I am now ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.

As the first messenger of the resurrection, she was sent by the Risen Lord to go and tell the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18). Feast Day: July 22.

Martyrs

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

Praxedes(second century) Very little is known of her…has been called the first Christian martyr. She lived at a time of extreme Christian persecution, hid Christians in her home and visited the imprisoned, and hid those who died until they could be properly buried.

Perpetua and her Companions Martyrs at Carthage, 202. Feast Day, March 7. Emperor Septimius Severus decreed that all persons should sacrifice to the divinity of the Emperor. There was no way that a Christian, confessing faith in the One Lord Jesus Christ, could do this. Eventually all were put to death by a stroke of a sword through the throat.

Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc), also called The Maid of Orleans, 1412-1431. Feast Day, May 30. She claimed to have received visions of the archangel Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from England. At age 18 she led the French army to victory over the English at Orleans. Captured a year later, she was burned at the stake as a heretic.

Mystics Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened.” John 1:51.

Hildegard von Bingen ( 1098-1179), born in the lush Rhineland Valley, Hildegard was a mystic, poet, composer, dramatist, preacher, doctor, scientist, abbess, and visionary. She is an example of courage, perseverance, and trust in the face of daunting obstacles and against steep odds. When she heard the voice of God, she listened and obeyed in faith. Feast Day, September 17.

Julian of Norwich (1342c. – 1416), mystic and theologian, Dame Julian has been called the first woman of English letters. She was an anchoress who chose to live in a sealed-up room adjacent to St. Julian’s church. Even though she lived through the Black Plague, her book Revelations of Divine Love is a profoundly beautiful book about God’s love. Many have found strength in her words, “All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well”. Feast Day, May 8.

Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) Born a Spanish noblewoman, Teresa chose a monastic life in the Catholic Church. She became a Carmelite nun and established 17 convents of Reformed Carmelites. She was a mystic, a religious reformer, led a contemplative life, and was the author of The Interior Castle as a result of divine intervention. She was a close spiritual and personal friend of Str. John of the Cross. Feast Day, October 15.

Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) British poet, novelist, and mystic, Evelyn described her early mystical insights as “abrupt experiences of the peaceful, an undifferentiated plane of reality – like the ‘still desert’ of the mystic – in which there was no multiplicity nor need of explanation”. These experiences became a lifelong quest of research and writing. She wrote: “We mostly spend [our] lives conjugating three verbs: to Want, to Have, and to Do…forgetting that none of these verbs have any ultimate significance except so far as they are transcended by and included in, the fundamental verb, to Be.” Feast Day, June 15.

Healers

I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me.

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) Feast Day, August 12. When she broke away from family expectations to become a nurse at age 30, she noted that this was the age when Jesus began his ministry. She clearly saw her work as a way of following Jesus. She once told an assembly of nurses, Christ is the author of our profession.”

Clara Barton (1820-1912) an angel of the Civil War battlefields and founder of the American Red Cross. Her compassion to heal and care for the wounded soldiers makes it easy to find God in her work. Although she never joined a church, she seemed to live out the command from scripture, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7-12)

Betty Ford (1918-2011) Founder of the Betty Ford Center for substance abuse and addiction. Its purpose is a force of healing and hope for individuals and families affected by addiction and other drugs. She is quoted to have said, “That’s what we’re here on this Earth for, to help others.”

Concern for the Poor

Love your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” Mother Teresa was a woman of intense faith who believed the world could be a better place, person by person. She dedicated her life to care for the poor, the disenfranchised and taught to cultivate and live an attitude of faith.

Dorothy Day (1897-1980) Love Your Neighbor. In response to a conversation with Peter Maurin, a French immigrant and philosopher, he asked Dorothy to found a radical religious newspaper, to launch houses of hospitality to care for the poor and unemployed, to organize agrarian-based communities to shift America’s focus away from industrialization. She saw these initiatives as a call from God, a life’s vocation, and a direction in her life.

Sister Mary Scullion – “None of us are home until all of us are home.” Project HOME(of which she is the co-founder) is committed to ending and preventing chronic street homelessness in Philadelphia. She is a member of the Sisters of Mercy, whose vows include caring for the poor, the sick and uneducated. In 1991 she received the Philadelphia award for her steadfast service to the homeless in Philadelphia.

Advocates for Justice

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18-19)

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) born into slavery, Isabella Baumfree was an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. While she did not know how to read, she knew the Bible well and was a dynamic preacher, not only spellbinding her audience with her powerful voice of deep tones but also of her nearly six foot stature. She spoke the prophetic truth of the Word of God across the country. Feast Day, July 20.

Harriet Tubman (1820?-1913) “I was free; They should be free.” Born into slavery, Harriet escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue enslaved people, including family and friends, using the network of anti-slavery activists and safe homes known as the Underground Railroad. After her death she became an icon of courage and freedom. Feast Day, July 20.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) “Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.” Helen was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. She helped found the American Civil Liberties Union (1920) to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the constitution and laws of the United States.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace” were the words of St. Francis which she had framed on her bedroom wall. Through her travels, lectures, newspaper columns, articles, and her life, she called attention to injustice and inhumane conditions that diminished the beloved children of God. This was not just talk. She encountered those persons one by one and lobbied for change in the country.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) an abolitionist writer and a prophetic outspoken critic of slavery. Her famous novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) intensified the conflicts between the North and the South and would eventually lead to the Civil War. Upon meeting Harriet, the story goes that Abraham Lincoln said,” So this is the little lady who started this great war!” Feast Day, July 1.

Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983)- Corrie was born in the Netherlands and grew up in a devoutly religious family. She, her sister and family helped many Jewish people to escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II by hiding them in their home. Betrayed by a fellow Dutch citizen, she and her family were imprisoned. She survived and started a worldwide ministry and later told her story in a book entitled The Hiding Place.

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) – Susan, a social reformer and women’s rights activist, was born into a Quaker family and was a pioneer crusader for the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. She was president (1892-1900) of the National Women’s Suffrage Association. Her work paved the way for the Nineteenth Amendment (1920) to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote.

Evangeline Corrie Booth (1865-1950) Born on Christmas Day in London, Eva was the daughter of Methodist minister, William Booth, soon afterward founder of the Salvation Army. Driven by her faith, she devoted her life to selfless service to the poor and less fortunate. General Evangeline was the first women to hold the post of the Salvation Army from 1934-1939.

Rosa Parks (1913-1977) Rosa was an American activist in the civil rights movement and is best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has called her “the first lady of civil rights: and “the mother of the freedom movement”.

Hymn Writers/Poets

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

Fanny Crosby (1820-1915) As an infant, Frances Jane Van Alstyne Crosby lost her eyesight, yet never lost her faith. She acknowledged that her blindness was a blessing: “I verily believe it was His intention that I should live my days in physical darkness, so as to be better prepared to sing His praises and incite others to do so.” Fanny became a prolific hymn writer, who wrote more than eight thousand sacred texts in additions to other poetry. Perhaps she is best known for her hymn, Blessed assurance, with the wonderful refrain: This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. Indeed, this probably sums up her own remarkable life. Feast Day, February 21.

Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878) Catherine could well be considered the English language’s foremost translator of German hymnody. Born in England, she spent much of her time promoting women’s higher education and helped found Clifton College. Her scholarship took the form not only of hymn translations but of research; her book Christian Singers of Germany traces the history of the German Chorale. Some of her well-known translations are “Now thank we all our God,” “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,” “Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness,” and “Comfort, comfort ye my people.” Feast Day, August 7.

Christina Georgini Rossetti(1830-1894). Christina was one of the most important Christian women poets writing in the nineteen-century England. She embraced Christian faith and practice. Many of her poems were devotional and wee related to the liturgy. Two of her hymns are in our Hymnal: “In the Bleak Midwinter” (#112), which became widely known after her death, and “Love came down at Christmas” (#84). Feast Day, April 27.

Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007) American writer best known for her book, A Wrinkle in Time. A cradle Episcopalian, her works reflect her Christian faith and her belief that “The Truth is more and more in the form of questions.” She also wrote, “We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.”

Betty Jane Pulkingham (1928-2019) It has been said that Betty Jane was a significant figure in the history of Christian hymnody, her output spanning the second half of the 20th century into the beginning of the 21st. Two of her arrangements are found in our hymnal: #178 Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the Risen Lord, and #335 I am the Bread of Life.

Breaking the Episcopal Glass Ceiling

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. (Matthew28:19-20)

Florence Li Tim-Oi (1907-1992) Born in Hong Kong, Florence became the very first woman priest in the Anglican Communion in 1944. Her feast day is January 24. When she was baptized as a student, she chose the name of Florence in honor of Florence of Nightengale. It would be thirty years before any Anglican church regularized the ordination of women. After many protests concerning her ordination, to avoid further controversy she resigned her license though not her priesthood. She later moved to Canada where she was eventually able to exercise her role as a priest. Feast Day, January 24.

The Philadelphia Eleven are eleven women who were the first women ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church on July 29, 1974, two years before General Convention affirmed and explicitly authorized the ordination of women to the priesthood. They were the true trail blazers, the pioneers.

Barbara C. Harris (1930- ) Barbara was the first woman ordained a bishop in the Anglican Communion. She was elected Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Massachusetts in 1988 and is a native of Philadelphia.

Katherine Jeffries Schori (1954- ) Katherine was the first woman Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of American (2006-2015) and the first woman ever to lead one of the national churches in the world wide Anglican Communion.

Yesania Alejandro – Yesania, a Puerto Rican woman from Philadelphia was ordained a deacon by Bishop Daniel Guiterrez on December 21, 2019. She is the first Puerto Rican women to be ordained a deacon in the Diocese of Pennsylvania.

Note: References to Feast Days are from the Episcopal Church calendar year, Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints, The Church Pension Fund, New York, New York, 2010.

Bibliography

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