GA06094
Celebration of the ordination of women
by Janet Hilley
Dancers invite attendees to renew their baptism while celebrating the ordination of women in the Presbyterian church on Monday. Photo by Joseph Williams
BIRMINGHAM, June 19 — Song, performance painting, poetry, dance and the flow of baptismal water highlighted the festivities Monday night in celebrating the ordination of women in the Presbyterian church.
"It starts with Jesus/it continues with the disciples/so great a cloud of witnesses/these are my beloved," rang the litany celebrating that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) embraces the gifts women bring to the church.
The celebration of three important anniversaries of women's ordination has been a theme throughout the 217th General Assembly. It is the 100th year for women deacons, the 75th year for women elders and the 50th year for women ministers. This event was a time for the plenary session to rejoice in these milestones.
Framed by the hymn "Praise Christ Who Calls Us All to Ministry" was Ann Weems' poem, "It's About Jesus." Reading her own work, the poet declared, "It's about Jesus … but sometimes the Church forgets. Sometimes we … think it's about the Book of Order, but it's about Jesus."
Included in the festivities was a reader's theater written by former GA moderator Freda Gardner, weaving humor into the story of this sweeping change for the church. Acknowledging that this change brought fear and suspicion, the theater piece observed the struggle required in the transition. "God's word sounds different in a soprano voice," reader Brittany Finley declared as an example of one objection.
Concluding the celebration, dancers invited those present to renew their baptism. Choreographer Diane Wright resoundingly declared, "Child of blessing, child of promise, baptized with the Spirit's sign, with this water God has sealed you unto love and grace divine." With that, water was passed and sprinkled as each anointed their neighbor and reminded them, "You are God's beloved; remember your baptism."
As a backdrop to all of this was a large white screen with a painting that slowly emerged during the event. In keeping with the Assembly theme, "So Great a Cloud of Witnesses," the painting depicted a baptism, with the bestowing of many blessings by those surrounding the one being baptized. |
