The Power of WomenНамуна

The Power of Women Not Honoured

My road to ordination was difficult. I fought God’s call at every step. Just as Peter did not want to be known as a disciple of Jesus, I did not want to be a priest. I could not handle the weight, expectation, or pressure of answering God’s call.

However, as a staunch believer that women's equality is part of God’s plan for justice in the world, I thought I should feel grateful, not resistant. I knew I should be honored. So many women fought for the right to lead, often without recognition, and I shouldn't be bitter that I was being called to lead.

That is until I watched that recognition happen.

As I witnessed the ordination of an 80-year-old colleague to be the person God called to be, it healed something in me. Her legacy ensured that the institution did not get in my way as it did theirs.

That is the power of these women.

They are part of a tradition of women that can be traced back to the stories of Scripture. I think of the unnamed women in Luke 8 who followed Jesus after He healed them. They provided for Him and His disciples “out of their own resources.” I think of the unnamed women in Matthew 27 who looked on from a distance as Jesus was crucified when many of His disciples abandoned Him. I think of the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7 who pursued the healing words of Jesus relentlessly, even going so far as to challenge Him.

All these women knew and insisted that the hope made real in Jesus Christ was just as much for them as for anybody else.

So, I want to say "thank you" to the women of Scripture and all the women out there who were discriminated against instead of celebrated. Your steady presence and insistence that God created women with giftings and invited them to the table reminded me that a seat remained for me even when I didn’t want it.

Maybe no one honored you then, but we honour you now and thank God for the work God has done through you for us.

Prayer & Reflection

1. What does honoring those who came before you look like in your context and season of calling?
2. How might God be inviting you to share in the legacies of these women in Scripture?

Written by Amber Tremblett