Why don’t we get the ERA?

by Jill Kline

Today I gave a presentation in one of my classes about the Equal Rights Amendment. The presentation was an overview of the history of the ERA, followed by a discussion. The majority of my classmates (including me, before I did the research for my presentation) had no idea that the ERA has been introduced to Congress each year since it was not ratified in the 70’s.

In discussion, several of the men in my class (who would consider themselves progressive and several who label themselves feminists) asked why women felt that passing the ERA mattered and did not seem supportive of its passage. They didn’t seem to understand why having our rights guaranteed by the Constitution was important to the women in the class. I was surprised, hurt, and angered by the responses of these men who I would have considered allies. I was surprised that this would even be a debatable issue in the class, much less one that left one classmate in tears and one too upset to further participate in the discussion. I thought we were further along, I thought these men were allies. The discussion left me disillusioned.

Women in ministry have it hard.

by Deb Peterson

What challenges do women and other oppressed people face today in entering the ministry and being supported by the Church while working in the set-apart ministry?

I had an experience this week that specifically addresses the above question. My emotions have gone from “Yeah, that’s sad but that’s the way it is,” to “This really pisses me off but I don’t know what to do about it!”

I went to our District Office to update my profile, which is like a pastoral resume. I am feeling I have taken my current congregation as far as I can and that it is time to explore other pastoring options. There are currently 5 churches in my district which are searching for pastors and since I am not planning on moving, it seemed like my chances might be pretty good. Well, the District Executive shot that down in just a few words: “You know,” he said to me, “Three of the five churches won’t consider a female as pastor.” Then he matter-of-factly adds, “I give them female as well as male profiles, as a matter of my personal integrity.”

You know how you always think of things LATER that you wish you would’ve said? I wish I would have reminded him that not only does the Church of the Brethren have a specific Statement addressing that women have full equal rights as pastors, but discrimination based on sex in this COUNTRY is also against the law!

I don’t see much that I can do to change this situation. BUT…what if we had District Executives who said to congregational search committees (when they tell him, “We won’t even look at a woman’s profile”), what if the D.E. said, “That’s against denominational polity and it is also against the law in the United States. Do you want a discrimination lawsuit on your hands?”

How about those of you reading this? Any ideas?

Good News from ABC: Resolving for Forbearance

CoB Newsline reports on the brave work of members of the Association of Brethren Caregivers, to bring a Christ-like respectfulness into our work of being community together:

Resolution Urging Forebearance:

A “Resolution Urging Forebearance” from the board of ABC was
presented by ABC executive director Kathy Reid. ABC is asking for
support for the resolution from the General Board and On Earth Peace.
Reid said the ABC board is sharing the paper as “a great concern” and
hopes to “take a strong statement to the body of Annual Conference.”
She described the resolution as pointing to the importance of
forebearance in the church, and calling for recognition of the time it takes
for the church to work through difficult issues.

The resolution, however, was met with a mixed reaction from members
of the General Board–some welcomed it and others expressed strong
opposition. One said he feared it would be used to teach unbiblical
doctrines, and as an excuse to violate Annual Conference polity. Another
said he does not feel heard as a conservative Christian.

“There is no agenda,” Reid responded, expressing a willingness from
ABC to work on refinement of the wording. She defended the resolution
as a call for civility and love as brothers and sisters in Christ. “It is a
genuine attempt…to address the really ugly kinds of behavior that we all
have seen, sometimes in our agencies, or on the floor of Annual
Conference,” she said. The resolution “is our attempt to say, we have got
to stop hurting each other,” she said.

The General Board voted to receive the resolution for the purpose of
collaboration among the three agencies, stating that, “Our intent in this
collaboration is that all three boards can reach consensus on a refinement
of the resolution.”

How Esther sees Jesus

Esther Ho passed on the link to this image. To read about the image, click here to visit the host blog by Greg Boyd.

Bigot of the Year

The UK’s Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM) dubbed Anglican Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev Anthony Priddis, their ‘Bigot of the Year.’  Surprisingly, as Ekklesia reports,

He was not present to collect the prize.

Why We Care About the Church of the Brethren

We care about the Church of the Brethren. This is why.

Esther: Audrey’s statement as to why she cares about the Church of the Brethren finds deep resonance within me. I too am happy that our forebears rejected hierarchy, asserted their right to interpret their faith for themselves, reclaimed the Love Feast and adult baptism, and especially that they returned to Jesus’ teachings of pacifism. I am also proud of our church’s historical leadership in the Christian community by initiating Heifer Project, CROP, Volunteer Service, international student exchange, SERRV, and various other outstanding ways of making peace, not war.

Sometimes I grow discouraged and feel that the Brethren today are not living up to the tremendous heritage that we have, but I’m glad that Audrey reminds me of the amazing people who are a part of our denomination and that we are doing many things, such as working to preserve God’s creation, addressing poverty and homelessness, working for gender and racial equality, and above all, trying to love our enemies.

I appreciate very much Audrey’s witness re: who the Brethren are to seminarians in the San Francisco Bay Area, many of whom have not heard of us. I have tried to do a bit of the same thing in the peace movement and in the interfaith community in this area. Usually, in peace groups I don’t have the opportunity to share much beyond our peace stance and our struggle to control consumerism in our lives, but I try to emphasize God’s command that we love even our enemies. I do not find as much explicit support among the Brethren as I would like for my interreligious dialoging, but it is clear to me that my felt mission to move in this sphere arises from my grounding in the Church of the Brethren. And although I do not usually get the chance to talk at much length in these gatherings, I believe that by simply standing with people of other faiths who are living under a cloud of suspicion and harassment from our government and from our dominant culture, I am able to convey the message that I represent Christians who consider them also to be children of a loving and merciful God.

In summary, I care about the Church of the Brethren because of our history, our present, and most of all for the promise that we can grow still closer to the heart of God, as revealed in the life and teachings of Jesus, and act as leaven in spreading that love to a world that is starving for it.

Kendra: I cannot count the number of times I have told someone that, for me, the Church of the Brethren was as much of an ethnic identity as it was a community of faith. Like my blood, my genes, my ancestry and my socio-economic status, the COB is who I am.

I can directly contribute many of my values, behaviors and traditions to my experience of being raised in the COB. Just yesterday, I was explaining to my partner what it means to me to remove my hat, and the hat of our son, when we sit down to eat together or with others. While I blur the gender lines of this tradition, I maintain the recognition of sitting down to share food as being an act of holy communion. Removal of one’s hat is a holy act of submission to and participation in that communion. This tradition is meaningful and important to me, even in a land where no one else does this, even in a heart where I don’t understand or practice the other scriptural guidelines for head coverings for men or women.

Growing up in the COB, there were numerous occasions when I witnessed people whom I deeply respected practicing this tradition. To this day, my continued practice of this tradition places me faithfully among those beloved as their sister. It places my heart where I want it to be, in service to God.

Does it dissolve the meaning and significance of a religious tradition if I practice it in this way, as a woman? No. This is the love and community of God being expressed through a unique filter; this is how the colors look; this is how the light of God’s love fractures into my own unique variety of hues, as it shines through me. My church family taught me how to shine my light. It shines for them as much as anyone. This is God’s love manifested through me. I don’t think any one of us can fully express all the colors of God; it takes all of us, and the colors combine and manifest the good news together in ways we don’t always understand.

I care about the Church of the Brethren for the same reason I care about my bones, my family, my friends, my education, my world…because I love myself, and I care for and am grateful for everything that has created me as I am.

Carla: I care about the Church of the Brethren because growing up at Beacon Heights Church of the Brethren taught me to be the person that I am. It was there I learned that if we follow Christ, we must love our friends and our enemies. That we must consider how our choices affect not only ourselves, but others. My work as a social worker at a homeless shelter, my commitments to feminism, environmentalism, racial equality, lgbt interests, and eradicating poverty, and my love for community and deep relationships with others all flow directly from my church experiences. My deeply held beliefs and values were shaped by the Christianity I learned at church, and could never lead me to the conclusion that I should judge other’s sins more harshly than my own. I’m so grateful to the church, and I care deeply for the future of the Church of the Brethren.

Alexander: I care about the Church of the Brethren because it has long surfed the edge of the moral margins of Christianity. Not content to wade around in the popular shallow end of faith-justified violence , it has walked above the changing ideological currents supported by the message of Christ to treat all equally in peace and war. Now I hope that the church remains buoyant in this flood of BRF.

Audrey: I care because we are the Church of the Brethren. I am the Church of the Brethren. I, along with the thousands of others who are the Church of the Brethren, am one of the current stewards of an inheritance, inherited from our ancestors of blood and belief. We are taking care of this church as its future is sung into being by the many voices of its past and present. Its spirit is our spirit.It is our right and our responsibility to claim this church as our own, to hold it accountable to the good news Christ heralds for us, to mold it into a reflection of ourselves that we will rejoice in sharing with others. It is not up to any one of us to revive, renew, or reclaim the church alone, but it is up to each one of us to join in that movement and do it together, along whatever paths the Spirit opens for us.

The Church of the Brethren is me (and you, and him, and them). How could I not care about it?