February 14, 2021
“A New Thing”
Women’s Sunday
Isaiah 43:18-19
2 Timothy 1:3-7
Mark 14:3-9
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our strength and our redeemer. AMEN
Back in 2010, my parents, who had lived in the same home for 46 years, moved out of their home and into assisted living. My mother had been dealing with Parkinson’s for a number of years and my parents came to realize that for their own safety and well-being, moving into assisted living was the right move for them. Leaving one’s home, however, is obviously a very difficult and emotional decision.
And so they moved, and it worked out quite well. But then just a few short months later, my mother succumbed to her illness and passed away.
In the meantime, my sister and I had started going through the things still remaining in my parent’s home, getting the house ready to sell.
I’m sure many of you can relate to what an emotional experience that is. As I had grown up in that home, it was like going through and re-living all the pieces of my life – made all the more emotional by the fact that my mother had just passed away and so I was grieving her death.
And then one day something happened I will never forget. I was sorting through some of my mother’s personal papers when suddenly a random piece of paper literally floated down and landed in my lap.
And written on the piece of paper were the words from Isaiah you just heard Barb read. The passage says:
Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old.
I’m about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
It felt like a direct message from my mother and it was a great comfort to me. I was filled with so much gratitude for everything she had given me and modelled for me throughout her life. She was ahead of her time in so many ways and was such a strong role model for me.
And now I had the assurance that as I moved forward, God was doing a new thing and paving a way for me through the wilderness of my grief.
I’m sure we have all had women in our lives who were particular mentors – mothers, sisters, aunts, teachers, friends – people who have inspired us to be the best we can be – and so on this Women’s Sunday, I want to particularly honor and lift up all those women who have guided us, nurtured us, and paved the way for us.
I came of age in the late 60s and early 70s and anyone my age or older, both men and women, know what I mean when I say life for girls and women in 2021 looks much different than it did back in the 70s.
Just one small example. There were very few opportunities for girls to be involved in sports when I was growing up. I don’t recall any soccer teams for girls. By high school you could be on the swim team or play tennis – that was about it.
And now, just one week ago, Sarah Thomas became the first woman ever to officiate a Super Bowl.
My point is, within my lifetime I have witnessed a mind-boggling amount of change when it comes to opportunities for women.
To quote Isaiah once again, God is doing a new thing and making a way in the wilderness.
As a child of the 70s I also vividly remember the Women’s movement and the struggle to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. And, of course, through the years, there has been a significant increase in the number of women in the political arena.
Many smart, gifted women on both sides of the political aisle have risen to prominence.
And regardless of one’s political leanings – or whether or not you agree with her politics – it is hugely significant for me as a woman that the United States of America, for the first time ever, has a female Vice President – and not just a female, but a female of color.
This is huge for those of us who lived through a time when a female Vice President wouldn’t even have been thinkable.
God is doing a new thing and making a way in the wilderness.
And so, as we lift up women today, I do want to be clear about one other thing. I recognize it has been both women and men, working together, who have changed things for the better.
I had the great privilege of growing up with a dad who always told me that I could do absolutely anything I set my mind to. I know not everyone grows up with that kind of encouragement.
And I was also fortunate to have been married to a man for 30 years who encouraged and supported me in all my pursuits.
When I was hired by Dublin Community Church nearly thirteen years ago as the Pastoral Intern, I was brand new to the ministry. And yet Rev. Tussing, who had already been serving in ministry for decades, from day one, treated me as an equal. What a positive difference that has made in my journey and I am filled with gratitude for that gift.
Most of you know that I grew up in the UCC and one of the many things I love about the United Church of Christ is the fact that as a denomination we can claim many “firsts.”
Among those “firsts” we can claim was the ordination in 1851 of Antoinette Brown, the first ever woman ordained into Christian ministry in a mainline denomination in this country.
And now Dublin Community Church can also claim its own first. For the first time in our over 200-year history, Dublin Community Church has called a woman to be Senior Minister. I am so honored by that call.
Dublin Community Church is privileged to have many, many talented lay leaders in our midst – both men and women. There are way too many to start naming, but I do want to lift up Barb Anderson who is a part of this service today.
Most of you know Barb. She is our Interfaith Outreach Facilitator, promoting dialogue and understanding between faiths, and she is of course the leader of our Women of Religious Diversity groups which she started along with Jessa Haynes more than a decade ago.
The WORD groups have been and continue to be a tremendous source of education, support, inspiration, and friendship for women and I want to thank Barb for the time and dedication she continually puts into the WORD groups.
And now, allow me to share a final story.
Back in my teens and twenties I kept a diary and I still have all my diaries. Recently I was looking at an entry from 1976. I was twenty years old, and it was the day I was going to be leaving to fly to Luxembourg to study for several months at Miami University’s European Center.
This was long before cell phones, PCs, Facetime, Zoom, texting – all the ways we now have to instantly be in touch.
When I left for Europe, on the first of September, I literally had no contact with my parents, other than exchanging letters in the mail, for four months. So, it was quite an emotional leap for my parents, and for me, to go off on that trip.
So, the diary entry I recently read was from the day I left to go to Luxembourg – and it described something that I had totally forgotten.
I had written in my diary that prior to leaving for the airport I was sitting at the kitchen table with my parents. We were all feeling emotional and started to cry. My dad read a poem that he dedicated to me – I wish I had a copy of that poem, but I don’t – and then my mom read a Psalm to me. Again, I didn’t write down what Psalm it was, but I had written that it was a Psalm about how God is always with me.
On this Women’s Sunday, I am so very grateful for all the women through the ages who have shared their faith, nurturing and inspiring us along the way.
And I’m grateful for a God who continues to do new things, making a way for us in the wilderness, and providing streams in the desert.
AMEN