Day 29 No voice. No more. November

When I first watched this video, I wept. The stories were so familiar. What caused me to weep was that these male pastors were appalled at the horrible things that people had said to their female colleagues in ministry. It made me happy that there were male pastors who were shocked and horrified by words that we, female pastors, hear all the time.

The North Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church is taking some bold steps in seeing that lived experience of their female pastors is different ten years from now. I'm going to post a fuller story on Saturday, December 1 with a charge and a chance for you to win a prize (a book about women in church leadership, of course) for simply sharing that post. Please watch this and consider sharing it because this is real. Notice that I have copied the Litany of Confession and Commitment here that was taken directly from NC synod's page on women in ministry.

Litany of Confession and Commitment

All (A): We confess that we are captive to our brokenness. Forgive us for the times we were silent. Forgive us for the times we were careless with our words. Forgive us for not paying attention. Forgive us for our surprise that hurtful words were being flung at our sisters in ministry. Guide us and make us new. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Leader (L): Listen, children to the truth. God has chosen to be merciful to all creation. You are no exception. Your sins are forgiven; your heart is made clean in the name of the triune God. Amen.

Read Acts 2:17-18

L: We remember Esther, who spoke truth to power to free her people.
A: Inspire us to lead as she did.

L: We remember Ruth, who made Naomi's people her people.
A: Teach us to value family as she did.

L: We remember Deborah, who was both prophetess and judge.
A: Help us be bold in our proclamation of truth.

L: We remember Mary, mother of our Lord, who bore Christ into the world.
A: Incite a movement to give voice to those who share Christ in the world.

L: We remember Mary Magdalene, who wept at the tomb and yet still proclaimed.
A: Surround us with the witnesses who, through tears, proclaim Christ to us.

L: We remember Elizabeth Platz, the first woman ordained by any Lutheran denomination.
A: Direct us to shape a different church for the next generation of women pastors.

L: We remember Earlene Miller, the first African-American woman ordained by any Lutheran denomination in North America.
A: Make us a welcoming people, open to all.

L: We remember that you created women in your image.
A: Encourage us to speak well of each other.

L: We remember.
A: Help us remember well and commit to do better.

L: God of Surprises, you call us
from narrowness of our traditions to new ways of being church
from the captivities of our culture to create witness for justice
from the smallness of our horizons to the bigness of your vision.

L: Clear the way in us, your people, that we might call others to freedom and renewed faith and that all might know the beauty and power and danger of the gospel, especially through the ministerial witness of women, who with their many gifts, can bring healing to a suffering church and people. Amen.
#novoicenomorenovember