Kim Cape explains how ministry in a rapidly changing world like ours requires dianoia – loving God with one’s mind, loving God with the way we put things together, and loving God with the way we put our world together in the name of the Gospel.

WellSprings Journal

Three Questions to Challenge – and One to Encourage – Your Answer to God’s Call - Kim Cape

Tiffany Knowlin, of the South Carolina Area of the United Methodist Church, explains how believers must be deliberate in our effort and our commitment to honor and respect difference as we work together to worship the one living God. There will be difficulties and challenges to work through, yet as we do the work of the kingdom, fear of rejection, fear of acceptance, and fear of division cannot reign.

Difference is an Asset -- Rev. Tiffany Knowlin

Quynh-Hoa Nguyen, a UMC missionary in Viet Nam, shares how patriarchal hierarchy, sociopolitical vulnerability, and an otherworldly, deterministic theology have reinforced fear and silence among the evangelical Christians in Viet Nam. She uses the Exodus story to challenge Vietnamese Christians to embrace courage and freedom, to find their voice, and to speak truth that has been silenced in the presence of power.

Finding Our Voices: Speaking Truth in a Context of Fear in Viet Nam -- Quynh-Hoa Nguyen

Rosanna C. Panizo shares how at a gathering of Peruvian Methodist women in October, she realized the Holy Spirit keeps moving beyond our imagination and perspectives. “We learned again that we, as part of the people of God, can have different and even opposite experiences of life. If we are willing to listen with the purpose of understanding each other, and not first reacting to what we are listening to, then the Holy Spirit will work in us and through us.”

Empowered to Go! -- Rosanna C. Panizo

Grace Cajiuat, of the Wisconsin Area of the United Methodist Church, shares how when we learn of and from our identities, we can better develop and practice humility, curiosity, and empathy: the three traits that can hold together our integrity in the tapestry we are trying to weave. When we take the time to discover the fibers/identities that make the yarn, we align love with truth that makes the weaving that is the “kin-dom” of God.

Identities: Fibers of a Sacred Yarn -- Grace Cajiuat

Rosemarie Wenner explains that unity doesn’t necessarily mean harmony. “If we insist on harmony, we will create an illusion and disregard the reality of those who are excluded, silenced, or forced to fit into our system. Conflict is not the opposite of unity. It is, instead, a lively expression of seeking reconciliation of interests.”

Leading in Changing Times -- Rosemarie Wenner

Kathryn Armistead, of the Tennessee Area of the United Methodist Church, makes a plea for unity and shares how disagreements within the church in recent years have overshadowed the Missio Dei: “We have failed to be an obedient church. We have not done your will; we have broken your law; we have rebelled against your love; we have not loved our neighbors, and we have not heard the cry of the needy.”

Behold! The Blessed Promise of Unity -- M. Kathryn Armistead

In the aftermath of the special General Conference in St. Louis, HiRho Y. Park shares how United Methodists need to optimize our commitment to worldwide connectionalism; localized regional culture, internal diversity; and global mobility. In a word, United Methodists need to update ourselves for life in the 21st Century. VOICED BY PROFESSIONAL TALENT

Being a Worldwide Church and Holding Balance -- HiRho Y. Park

Victoria A. Rebeck, of the Minnesota Area of the United Methodist Church, describes how clergywomen can revitalize the church while serving as elders and deacons. (VOICED BY PROFESSIONAL TALENT) FULL TRANSCRIPT 0:01        When women come together there's nothing we cannot do. Welcome to the WellSprings Journal Podcast, where you will hear from women who have been called by God into lives to speak grace and compassion, that share pain and anger, and that dance life's joys and laughter. Inspiration to call forth your creative spirit awaits. Listen now. 0:34        Breaking Ranks: Women Elders and Women Deacons in Ministry Partnership, by Victoria A. Rebeck, Minnesota Annual Conference 0:43        Scripture tells us that loving God entails loving neighbor. Piety that does not include advocacy for the marginalized and compassion for the suffering is no piety at all. “Is this not the fast I choose,” we read in Isaiah 58:6-7, “to loose the bonds of injustice, / to undo the thongs of the yoke, / to let the oppressed go free, / and to break every yoke / . . . to share your bread with the hungry, / and bring the homeless poor into your house . . . ?” The United Methodist Church’s ordering of clergy into two distinct orders, deacon and elder, represents this inseparable combination. Elders lead the people in piety: ordering the life of the church and making sure that God’s people receive sacraments. Deacons connect piety with compassion and justice for neighbors, leading God’s people into ministry outside the walls of the church. When deacons and elders collaborate, the fullness of the church’s ministry is represented and led, in the equal and united manner that is reinforced throughout Scripture. 1:51        Evolution of the Diaconate The partnership style of leadership originated in the church’s first centuries. The earliest leadership offices in the church were bishop and deacon, says James Monroe Barnett in The Diaconate: A Full and Equal Order. Bishops oversaw churches, much like pastors. Deacons led those congregations in ministry to those in need—partners in leading the people in love of God and neighbor. “To think of subordination to the bishops… is largely to forget the character of the Church of the late New Testament period,” Barnett says. However, by the end of the fourth century, the church began adopting the hierarchical forms of civic society, the Roman Empire. The diaconate was reduced to a step up in the clergy hierarchy. The days of equality among clergy and laity faded. This pattern persisted in The United Methodist Church until 1996. Denominations that did not retain some form of clergy diaconate eventually recreated it in various lay forms. In Protestant churches, it is mostly women who have retained the purpose of diakonia, rebirthing this ancient Christian office as a central expression of Christian ministry. 3:12        Even John Wesley promoted the role of deaconess, though I have found no references to its being an official role. In a Nov. 5, 1788, letter to Adam Clarke, John Wesley recommends that Mrs. Clarke “fulfill the office of a deaconess.” Without a record of a description of the deaconess’s function, we can only speculate. We might guess that it entailed service and leadership, perhaps among the women faithful. Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin called for renewal of the deacon as minister among the poor. Theodor Fliedner and his wife, Friederike Münster, led the formation of a deaconess community through the founding of a motherhouse in Kaiserswerth, Germany, in 1836. Living in community, the deaconesses focused on community ministries, particularly health care. Such vocational opportunities for women grew during the industrial era of the late nineteenth century, along with urbanization and immigration in England and North America. The United Methodist lay deaconesses (and their spiritual brothers, the home missioners) are heirs to this movement. The United Methodist Church developed the office of lay worker in 1968, which comprised, to a significant extent, congregational directors of Christian education. In 1976, the lay worker was succeeded by the diaconal minister. (Despite an effort to unite the different forms into one diaconia, deaconesses remained separate.) Ordained clergy were predominantly male; many women who were called to congregational leadership found access via the role of Christian educator. Thus, the ministries of compassion, justice, and empowerment of laypeople became the women’s work of the church. “Men’s work” — congregational and denominational leadership as the pastor—enjoyed greater respect in a patriarchal, hierarchal church. Women with the call to order the life of the church were often blocked from ordination, or even licensing. The ordained diaconate was mostly reserved for men, a pastoral role and transitional step toward elder. 5:29        Full Clergy Status In 1996, The United Methodist Church followed ecumenical partners and evolved in its understanding of diaconia by forming a full and equal clergy order of deacon. No longer elders-in-the-making, deacons in The United Methodist Church are now more like deacons from the second through seventh centuries, who “oversaw the pastoral care of the Church… were administrators of the Church’s charities… were assistants of its bishops, often succeeding them in office… had a major role in the Church’s liturgies… were the great symbol of the servant ministry to which the Church has been called by Christ.” The 1996 General Conference chose to discontinue the commissioning of new diaconal ministers. Current diaconal ministers (some of whom may have been lay workers) had the opportunity to transition to the ordained office of deacon. However, the language of the Discipline makes clear that deacon is not simply a new name for lay worker or diaconal minister. Deacons fulfill servant ministry in the world and lead the Church in relating the gathered life of Christians to their ministries in the world, interrelating worship in the gathered community with service to God in world. Deacons give leadership in the Church’s life in teaching and proclaiming the World; in contributing to worship, and in assisting the elders in administering the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper; in forming and nurturing disciples; in conducting marriages and burying the dead; in embodying the church’s mission to the world, and in leading congregations in interpreting the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world. 7:18        For many deacons, “forming and nurturing disciples” means serving in congregational staff positions as Christian educators, children’s and youth ministers, pastoral-care providers, and family or age-group ministry leaders. As United Methodist congregations shrink and can afford to employ fewer people, particularly clergy, deacons’ ministry in The United Methodist Church is increasingly a ministry outside the walls of the church. Deacons serve as truck-stop chaplains, prison ministers, directors of peace-and-justice ministries and compassion organizations, to name only few. The diaconate was and is most of all ministry of “interrelating worship in the gathering community with service of God in the world.” Ecumenically and around the world, diakonia takes lay and clergy forms. Among the churches that have non-transitioning (not a step toward presbyter or priest) deacons are the Methodist Church in Britain, the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church. United Methodist deacons are active in the United States and Europe. The Lutheran communion churches have active lay orders of diaconia. 8:36        Obstacles to Partnership Full-member clergy deacons strengthen The United Methodist Church. However, the evolution from lay worker to diaconal minister to deacon has put United Methodist clergywomen at odds with one another. Many women who found leadership opportunities as committed and trained lay Christian educators eventually discerned the call to the ordained diaconate. Other women who heard the call to the pastorate slowly but persistently pursued ordination as elders and eventually gained full clergy rights for women (1956). Unfortunately — having worked hard for recognition as ordained, full clergy members — some of those early pioneering women elders look on their sisters who pursued Christian education (or other age-group leadership) as having made a lesser choice. This attitude pits women clergy leaders against women clergy leaders. It is a capitulation to patriarchal hierarchy. It takes away the very respect for clergywomen’s leadership that the pioneering women elders worked to obtain. It also devalues Christian education and other deacon ministries. At the time of this publication, The United Methodist Church in the U.S. is wringing its hands over the aging of the church membership and the dearth of young adults in congregations. If we truly value young people, we would consider Christian education and youth ministry among the most important ministries the church undertakes. 10:15     Further, many young people report that the church fails to attract them because they are more interested in healing brokenness and injustice in the world than they are in sitting on committees, often the church’s first choice for engaging laypeople. Given that the deacons are to “relate the gathered life of Christians to their ministries in the world,” deacons are particularly well positioned to engage young adults in Christian discipleship. This is particularly true of deacons serving appointments in congregational outreach, as mission coordinators for conferences or jurisdictions, and for those leading social-service agencies beyond the local church (and in secondary appointment to congregations). For example, the Rev. Donnie Shumate Mitchem’s primary appointment is as a school psychologist in Western North Carolina. She also leads the parishioners in her secondary appointment to pack book bags for children of limited means, clean classrooms, and pray for students and teachers. The Rev. Scott Parrish, mission specialist for Connectional Ministries for the North Georgia Conference and a mission strategist for General Board of Global Ministries, explicitly guides churches to help young adults to find their place in the United Methodist global mission movement. 11:40     Embracing the Both/And of Clergy Partnership Women elders and women deacons have an opportunity to lead the church away from hierarchical patterns and back to the organic, horizontal understanding of the whole church’s ministry. This includes leading laypeople back into active discipleship that includes both piety and compassionate action. When asked the most important commandment, Jesus said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’… And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). The ministries of the elder and deacon embody these two commandments. To paraphrase Isaiah, this is the piety God chooses: both the spiritual development that takes place in worship and the active, selfless service that takes place outside the church’s walls. Women clergy can revitalize ministry in The United Methodist Church by restoring the mutually empowering, mutually serving discipleship described in the Gospels and epistles. Not everyone has the same gifts; and, through practice of the varying gifts and passions, the realm of God is built. 13:00     United Methodist clergywomen — deacons and elders — across the international connection can strengthen the United Methodist witness in the world by supporting and advocating for each other’s ministries. On an international scale, this entails learning about each other’s cultural contexts. The careerism that has crept into ministry in the United States may not be the practice in other nations. The role of women in society varies from culture to culture as well. As United Methodist clergywomen learn one another’s contexts, hopes, and callings, they can work toward rebirthing in The United Methodist Church an understanding of ministry as mutual and empowering of all the baptized. The Rev. Doris Dalton is a deacon in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference who has served in partnership ministries with elders in both primary (district office) and secondary (church start) appointments. “I have found that successful partnerships between deacons and elders require the following factors: alignment of calling and vision, establishing communication agreements, understanding and respecting roles, and knowing thyself, she says in her blog post “How deacons and elders can partner in ministry.” Dalton encourages elders and deacons to engage in intentional conversation on deepening ministry partnerships between deacons and elders. “Many elders are reluctant to engage in a deacon-elder partnership because the details and responsibilities can seem daunting,” she observes. “Demythologizing assumptions and sharing concrete details can provide for a smoother beginning to ministry partnerships.” 14:49     Elders can start by sharpening their understanding of the historic ministry of the deacon. Margaret Ann Crain’s book The United Methodist Deacon is a good start. Women elders in a conference might demonstrate genuine interest and respect by inviting deacons, including those appointed beyond the local church, to join them in discussing ministry challenges. Elders may discover deacons who are doing exciting, innovative ministry and who can enhance the elders’ congregational ministry through training or secondary appointment. Deacons should step up in leadership and not wait to be noticed. Volunteer for ministry discernment events, lay ministry trainings, annual conference leadership, and more. Devise ways to share your ministry expertise across the district or conference. Raise your profile through leadership. Build relationships among elders, help them perceive the deacon/elder ministry wholeness, and propose partnerships (including short-term ones). Perpetuating the hierarchical ranking of ministry we inherited from a patriarchal church continues to hold back all women as well as the gospel’s countercultural ordering of ministry. Women clergy have the perspective and perhaps the working preferences to renew the church through egalitarian ministry partnerships — if we have the courage to do so. 16:18     Thank you for listening to the WellSprings Journal podcast. Be sure to visit WellSpringsJournal.org to find more resources for the journey.  

Breaking Ranks: Women Elders and Women Deacons in Ministry Partnership -- Victoria A. Rebeck

Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, of the Louisiana Area of the United Methodist Church, shares how an encounter with Jesus can change one’s perspective for the rest their life. (VOICED BY PROFESSIONAL TALENT) FULL TRANSCRIPT 0:01        When women come together there's nothing we cannot do. Welcome to the WellSprings Journal Podcast, where you will hear from women who have been called by God into lives to speak grace and compassion, that share pain and anger, and that dance life's joys and laughter. Inspiration to call forth your creative spirit awaits. Listen now. 0:34        And They Saw, and They Went – By Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, of the Louisiana Area of the United Methodist Church The next day John was standing again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus walking along he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard what he said, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he asked, “What are you looking for?” They said, “Rabbi, . . . where are you staying?” He replied, “Come and see.” So they went and saw.  John 1:35-39 – Common English Bible 1:14        And they went, and they saw; or is it they saw, and they went? John is standing by with two of his disciples when Jesus comes along. John says, “Look! The Lamb of God.” The two hear what John says and they follow Jesus. In two verses, they followed Jesus! They don’t ask any questions. They don’t ask, “You sure that’s him? How do you really know, John?” What follows is a domino effect; Andrew, one of the two, goes straight to his brother Simon and says, “We have found the Messiah.” He leads him right to Jesus. The next day Jesus finds Philip, and Philip follows. I wonder if he was lost? Then Philip finds Nathanael, and says, “We have found the one Moses wrote about.” Nathanael is a bit sarcastic, and that’s when we hear his famous line, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Then it’s as if Philip double-dog dares him and says, “Come and See.” See for yourself! 2:18        This calling of the disciples comes quickly. There is a lot of seeing and hearing in the Gospel of John. The writer employs all the senses, which might help us understand why seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling might be important to believing. Once a person meets Jesus—once you see, and hear and taste and smell life in Jesus—you don’t see things the same way ever again. It is risky business to enter into conversation with Jesus. Who knows where it might take you? Sometimes it takes just two words: Follow me! When we traveled to the Holy Land with the ordinands in 2013, we had a magnificent guide. He is smart, knows his Bible and his history. He also comes from a long line of olive wood carvers. Actually, they are more than just carvers, they are artists. His father and grandfather were both artists, and now he is following in their footsteps. 3:19        On the trip, I fell in love with one of his pieces, truly a piece of art! It is Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. He agreed to carve a special piece for us that would be shipped to us later. Several weeks passed, and a magnificent—and I would add huge—piece of olive wood art arrived at the episcopal residence. It is far more than I ever imagined. We found a perfect place for it in our home, and it has become the center of a great deal of conversation. Last year, our guide visited Baton Rouge, and we invited him to dinner, along with several people who had traveled to the Holy Land. Of course, the olive wood piece was once again the center of conversation. The carving is so intricate. Jesus’ hair and eyes are unbelievably detailed. Someone asked our guide if he had a picture to follow as he carved. He said, almost nonchalantly, “No, that is just how I see Jesus in my mind’s eye.” I turned to him in astonishment and said, “In order to carve with this kind of attention to detail, you have got to not just see Jesus in your mind, but you have to see him from the very depth of your soul.” 4:32        I believe this is the kind of “seeing” the gospel writer is trying to convey. People in this gospel see—they come and see, they saw and they went, they see greater things, you will see the heavens open—this kind of seeing is much deeper. It is not just visual. In A Longing for Holiness, John Wesley wrote, “where the loving eye of the soul is continually fixed upon God, there can be no darkness at all.” To see with your soul is to see through the heart of God. Today we are called to “see” through the heart of God. There are several times in this gospel when people see and hear with more than just their ears and their eyes. 5:19        There is the Samaritan woman who meets Jesus at the well, and she can hardly contain herself. A Jewish man talking to a Samaritan woman and at high noon! She runs back to her village and says, “Come and see this one who knows everything about me” . . . and you almost want to finish her sentence for her . . . “and loves me anyway.” She is so moved by her experience of Jesus and is in such a hurry to tell everyone in her village that she leaves her jar behind. As soon as her friends hear her story, they leave the city and are on their way. I envision the people being so moved by what the woman has to say (I find it remarkable that they would even listen to her!) that they too want to experience what she has experienced. They probably leave their soup pots on the stove and forget to lock the door (read John 4:1-42). 6:13        There are others who hear and see it and believe it. There is Mary Magdalene at the tomb. She doesn’t recognize Jesus until she hears her name. Maybe seeing and hearing is believing. It is risky to enter into conversation with Jesus. It might lead you to places you don’t want to go. Jesus has a knack for that and for making unlikely choices. He didn’t stand outside the temple waiting for holy people. God shows up most of the time when you are minding your own business. He calls ordinary people to extraordinary tasks so that we might share our story of God’s extravagant love. We have a story to tell. People invest in dreams they are part of. People want to be a part of your kind of story. I have this pesky problem when I read a book or watch a movie or a sporting event. I become a character in the movie or the book. If I watch a basketball game, I play every minute of the game or every down of a football game. I even get nervous on the Food Network cooking competitions, like Chopped, when they have only minutes to prepare an entree. I am exhausted when it’s over. I invest myself in the story, so much so that sometimes I stay up all night trying to “finish” the story or change the outcome of the game, or I think, “You know, if she had only remembered the secret ingredient.” 7:38        People want to be a part of a great story. Do you dream of a love story of ministry filled with the life-giving breath of the Spirit? We must be attentive to the stirring of the Spirit. Proverbs 20:12 reminds us that we must have ears to hear and eyes to see. The Lord made them both! I am not sure we can just see or just hear; perhaps it takes both to fully grasp the working of the Spirit upon our lives. Attentiveness is a gift from God, and it causes us to pay attention most often to what we don’t want to see. Think of all the times you haven’t paid attention and an accident occurred, or we missed the laughter of a child, the homeless woman, the hungry child, the sunrise. We must be attentive and open to the movement of God all around. God often shows up when we are minding our own business. 8:32        When children’s television host Mr. Rogers was asked why he talked so slowly, his answer was that the time between speaking and hearing was sacred. It is in this piece of time that the Spirit can take what is said and translate it for the hearer. This world is in a rush, and we rarely do one task at a time. We are multi-taskers. We don’t just drive; we talk on our cellphones and drive and juggle multiple tasks at work. The Spirit can work within all our rushing around. However, are we as good at noticing the Spirit if we never slow down? It is not likely that our world will slow down. However, maybe within the rush we can be like Mr. Rogers and create a space for the Spirit to move. Instead of listening and forming our reply, we can listen first for the Spirit. Then with fuller knowledge and understanding, we can reply. 9:32        What might happen if we first listen for the Spirit’s stirring? Is it possible we could discover the unexpected? We must be prepared to share our own experience of the living God. We have a story to tell, and people want to be a part of it. Sharing our story can be risky, but we are called to risk, maybe to risk it all so that the world might be changed. We must focus on that which will make for a different place for your children, your children’s children, and their children, that they might also have a story of faith to tell. Can you imagine what might happen if we focused—with laser-like focus—on leading people to Christ so that they might be changed people? Can you imagine living in a changed world? 10:19     We may not yet have eyes to see or ears to hear, but even then the Spirit will twist and turn and churn and weave our lives into a legacy that will set the world on fire. It will be more than you could ever imagine. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he asked, “What are you looking for?” They said, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” He replied, “Come and See.” So they went and they saw. Do you know where Jesus is staying? Come and See! 10:53     Thank you for listening to the WellSprings Journal podcast. Be sure to visit WellSpringsJournal.org to find more resources for the journey.    

And They Saw, and They Went -- Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey

Tracy Smith Malone, of the Northern Illinois Area of the United Methodist Church, and Barbara Dick, of the Wisconsin area, draw parallels between the development of a worldwide church and the birthing process. “We are going to be in the womb together for a long time. Are we going to be Jacob and Esau, fighting in the womb all the time?” (VOICED BY PROFESSIONAL TALENT) FULL TRANSCRIPT 0:01        When women come together there's nothing we cannot do. Welcome to the WellSprings Journal Podcast, where you will hear from women who have been called by God into lives to speak grace and compassion, that share pain and anger, and that dance life's joys and laughter. Inspiration to call forth your creative spirit await. Listen now. 0:34        Shared Thoughts on a Worldwide Church, by Tracy Smith Malone and Barbara Dick. We just love the fact that the theme verse WellSprings Journal has this season is John 16:21: “When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.” As women in leadership - clergy and laity, African American and Caucasian - we came to our hour-long Skype call as strangers. Our conversation was, at times, a call-and response of ideas and feelings, with many “Amens” and lots of laughter. We shared our stories and forged a bond of friendship as we “prophetically named” the racism and other isms that exist in the church and society and boldly proclaimed a revolution of love and reconciliation that tears down walls and holds us all in the womb of God’s love. Tracy defined “prophetically naming” as more than pointing to brokenness. It is naming existing opportunities and efforts to create environments or opportunities for vital conversations. Through vital conversations and relationship building we can have authentic conversations to name fears and anxieties and begin to work through some of the preconceived notions and myths about who people are, to really hear and learn people’s stories. Through storytelling, we learn that we have so much in common, so many of the same desires. That makes my heart have a desire to know your heart. And that’s what builds true sisterhood and brotherhood. And so, here are our shared thoughts on birthing a worldwide church: The Beloved Part 2:36        We pondered where clergywomen and laywomen can come together to share the stories that cross all those boundaries. As women in leadership, it really doesn’t matter if we’re clergy or lay. We have stories to share and important work to do together. Tracy shared that even as clergywomen attend national and international gatherings, they are often more like spectators than full participants. We agreed that we can begin to lead the way to break down those barriers between clergy and lay as women of faith. The idea of birthing a worldwide church evokes the whole realm of laity leadership in areas where clergy are not available. That’s an issue across the globe in ways that it’s not in the U.S., although it is also a concern in some urban areas and some deeply rural areas of the U.S. What if clergywomen led this movement of removing the line, blurring it? 3:40        There is great value in a trained, educated clergy to bring a level of scholarly expertise, a watching of the integrity of how we move through living out the gospel; but we have so professionalized clergy that the laity have in some ways been disempowered. And so, when we talk about empowering the laity, it’s a remedial step. It’s re-empowering the laity, waking them up to the power they already have. We sometimes confuse the role of the priestly function. We misunderstand that the holiness and the sacredness comes through the movement and the power of the Holy Spirit at work through the elements. Barbara Brown Taylor says it so well, that it’s the broken bread and the poured out wine for the world. And so, as we break the bread and as we serve it, those who receive it - all of us, lay and clergy - become the broken bread and the poured-out wine for the world. Again, it’s the Holy Spirit’s work, and that’s the sacredness, the holiness in the mystery of it all. 4:51        We, as women, have more potential to find a different approach to this - culturally, if not physically. If it’s not innate in us, it’s bred into us. How nice if we could inspire that, which exists in men as well, to grow, because that’s part of what’s missing in our sense of beloved community . . . the beloved part. Empowering is the language of the church now. So a better approach might be to embolden or to nurture. The Spirit of God is already in you, so we are stirring up the gift, bringing it to birth. We’re midwifing. The nurturing - that’s the birthing, the coming forth, the newness that comes through when we are open, nurturing, and allowing for creativity - not a threat but a divine opportunity. As women, we know about it. That’s our experience. If Jesus were a woman today, he might tell more parables about birth than about farming. We Know Birthing 6:00        Consider the whole birthing process, cycles that the body has to go through; you have to incubate. There’s nurturing and feeding, listening and rubbing and touching. There’s a level of intimacy that goes back to the relationships. Studies have shown that a baby born with no touch within a certain amount of time after birth has a higher risk of death. And then, of course, there’s pain involved. We sometimes want to shield ourselves. There is risk in being vulnerable, open to listening to your story, able to hear your pain; to take that on, and maybe even see my role in that, whether knowingly or unknowingly. That is the key when we talk about isms, the notion that somehow my story is a threat to your story. That’s absurd. My story is just my story. And it’s not for me to right it to wrong it or even to validate it, because I don’t have to. I don’t need your validation and you don’t need mine. Part of birthing is also the deep emotion that comes, and with that the tears and laughter. It’s all part of the experience. You don’t want to just be stagnant and going through the motions. Giving birth is something new, thinking out of the box and being willing to explore. If there’s going to be any creativity, if there’s going to be any change, if we are going to live in a new possibility, we have to be willing to explore, even the places that have not yet been trod. The Isms 7:42        It’s so hard when we’re talking about race and sexuality, and in some places, about threatening people’s jobs because we’re empowering other people to lead. It’s so scary for some people. The isms lead to violence because of suppression, and then people just violently act or violently speak. They say something that’s hurtful or harmful, any act of violence. Some of that is due to unaddressed, unresolved, fear and anxiety, lack of clarity - separation. We’ve got extremes of violence - violence in the news that we can’t deny or ignore - but even in the church, violence stems from and leads to denial, the inability or unwillingness to know. That alone is an act of violence. When we are willing to be vulnerable and transparent, that breaks down some of the barriers and the walls and more readily prevents me from saying or doing something that causes harm because I’m more in touch, more aware. Even if one person says something that may feel offensive or off-putting for another- if we have heard one another’s stories, we have the option of navigating that in a different way. If I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care about who you are, I care about my position - not my story - but my position, and I have no space to hear. In the Womb Together 9:17        So, our call is to intentionally create space. Then the space becomes the common place for us to talk through, work through—whether we agree or disagree—to still do it in love. In terms of the birthing metaphor, that’s the womb. If we’re going to birth a worldwide church, we have to spend some time in the womb together, being nurtured and fed and allowing God to fill us up with good things, so we can survive to develop our organs. The womb - that holy space. And the paradox of the womb is that even though it goes through such turmoil to bring forth life, the womb is also a holy place, a safe place where life is being shaped. And when we’re in the womb, we’re vulnerable, we’re not in charge - it’s the place where the Holy Spirit does its work. 10:18     It’s the same place that’s life giving, where the body is taking shape and form, as life is springing forth. There may be some tears, there may be some bruises, but that’s all part of the process. We are crushed but not broken. We are perplexed but not confused. It’s a wonderful paradox. It’s why Jesus spoke in parables. It’s so hard to grab on to this stuff and hold it in your hand. You really can’t. You have to let it kind of sift through and form on its own. We also love the image of the womb because, when we’re talking about nurturing life, we’re talking about cell differentiation. Each cell has a unique purpose, but cell walls are membranes, they’re not hard. They depend on each other. Cell walls are permeable, and cells are interdependent. And that’s the beloved community. Our opportunity is to bring that to life in community. It may be that the only way to do that is through this kind of conversation, to have the conversation and plant it and let it germinate. 11:38     Intentional relationship building and listening and sharing is a mutual sharing. As you share a part of who you are, and I share part of who I am, there are more spaces and places to be intentional—showing a genuine interest in one another’s stories. With that comes the desire, not just to know more about you, but to discover more about who God is in you, that I might connect with you and connect with the God in you. We are who we are the way God made us, but we are always in the process of becoming. We’re all flawed, and the more we are in relationship with others, the more we help to shape each other into the persons we are becoming. We talk about isms. We’re human; we make judgments; we stereotype. But if we’re going to truly be the beloved community, we need to acknowledge that there’s more to the story, more than what you hear and what you see. The question is, do you desire to know more, or do you even care to know more, beyond the surface, superficial relationships that sometimes exist? This doesn’t just happen. No, it has to be intentional. Intentional Community and General Conference 13:07     Right, intentional community. I (Barbara) have that “desire to know more” when I’m one-on-one with somebody. But if WellSprings hadn’t set this up, Tracy and Barbara wouldn’t know each other. We would meet at General Conference next year, and Barbara wouldn’t know more than that Tracy is African American clergywoman from Northern Illinois. So the opportunity is to provide spaces where the desire to know more can be nurtured. Because once that desire is awakened it’ll happen. People will find ways for it to happen. And what if there was a part of General Conference where this was built in before we move into our committees. Where is real, genuine space - except for the listening sessions to help us know how to be in conversation with each other and not harm each other? 14:00     We get to talk to each other, but to know one’s story and culture and tradition? There really is no space for that. Now that would be a wonderful new vision or creative approach to how we do the - talk about some holy conferencing, Christian conferencing - that’s Christian conferencing. It will be interesting to see how even this perfunctory new approach to coming to consensus rather than simply going directly to the vote, how even that tiny change makes a difference. It’s like the whole birthing process. Everything matters, even if it’s a baby step. Everything matters. Just like when you’re carrying a child. When you’re giving birth, the doctor cannot skip anything  . . .  every step matters. You have to have the urge, you have to dilate, you have to push; all of those steps of giving birth, as painful—and unique—as they are from one woman to another, matter. Story Matters 15:03     Relationships matter, story matters. We can talk all the facts and figures about how the population of the church is moving to the southern hemisphere; belief systems in Africa are very different from the belief systems we’ve gotten very comfortable with here in the U.S. There are folks who are educated and incredibly smart who have beliefs we don’t share. That’s part of their culture; it’s just part of who people are. We are never going to say that God can’t do what God’s going to do. If a belief brings you closer to God and closer to other people, what can we learn from that? That’s the key to a worldwide church that our institution is not supporting. We can make the space for people to share their desire to know about one another and create a womb in which we can grow together and develop our new organs as the church is changing. The church has to change. It’s what we’re called to. 16:02     To truly embrace the worldwide nature of the church is to be able to learn from each other and inspire each one for a greater faith—a greater service in the world. Traditions and cultures and customs are contextual. At what point does it become a violent act for us—whether it’s the U.S. or not—to determine what is the “right” approach for someone else? That’s one of the efforts that we’re striving toward now. What do we hold together in common, and what is more contextual, where we need to share freedom? We will still challenge and push each other toward God’s greater goodness. Is it our task to change each other, or is it our task to help each other grow and experience the change that the Holy Spirit is working in us? It is the biggest challenge. Do I show you that I love you and care for you by changing you? Or do I get to know you, and pray for you that God’s work and God’s Spirit will be at work in you for God’s greater good — for you and for the world. 17:07     How do we offer that kind of space in an institution that is so locked in place? We appreciate that the Connectional Table is offering this new process. Baby steps are still steps. But that doesn’t feel organic enough. It’s still safe, and almost to an extreme of fireproof—safe. What will it take and how long will it take? Years. A long time . . . It takes nine months to birth a baby. We didn’t get here yesterday. Consider the whole LGBTQ movement and the frustration—and we totally get the frustration - waiting for so long. When Tracy thinks about us as African Americans, waiting for so long, and we’re regressing, almost like history is repeating. But we’re always in a state of making new history. So it will take continually working at it, pushing and prodding and challenging. Be emboldened and name it, saying, “This is not enough.” Don’t be OK with it, because then you end up resigning, settling for the status quo and becoming complacent. But there’s always more to it. If we believe that God’s Spirit is always at work in moving and changing that; that’s where hope comes from. We have to believe that God is not finished with the church, with us, and it ain’t gonna be over ’til God says it’s over. And that baby’s not gonna come until that baby comes. We know the cycle is nine months. Or is it really ten months? You can go three weeks past due; you can have a preemie. But God will birth something new. What if what we’re birthing is the kingdom of God, and it’s going to take until Jesus comes back for that to happen? We are going to be in the womb together for a long time. Are we going to be Jacob and Esau, fighting in the womb all the time? The Now and the Not Yet 19:14     Let’s take it just a step further. Yes, we are in the womb, but there are some births springing forth. Staying in the womb could become a little scary. We know we’re birthing the kingdom, and we’re in God’s hands, and we’re all in there together. But some life is coming out. It’s ongoing and it’s a cycle: you get pregnant, you deliver; you get pregnant, you deliver. So we can talk about the pregnancy of God—that there’s always new birth springing forth—but do we have eyes to see it? Do we have the desire to stay in the womb so that more new life can spring forth? The whole concept of staying in the womb—the womb being the holy place, the mystery, the kingdom—it’s the now and the not yet. The not yetness is staying in there; the now is new life always springing forth, if we will have eyes to recognize it as new birth. Take JFON (Justice for Our Neighbors), for example. We’re not where we want to be with immigration, but a birth—JFON. We’re not where we want to be with the world in global peace, but a birth—the Connectional Table. You know it’s not the end all and be all, but it’s moving us in the right direction. We had the whole Plan UMC at the last GC; whether or not we agreed on it, the point is we recognize that something needs to be different. 20:50     Something was birthed. If that was never birthed, we wouldn’t be having the greater conversations. New life by the power of God’s Spirit is always being birthed because God is the giver of life. Yes, the activity around Plan UMC has given birth to new conversation about where we need to go. The concern is that the conversation is still about the shape of the womb. It’s not about who’s going to be mama and papa; it’s about the shape of the womb. And that goes back to God being in charge. That’s what keeps us hopeful, because if we ever lose sight of that, it’s all over. What are we striving for? Going back to Holy Communion, we must not lose sight that it’s the Holy Spirit’s work, where the sacred is the mystery and the holiness. We don’t want to lose our church history and tradition of the priestly role, but when we professionalize or institutionalize it too much, we do violence—we forget who is the head of this table. When we talked earlier about people from different cultural perspectives deciding for each other what’s essential and not essential, we used the term violate. And we do violate each other when we assume that we have the answer for anybody, even ourselves. 22:10     The beauty of The UMC is that we’re not a creedal church in a sense where one tells another what to think and what to believe. That’s a gift. At our best, when it comes to respect for the role and position of women, lay and clergywomen alike, we serve in capacities, you know, where in some other institutions a woman would not even hold a place. We are not perfect, but if we are not sitting at the table, having the conversation, nothing changes. The glory and gift of the UM system is that everybody gets to sit at the table. We have a responsibility, a social responsibility, for what goes on in Korea or Africa or Europe. Yes, we are our brothers’ keeper. That’s what we love too about the UMC, and it’s also one of our gifts. While we have all the isms and schisms, the gift of the church is that we have, at least, an intended strategy for how we—not fix it, because only God can fix—but address and name it, work toward wholeness. But it’s God who does the fixing. 23:25     Thank you for listening to the WellSprings Journal podcast. Be sure to visit WellSpringsJournal.org to find more resources for the journey.    

Sharing Thoughts on a Worldwide Church -- Rev. Tracy Smith Malone and Rev. Barbara Dick

In April of 2016, United Methodist clergywomen gathered to explore the theme, “Birthing the Worldwide Church.” In this episode, Rev. Dr. HiRho Y. Park reviews the progress that’s been made and looks at the challenges that remain. (VOICED BY PROFESSIONAL TALENT) FULL TRANSCRIPT 0:01        When women come together there's nothing we cannot do. Welcome to the WellSprings Journal Podcast, where you will hear from women who have been called by God into lives to speak grace and compassion, that share pain and anger, and that dance life's joys and laughter. Inspiration to call forth your creative spirit awaits. Listen now. 0:33        "Imagine Strong and Prophetic Leadership," by HiRho Y. Park, Executive Director of Clergy Lifelong Learning & the United Methodist Church’s Cyber Campus. 0:44        Oneness is something that many United Methodists are striving to understand as a worldwide church, especially what that means in the midst of gender, racial/ethnic, cultural, economic, and theological diversity among clergy leadership in the church. United Methodist clergywomen gathered two days prior to the World Methodist Council, (WMC) August 29-31, 2016, exploring the theme: “Birthing the Worldwide Church,” and engaging women leaders of the World Methodist Council (WMC). The gathering was held at the Hilton-Americas Hotel and Conference Center in Houston, Texas. 1:26        This Global United Methodist Clergywomen Gathering encouraged UM clergywomen to learn from each other in a variety of ministry settings and locations, an opportunity to envision, articulate, and participate in leading the worldwide church as women clergy. Gathered UM clergywomen across the world discussed what excites them about future global ministry opportunities and what would be the greatest global challenges facing UM clergywomen in the future. This special gathering strengthened networks of international relationships among UM clergywomen and other Methodist leaders, and most of all, we imagined a model of being a global church as women. 2:14        Let me share with you some history of UMC clergywomen. First, we have much to celebrate. In 2006, UM clergywomen celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of full clergy rights for women in the Methodist tradition. The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry organized the celebration in Chicago, Illinois. During our gathering in 2016, we celebrated sixty years of full clergy rights for women in the Methodist tradition and twenty years of ordained deacons in United Methodism. Deacons in the United Methodist Church are ordained to a ministry of Word, Service, Compassion, and Justice whereas elders are ordained to Word, Sacrament, Order and Service. 3:04        In 1956, there were 27 Methodist clergywomen who received full clergy rights. By 2014, the number of UM clergywomen had grown to 11, 388 active and 2,525 retired clergywomen, among a total of 54,474 UM clergy as of 2016, which means women account for 27 percent of all clergy. The number of female clergy grew 25 percent since 1992. 3:41        The number of lead women pastors serving churches with membership of one thousand or more has grown to 137 clergywomen as of 2012, compared to 64 in 2008. This is 114 percent growth within just four years. 4:01        The number of young clergywomen is growing also; 6 percent of elders are under the age of 35, 39 percent of those are female. Seventy-five percent of all ordained deacons are young clergywomen as of 2014. According to the recent report from the Lewis Center, “Young Clergy Numbers Grow among Clergywomen,” in the last ten years, the number of young clergywomen elders has increased 10 percent (31 percent in 2005, 41 percent in 2015), the highest in the history of The United Methodist Church. The number of young ordained deacons who are women has increased 12 percent (68 percent in 2012, 80 percent in 2015 of all ordained deacons). Women local pastors represent a quarter of the entire number of the group. 4:47        Along with the celebration, we have challenges to address, and we did. There are only 12 active female bishops in the entire UM connection, 10 in the United States and two in the Central Conferences as of 2015.  In 2016, we elected seven more women bishops including four African American women bishops.  Now we have 17 active women bishops since two women bishops retired.  5:18        Since then, 350 United Methodist clergywomen of Africa and 150 Filipina United Methodist clergywomen gathered in 2018 to affirm women’s leadership in the Church and society and to seek gender justice and equity within the church system.  There will be two US based Southeast and South Central regional leadership development conferences of United Methodist clergywomen in 2019.  5:58        What does this all mean to The United Methodist Church? If this is “feminization of clergy leadership” in the church, what does that look like in the future? Here, I use the word feminization from the perspective of women advancing in ecclesial leadership and, of course, not supporting misogyny within Christianity. 6:21        How does women’s clergy leadership make a difference, especially when we are becoming, more and more, a worldwide church? There will be no simple answers to these questions. However, I believe that the time is ripe for United Methodist clergywomen to explore responses to these questions. The Global UM Clergywomen Gathering in 2016 was the perfect opportunity to do so. 6:47        We raised scholarships for those who receive minimum salaries and serve in Central Conferences since we wanted as many as UM clergywomen and seminarians as possible to be a part of this historic gathering in 2016.  As a result, we were able to host 450 United Methodist clergywomen from 27 countries around the world speaking six different languages.  7:15        Let us pray for one another across the globe so that United Methodist clergywomen not only imagine strong and prophetic leadership for the future but also take actions to implement those dreams for younger generations of women! 7:33     Thank you for listening to the WellSprings Journal podcast. Be sure to visit WellSpringsJournal.org to find more resources for the journey.

Imagine Strong and Prophetic Leadership -- Rev. Dr. HiRho Y. Park

Dr. Hwa-Young Chong, of the Northern Illinois Area of the United Methodist Church, shares how the incarnation of God in human flesh liberates us from all dehumanizing systems and structures of the world, so that we may freely and joyfully participate in creating our world as a more loving, compassionate, and peaceful place to be. (VOICED BY PROFESSIONAL TALENT) FULL TRANSCRIPT 0:01        When women come together there's nothing we cannot do. Welcome to the WellSprings Journal Podcast, where you will hear from women who have been called by God into lives to speak grace and compassion, that share pain and anger, and that dance life's joys and laughter. Inspiration to call forth your creative spirit await. Listen now. 0:32        A Liberating Incarnation: Bodies, Suffering, and the Church, by Hwa-Young Chong, Northern Illinois Area of the United Methodist Church 0:43        God in Human Flesh – The Word made flesh. How is it possible that the infinite and eternal God has found a home in the finite and temporal humanity? 0:56        At first, incarnation seems contradictory. God comes to our world as a newborn baby? God grows and changes just like one of us? God suffers and dies on the cross? How can divinity and humanity coexist? Yet incarnation powerfully tells us that, in God, the impossible is possible and the unimaginable becomes real. The good news is that the almighty God assumed human body, and by doing so, God became intimate and accessible to the human world. At the same time, God’s own embodiment challenges us to find sacredness in our bodies and to resist any abuse, violence, or injustice forced upon our bodies. 1:50        In our incarnate God, powerfulness and vulnerability become one. God enters our world as a “fellow sufferer.” Theologian Jürgen Moltmann even indicates that all the suffering in history is the suffering of God, when he writes, “There is no suffering which in this history of God is not God’s suffering; no death which has not been God’s death in the history of Golgotha.” As the one who knows the pain of tortured death, God suffers with all suffering bodies, and brings new life to our fragile world. Incarnation has a liberating message for all whose full humanity has been denied, harmed, and oppressed due to their bodily aspects. A liberating incarnation calls for a way of justice for all. 2:45        Bodies in the Bible – When it comes to understanding bodies, there seem to be conflicting messages in the Bible. On one hand, bodies are considered sacred. Both men and women were created in the image of God to reflect the sacredness in human bodies. Paul, in his letters to the Corinthians, affirms that Christians are the “temples of the living God” and human bodies are the holy vessels in which the divine Spirit dwells. Becoming one communal body in Christ brings healing and reconciliation, putting an end to hostility and enmity. The body, or soma in Greek, is used to express the state of “being in Christ.” According to Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, soma, as a key symbol in the early church, evoked “an emancipatory political symbolic universe and vision.” In this regard, body is a powerful symbol of a just community where all are invited to be one with Christ. 3:54        On the other hand, in traditional Judaism and in Jesus’s lifetime, some aspects of bodies—such as sick bodies, dead bodies, Gentile bodies, and women’s bodies — were considered defiled. A woman who gave birth to a son was considered unclean for one week, and a woman who gave birth to a daughter was considered doubly unclean — for two weeks. No unclean bodies were allowed in the temple, and unclean bodies had to go through a ritual purification. Such bodily conditions were used for segregation, discrimination, and exclusion. In this way, the sacredness of bodies was painfully ignored and denied. It is in the midst of both positive and negative understandings of bodies that Jesus reached out to all people. 4:51        Bodies and Jesus’s Ministry Jesus was well aware of the oppressive nature of condemning bodies. Gospel writers witness that Jesus’s ministry extensively involved those who were affected by bodily conditions: lepers, a woman with a bleeding condition, a bent-over woman, and people with visual disability. These people were declared ritually unclean and thus isolated from their communities socially and religiously. The social perceptions and practices also made it difficult for them to participate in community life. Jesus’s healing was, first of all, the healing of their physical conditions, but equally important was the restoration of their status in the community. 5:41        In the healing story of the lepers, Jesus asked the lepers to go to the temple and show their healed bodies to the priests, so that the priests would declare them clean and they could be included in the worshiping community. Jesus similarly declared that the bent-over woman was free from her ailment, indicating that she was not going to be socially restricted. Jesus also rejected linking the body’s condition to spiritual sinfulness. When he was asked whether a man was born blind due to his own sin or his parents’ sin, Jesus responded that it was not due to anyone’s sin. In a similar vein, Jesus ate with prostitutes and so-called sinners, those who were ritually unclean. In Jesus’s parable of the great dinner, when the invited guests did not come to the dinner, the host invited “the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame”, indicating that, in God’s kingdom, no one would be excluded based on their social or physical conditions, which was in contrast to the experience of  those hearing the parable. 6:54        Jesus, the incarnate deity, defied the unjust laws that alienated people and served to oppress bodies. In taking on human flesh through Jesus, God challenged discrimination and prejudice based on bodily conditions. Jesus embraced stigmatized bodies, a powerful act in both our time as well as his time. In Jesus’s life and ministry, incarnation was a life-transforming and world-liberating power, far from an abstract philosophical principle. 7:31        Bodies and the Church – As we have examined thus far, in Judeo-Christian traditions, bodies were considered to reflect divine grace, and at the same time, were considered defiled. This ambiguity caused much fear, conflict, and division in the church. The bodily aspect of circumcision, which was considered both the physical sign and the spiritual symbol of God’s covenant, was at the heart of the early church’s intense struggle as to whether or not the Gentiles were part of salvation history. By the power of the Spirit, the Jerusalem conference concluded that circumcision was not needed to enter into the Christian community, which provided the springboard for the church to become an inclusive community. Had the insistence on circumcision remained a requirement, many of today’s Christians would not have been able to be part of the church. 8:36        Discrimination based on gender, race, age, sexual orientation, and ethnicity are related intimately to physical features, sabotaging God’s call to embody diversity in the one body of Christ. Despite a painful history that has considered particular bodies to be dangerous, fearful, unclean, or inferior, the church today must live out incarnational theology and strive to be a place where all differently colored, sexualized, and functional bodies gather together safely and confidently. 9:15        Defying the Cultural Norms of Bodies – Incarnation indicates to us that our bodies are the dwelling sites of the divine, yet some cultural and religious expectations of our bodies have become barriers to fully realizing sacredness. The contemporary cultural ideal of women’s bodies as being thin and physically fit or men’s ideal bodies as muscular and athletic, for instance, tend to promote unhealthy stereotypical body images, and may also lead to psychological, physical, and even spiritual problems. 9:54        Conflicting messages about bodies also exist. In Korean Confucian tradition, for example, bodies are gifts from one’s honored ancestors and thus are to be respected. To harm one’s body is to dishonor it. The Buddhist tradition also values all lives, both human and animal, as sacred and worthy of awe and reverence. The practice of vegetarianism in Buddhism can be understood in the large context of respecting all lives and bodies. 10:28     Yet women’s bodies have not always been treated with respect. For example, in Confucian Korea, there was a social stigma attached to women who were childless, asexual, or married more than once. While such prejudices are no longer overtly shared in contemporary Korean culture, women’s bodies still “exist for men’s everyday living and to cater to the male ego.” A sense of shame often has been forced upon female victims of sexual violence, which deepens the trauma and pain inflicted upon their bodies. 11:07     A liberating incarnation defies such injustice done to our bodies. Incarnation powerfully proclaims that God became human in Jesus. Incarnation declares that all bodies are sacred, regardless of color, physical ability, age, fertility, sexual orientation, sexual history, or marital status. 11:31     Stories Written on Bodies – Our bodies tell our stories, and our stories are embedded in our bodies. Racism, sexism, alienation, oppression, fear, and horror are all written on our bodies. 11:49     I will never forget the first time when, as a graduate student many years ago, I met a comfort woman survivor. “Comfort Woman” is a euphemism for women who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II under Japanese imperialism. These women typically were teenagers when they were raped and tortured in captivity. Kap-Soon Choi was one of these brave and courageous survivors who spoke up, even though it was extremely painful to share the oppression and harm done to her body. 12:24     She showed many signs of hardship and physical aging: deep wrinkles, missing teeth, and a bent-over back. Hearing her speak of the pain of having her body “ripped” in sexual slavery was heartbreaking. She spoke of the injustice of sexism and sexual violence, both with her words and with her body. It was transformative for me to experience her presence. This encounter profoundly changed the way I understood the broken body of Christ. The terribly abused bodies of comfort women opened my eyes to understand Jesus’s incarnation in a new way. 13:07     Jesus’s suffering on the cross not only happened once but also continues today in the suffering of men and women due to war, political and economic corruption, sexual violence, unjust marriage systems, commercialization of bodies, buying and selling of sex, and discrimination based on sexuality. Our incarnational God bring us hope by continuously entering into our lives to bring about healing, restoration, and resurrection. 13:41     Body of Christ, Broken for You – “The body of Christ broken for you.” We often say these words during the sacrament of Holy Communion. What do these words mean for those whose bodies have been broken by injustice and violence? 13:59     Each time I participate in Communion, I am reminded of, not only Jesus’s broken body and bloodshed, but also the suffering of women, men, children of all races and ethnicity. At the same time, Communion is a call for justice. Each time we break the bread, we participate in Christ’s vision for a new community. The open table of The United Methodist Church powerfully declares that all God’s people are invited. At this table we are challenged never to forget the suffering of broken bodies among us, and join Christ in an embodied dance of compassion, peace, and justice. 14:45     Holy Communion is a radical form of hospitality. In its sacramental form, the practice of Holy Communion both recalls the table fellowship of Jesus and envisions the eschatological banquet of God’s reign. The practice of table fellowship nourishes bodies, heals brokenness, and builds community. 15:10     A Liberating Incarnation – Our hope is in the incarnate God, who is manifest in our bodies. God’s suffering on the cross should never be interpreted as reflecting the suffering of the world. Rather, a suffering, incarnate God tells us that God will not tolerate suffering anymore. The broken bread of Holy Communion reminds Christian communities that Jesus’s body was broken to end human suffering, and that sharing in the body of Christ is making a commitment never to participate in violence. Holy Communion envisions a Spirit-led community that seeks justice and peace for all people. 15:56     The incarnate God liberates us from all dehumanizing systems and structures of the world, so that we may freely and joyfully participate in creating our world as a more loving, compassionate, and peaceful place to be. God invites us to an incarnational life. This is an invitation to be one body with Christ, to embody Christ’s peace, compassion, and justice in our daily life. The church is called to be God’s reign on earth, living out a liberating incarnation. 16:33     The gospel is in our bodies. God assumed human flesh and lived among us. God dwells in our bodies today. As those who bear the image of God and cradle the spirit of Christ, may the people of Christ’s body live out a liberating incarnation every day! 16:54     The Word became flesh. Thanks be to God! 16:59        Thank you for listening to the WellSprings Journal podcast. Be sure to visit WellSpringsJournal.org to find more resources for the journey.  

A Liberating Incarnation: Bodies, Suffering, and the Church - Dr. Hwa-Young Chong

In this episode, Stephanie Anna Hixon, of the Susquehanna Area of the United Methodist Church, focuses on reconciliation and restoration. She says how the body knows and remembers reminds us that responses to traumatic events, violence, harm, or oppression are matters not experienced solely in cognitive ways. (VOICED BY PROFESSIONAL TALENT) FULL TRANSCRIPT 0:01        When women come together there's nothing we cannot do. Welcome to the WellSprings Journal Podcast, where you will hear from women who have been called by God into lives to speak grace and compassion, that share pain and anger, and that dance life's joys and laughter. Inspiration to call forth your creative spirit await. Listen now. 0:32        The Body Re-Members, by Stephanie Anna Hixon, of the Susquehanna Area of the United Methodist Church 0:40        She told me that the body remembers these things: the feel of wet heat of the summer, the damp smell of murky flood waters lingering too long, the anxiety of trauma revisited, the tenderness within one’s joints and soul. How the body knows and remembers reminds us that responses to traumatic events, violence, harm, or oppression are matters not experienced solely in cognitive ways. 1:09        The Spirit of Remaining or Abiding – While we often encounter the dichotomy of spirit and flesh in biblical tradition, the Gospel of John invites us to embrace the human and divine, the essence of spirit and body through water, wine, fish, bread, the touch of wounds, the staying presence of women, the familiar voice at the tomb. John provides fertile ground for Shelly Rambo as she explores the “middle spirit,” the power of the spirit remaining and abiding in Holy Saturday, between death and life. In “Spirit and Trauma: A Theology of Remaining,” she articulates a theology that refrains from moving too quickly to a triumphant resurrection experience, but persists with the power of spirit remaining, being present with, and giving witness to death and suffering. 2:10        Ruptures, Strains, and Disembodiment – Much of the experience of the world today keeps us intensely aware of violence, conflict, ruptured eco systems, stresses, and threats to a flourishing life. Even if we are privileged to be in a place of well-being, safety, and security, we are not far from vivid reminders of human suffering and hostile relationships. Deeper understandings of the impact of trauma, oppression or violence on individuals as well as the legacy of historical harms in communities calls us to reimagine what it means to be redeemed, transformed, reconciled, and made whole. 2:57        Powerfully rooted in women’s narratives of violence, coping, faith, and healing, Stephanie Crumpton writes in “A Womanist Pastoral Theology” against Intimate and Cultural Violence: “Women’s healing from intimate violence also involves recovering themselves from cultural practices that normalize violence committed against them,” Faith is the context from which women can both claim their distinctiveness in the image of God and challenge the culture, including that of church, that contributes to normalizing violence against them. 3:33        As a mother, pastor, and theologian, Kelly Brown Douglas invites us to know more fully the historic paths that shape the environment in the United States and impacts lives for and with black and brown persons in Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God. 3:53        Reconciliation Is a Journey – Reconciliation is not necessarily a point in time or even a destination, but a journey with varied paths and experiences of forgiveness; justice; restoration; connection with God, self, and community. Standing in Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, England, decades ago, among mostly male clergy colleagues who were delighting in the history and connection of the Anglican Church and the legacy of the Wesleys, I was keenly aware that my feet were planted in more than one sphere. At that moment, the history of women as ordained clergy complicated my sense of belonging to the celebration. 4:37        Intersecting spheres or dimensions are what many of us navigate along paths to be fully alive as God’s beloved in the places where we reside. “When Blood and Bones Cry Out: Journeys through the Soundscape of Healing and Reconciliation” captures the essence of reconciliation as resonance, ways of knowing and experiencing healing in the midst of unspeakable tragedy and conflict. Reminiscent of “sighs too deep for words,” noted Romans 8:26, the power of the Spirit to move and beckon through many facets encourages us to explore the arts and peace building. Books, spoken word, poetry, drama, film, music, visual, and other arts vivify our lived experiences. 5:28        Rooted in Grace and Spiritual Practices – Singing, lamenting, weeping, wailing, healing somatic work, walking along the earth, exercising vigorously, savoring a cup of tea, dancing flamboyantly, or moving with more measured steps to the beat of a drum are but a few of the ways that diverse and differently abled persons seek to be wonderfully and fully human as inspired by the divine. These prayerful practices, along with traditional prayer, fasting, study, and other means of grace, enliven the gospel through body, mind, soul, and spirit. 6:12        Punctuated by witnesses of women exploring the Word, The Common English Women’s Bible provides a window to scripture. Christine Pohl invites communities to cultivate practices that sustain us: “making and keeping promises, speaking and telling the truth, expressing gratitude, and extending hospitality.” Elaine Heath offers a group study of wisdom from Galatians as we seek to be the body of Christ in a changing world. 6:42        The Body Remembered – Reflecting on the trial-tested strength and nurturing gifts of family elders, Adrienne Sparrow Trevathan writes: If I have genuinely lost the ability to experience the enfleshed revelation of my family, perhaps it is because I have become so satiated with my half-life that I forget the glory of the flower, the potential of existence, the glory of God to me — to us — in bread and wine. How can I get the church to understand? Let us remember and be thankful. 7:19        Thank you for listening to the WellSprings Journal podcast. Be sure to visit WellSpringsJournal.org to find more resources for the journey.  

The Body Re-Members - Rev. Stephanie Anna Hixon

 Courtney McHill, of the Oregon-Idaho Area of the United Methodist Church, shares how many of her male clergy contemporaries were surprised to hear about some of the challenges that clergywomen still face today, and how she deals with them by remembering that God created her in God’s image, as good and whole, in female flesh. (VOICED BY PROFESSIONAL TALENT) FULL TRANSCRIPT 0:01        When women come together there's nothing we cannot do. Welcome to the WellSprings Journal Podcast, where you will hear from women who have been called by God into lives to speak grace and compassion, that share pain and anger, and that dance life's joys and laughter. Inspiration to call forth your creative spirit await. Listen now. 0:35        God in Flesh Is Just Like Me – By Courtney McHill, of the Oregon–Idaho Area of the United Methodist Church. 0:44        I rearranged the living room again to have just the right vibe. I got out the snacks and the couple of bottles of wine because it was my turn to host in my home. I moved that one chair again and added a few more chairs over there. I dusted all the furniture and the old fixtures. Even though we live in the parsonage just a few feet away from the church, I try to give it touches here and there to make it more comfy for people to hang out here. The group decided to switch to meet in people’s homes to add just these touches. We let down our guard more if we feel safer to do so. We agreed with one another to meet every three weeks in this kind of rotation. Lately, each of us had added snacks and beverages to make it even more comfortable and intimate. 1:30        The community of practice began when 12 of us in north and northeast Portland, Oregon vocalized a similar yearning. We, as younger clergy in mainline denominations in Portland, were seeking others with similar values, practices, and passions to create more of a foundation for one another and more of a voice in Portland. We have been figuring out a different way to be in ministry with one another in this way — a community of practice — for the past year. Gathering in homes has been the next step in answering this yearning. We are ELCA, UMC, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterians, UCC, and Episcopalian so far — half male and half female — all eager to navigate a different version of church. 2:17        This particular day, in my home, somehow the subject of gender in ministry came up. My male colleagues were incredulous that we, as youngish female clergy, were treated any differently. My female colleagues and I looked at them with skepticism. “You don’t believe we are treated any differently,” exclaimed one female colleague. The other United Methodist clergyperson and I exchanged knowing glances. 2:43        I have been in appointed ministry for 10 years. I went directly from college to seminary and into an appointment. My first appointment was as an associate pastor in a larger Oregon church in a college town. My senior pastor had been doing this for 40 years. In fact, the year I was ordained, we celebrated his 40th year in ordination. It was a gift to work for him, but that was when I discovered just how different it is to be a young woman in this work. The touches are different, the critique is different, the compliments are different, the intimacy in conversations is different, and the expectations are different. 3:26        After four years, I moved into an appointment that was a cooperative ministry between a UMC and an ELCA church. I had an ELCA co-pastor. My colleague was 40 years older, very wise, but not in the ways of administration as much. I took on the administrative role, and yet I still saw blatant differences in how we were treated. 3:49        After five years there, I was moved to a solo pastor gig where I have been the senior pastor of a larger Portland United Methodist congregation. I am their first woman pastor. The underlying assumptions are still there, and yet here we are still in this conversation. My male colleague spoke out and said, “It’s not that I don’t believe you are treated differently, but aren’t we past that?” 4:14        My United Methodist Church colleague and I exchanged glances and we started to banter: “Let me just fix that piece of clothing of yours.” “Such a cute haircut (as they start touching and rearranging hair)” “What do you wear under that robe?” “I can’t worship while you wear heels, they distract me. You might fall!” “Why don’t you wear makeup?” “You wear too much makeup!” “What kind of makeup do you wear?” “When do you have time for family?” “Do you want kids?” “Oh Pastor, that baby looks good on your hip!” “Don’t you think that dress shows too much?” “Doesn’t the Bible say that woman should keep silent?” “I will just wait for the real pastor to talk to me.” 4:56        And the list went on and on. When we finally came up for air, half of the room looked shocked, and the other half had a smile spread across their faces. One man asked, “Does this happen?” All of the women in the room said, “Yes!” in unison. 5:13        So many women have gone before me in this profession, paving the way for me to be here, and I am so grateful. I can’t imagine this profession and this call even 30 years ago. I have just a taste of what it means in the clergy world to be a called woman in ministry, and yet I have a taste. I know what it feels like to be touched, prodded, poked, and rearranged before a worship service by kind but unknowing congregants. I know what it feels like to be brushed over in order to get to the male pastor standing right beside me. I know what it is like to be called and told that my opinion isn’t valued as much. I am aware of the people who want to, “save my soul,” because I am woman called by God. I am keenly tuned into the fact that I am treated differently just because of what body I resonate with. 6:07        In April of 2016, I applied and was chosen to travel to Cuba with other amazing clergywomen through The United Methodist Church. Our group was headed to Cuba as clergywomen in order to learn about women in ministry in Cuba. It was an incredible trip. We studied and asked questions. We experienced arts and life in Cuba. We played a bit and toured a bit. We bonded with women in Cuba, but most of all we lifted one another up when we needed it the most. All of us on this trip were searching for something, and we really found one another. We all served in different contexts and in different ways. We all walked around the world with a bit of defensiveness, built up over years of serving in ministry. One night, we gathered in one of our rooms and just started telling stories. We told stories of what people had said to us or when they had passed us over. We told stories of mustering courage and finding our voices. We told stories of when we needed one another the most. We created bonds that have continued. We prayed together and continue to cheer the others on. 7:16        This is why I invest so much of my theology in that simple line that John gives us, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us.” This is the only way that I know that God knows me. God has been embodied before. God knows a body so intimately that God knows what it means to feel and hear these things. God knows what it means to feel the sun on God’s flesh and feel shame because of this body. Surely God knows what it means to be confident in the body and proud of what God has given us. God has to know what it means to hold someone else or whisper in another’s ear. God has to know how lovely it is to smell a newborn baby’s head or to hold an old woman’s hand as she gives her last breath. God must know what it feels like to preach the word and watch the word transform before our eyes. I am sure that God has felt hurt feet and a hurt heart. God’s heart has definitely been broken. 8:22        At the same time, God knows what it means to feel that bit of urgency when new hope presents itself. God has felt a heart that has a quickened pulse. God has been in love. God has wept. God has leapt when all of the things align just right and when the air gets crisp in fall. God has felt and played in the dirt, and God has been washed clean after a long day. God has to know these things, because God became flesh at one point. 8:52        This is the only way I know how to serve this God and continue to serve this God in the midst of people looking down on my body or saying it isn’t enough. When God becomes an incarnate being, that is when I can acknowledge my God. When I get discouraged that, as a young woman clergyperson, I have to work a bit harder to be heard, this is what gets me back into my called space. God has been here before and knows what it means to be in flesh and to be judged by that flesh. When I get written off because I am “younger, inexperienced, and insecure”—and I am sure that I haven’t claimed any of that and I know it to not be true because I have done this for 10 years and many times before—I know that God was passed over because God was too young and new. God was flesh and dwelled among us in the margins, to the unknown, and in vulnerable spaces. When I get told that I am just cute instead of qualified, I remember when God knew what it was to create the cutest and most qualified creatures. When the expectations are infused into a male body instead of mine, I remember that God created me in God’s image, as good and whole, in female flesh. 10:14     “Do people really say that stuff to you?? Really?” my male colleague asks again in my community of practice. “Yes. All of the time. And now you know. What will you do about it?” This is how I respond, because I know God continues to work through our flesh. It is my job to be my voice and to witness to what God is doing. It is my job to empower the one who has never experienced these petty comments to make them stop. It is my job to continue to preach a God who has been in flesh—incarnate. 10:49     It is my job to stand next to other women all over the world to hear their stories and continue to bond over commonalities in order to work together. It is my job to work with more security and experience than I did before. It is my job to encourage the women who come after me to continue in their call and to walk alongside them. It is my job to continue to vocalize my call in this world and make church safe for the little girl to have a different role model. It is my job to thank those who went before me who did the same for me. 11:27     Thank you for listening to the WellSprings Journal podcast. Be sure to visit WellSpringsJournal.org to find more resources for the journey.

God in Flesh Is Just Like Me – Rev. Courtney McHill

The WellSprings Journal podcast series is an expression of United Methodist clergywomen that offers leadership experience and emerging stories as women in Christian ministry. Find inspiration, joy, and motivation for the day!

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