Commentary
Women, wisdom and did you say worship?
By Marie Bowen, The Layman, March 31, 2011
It was a full room. Energetic chatter competed with the sounds of a choir rehearsing up front as approximately 300 people gathered for the opening worship service of Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD) in Washington D.C.
Art and photos, colorful cloths and hanging lace, candles and a large cross defined the front of the worship space in the Crystal Ballroom of the Doubletree Hotel, just blocks from the Pentagon.
“God welcomes all, strangers and friends. God’s love is strong and it never ends,” participants sang as the opening worship began.
The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches and Sister Marge Clark, of NETWORK, welcomed attendees on behalf of the 51 co-sponsors of EAD, a mixture of Protestant, Catholic, Interfaith and international organizations.
Attendees came from over 40 states and several nations for the conference themed, “What’s gender got to do with it?” Focused on development and security (both personal and communal) and on social justice, the worship, plenary sessions and workshops repeated themes of economic justice, violence against women, and gender equality.
“We are people of faith called to measure our economics by how it touches human life and whether it protects or undermines the human person,” the opening presenters declared.
Women and a handful of issues surrounding the themes of economic justice and gender equality formed the central focus. The Triune God, His attributes and His acts on behalf of humanity, were not. What happened in that gathering wasn’t what I perceive as worship. Scripture was read. There was a sermon and an offering, song, and dance. But throughout this liturgy, the wisdom and acts of women were celebrated, with scant reference made to the wisdom and acts of God.
Piety turns to politics
Introductory remarks came from several government representatives who lifted up faith-based and neighborhood partnership initiatives and celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. They thanked participants for advocating the health-care reform bill, and they lauded its focus on care for the “most vulnerable and least of these.”
One presenter likened the EAD to a revival saying, “We come here to refuel and get information and go out and do God’s work.” Another spoke about education advocacy changing the slogan “no child left behind” to “let’s fix no child left behind.” She paraphrased Benjamin Mays, “I am only one but I am one. I cannot do everything but I can do something and by the grace of God, what I can do, I will do.”
A lower case savior
I wondered again when in the service we would get around to worship. There was one prayer during the two hour period, a “body prayer.” Dancers from Westphalia United Methodist Church led the group in a series of movements as Dr. Patrick Evans, associate professor of Sacred Music at Yale Divinity School, led them in singing Mary’s Canticle: “My being proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit finds joy in God my savior.”
In spite of the lower case ‘s’ for Savior on the screen, and though it was a little new and not quite comfortable, this was the sole moment in the meeting that felt like worship to this conservative Presbyterian, because the text focused on praising God.
Douglas Grace, the coordinator of EAD, explained another way that participants could share their prayers by writing them on cards and pinning them to lace panels representing the tapestry of justice.
Text equality
Throughout the service, Scripture was placed on the same plane with other texts and personal stories. Texts from Proverbs referencing wisdom as female were mixed with poetry from unknown sources. Three dramatic readings based on Biblical stories about women were connected to current justice issues. Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) pointed toward Jesus’ inclusion of an outsider, and to her response as an evangelist to her own people.
That Biblical story was followed by a story of alleged oppression in Ecuador wherein police were accused of having caused two boys, 14 and 17, to disappear. For 20 years a growing number of people demonstrated at the plaza of the palace, seeking truth and justice on behalf of the family. Their presence, as interpreted by the EAD storytellers, revealed the repressive character of the state and gave people hope that faith and perseverance would triumph over death.
Fringe benefits
Another Scriptural vignette – a woman of faith who had been suffering from bleeding for many years – was used to make the point that Jesus associated with “all sorts of fringe people.” “Fringe has its benefits,” said the reader, evoking gales of laughter from the crowd.
A second advocacy story followed, bringing to our attention that “60 percent of all people living with HIV in Southern Sudan are women.” According to the EAD worship leader, women and girls are at such high risk because of gender violence, gender discrimination and silence about sex and reproductive health.
Having equated those living with HIV today with the woman with an issue of blood, the leader asked if the body of Christ would respond with silence, “or will we say with Jesus, ‘who touched my robe?’” Not content to leave it there, the speaker launched into a diatribe, condemning abstinence education and calling for a more permissive approach to sex education that says, you may abstain, but you may also protect yourself.
Priscilla was the next woman of Scripture spotlighted in the service. Usually named in Scriptural texts “before her husband,” she was described as an educator who enlarged the circle of teachers and preachers and brought out the giftedness of others. “Co-responsibility” and “collegiality” were lifted up as watchwords of the relationship and work of Priscilla, her husband, Aquila, and Paul.
A story relating the murder of a young man in a church parking lot followed. The event moved a small group of young people to meet monthly, planning influential events for young men in the community. The church employed some of them as a clean-up crew.
Living, not privatized water
Then a sermon, which felt a little more like church, was given by a husband and wife team, John Nunes, president and CEO of Lutheran World Relief, and his wife Monique Nunes. “We have collaborated before – we have five children and 80 percent of them are female,” said John. The Nunes have also collaborated on a book, Little Things Make Big Differences, about one girl’s struggle with malaria.
In a rapid-fire treatment of water in John’s gospel, John Nunes described, “Living water, that’s meant for public places.”
“We can’t keep God’s water privatized,” John Nunes said, “it is meant for people in the world to transform lives.” He delineated how water is used in each chapter:
- John 1, John the Baptizer brings attention to “the Lamb of God who removes sin.” John was saying it is not about me, it is about this other–Living Water meant for the world.
- John 2 – Mary said just do what he tells you and the team made water into wine.
- John 3 – “Nick at night” is told he needs to be born of water and the spirit – living water for the sake of the life of the world.
- John 5 – gives us the story of the woman at the well – Jesus breaks the ice with her and then he breaks the rules: Jesus, the
“rule-breaker for the sake of the last, the lost, the least and the left behind.” How did Jesus break the rules? Gender. She was outcast. “Who is it in your life that is outcast that you can reach out to,” Nunes asked. Who is waiting at the well for you to give them a drink? - John 5 – There is more water at the pool of Bethesda. A man is complaining – no one will give me access to the health care I need. Jesus tells him to pick up your mat and walk, the answer is in your hand.
- John 6- The disciples following Jesus to other side of the lake and suddenly a storm arises. The disciples are terrified. They have been going about doing God’s work in the right way and a storm arises. “On jet skis came Jesus. ‘It is I. Do not be afraid. I am your light and your salvation of whom shall you be afraid.’”
- John 7 – At a wedding feast Jesus says there is still something in you that is empty. Come to me and out of you shall flow rivers of living water for the locked out ones, locked up ones, laughed at ones.
- John 19- Jesus on a cross is giving up His breath for the sake of the world and out of His side flow water and blood – living water.
Monique Nunes ended with a powerful, a capella rendition of “Great is thy faithfulness.”
Closing prayer
And there was a closing prayer – not without its own advocacy themes, but perhaps God is the right person to hear our advocacy on behalf of those who are vulnerable and unjustly treated.
And so we prayed:
For the unity and solidarity of our faith communities – that we strive to remember that we are all created in the image and likeness of God …
For those who suffer war, oppression, hatred and fear …
For those who speak loudly among the sounds of guns, sexism, sexual abuse, and for those who work with wounded women and men …
For world leaders to respect all those whom they represent …
For those who face economic and political injustice …
For conference participants who have come to meet with congressmen and senators …
Thus ended the evening’s “worship.”