From Mtr Taylor
Dear Friends,
In my Daily Bread* reflection on Friday, July 8, I began to tell a story about the ministry of women in the Church. What follows here is a bit more to that story—and hopefully the beginning of some good conversations about vocation, gender, and how we are called to follow Jesus as individuals and community.
Priscilla and Aquila, were “coworkers of Paul” and theirs was a minor feast day last Friday, July 8. Their story is one of a few that have been referenced to illustrate how women can indeed be called to religious leadership. Priscilla and Aquila (a wife and husband in the case of their story) worked together as an example of shared gifts in Christian community.
I realize for some of us that the idea of women in religious leadership, and particularly as clergy, is old news and quite settled. There are women clergy who have been in ministry in the Episcopal church for about 50 years. (We’re coming up on the 50th anniversary of the ordination of the Philadelphia 11!)
For others, there is some surprise still associated with women clergy. There have been a few services where a newcomer will say something like “I’ve never seen a woman do what you did,” or “I was amazed to see you do the whole thing.” I do not take offense at these kinds of statements, but join them in their surprise that they have not seen ordained female religious leadership in the past.
It can still be surprising to see a woman do something that culturally has long been the purview of men, and in many communities, still is. But this is not about me. Rather, it’s about offering a few ways Priscilla, in particular, followed the way of Jesus.
Acts 18:2–3: "There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. They had left Italy when Claudius Caesar deported all Jews from Rome. Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was."
Acts 18:18: "Paul stayed in Corinth for some time after that, then said good-bye to the brothers and sisters and went to nearby Cenchrea. There he shaved his head according to Jewish custom, marking the end of a vow. Then he set sail for Syria, taking Priscilla and Aquila with him."
Acts 18:26: "When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately."
Romans 16:3: "Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus."
1 Corinthians 16:19: "The churches here in the province of Asia send greetings in the Lord, as do Aquila and Priscilla and all the others who gather in their home for church meetings."
2 Timothy 4:19: "Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila and those living in the household of Onesiphorus."
Together, this couple and Paul, planted house churches and were early missionaries, spreading the Gospel in the very earliest context of Christianity. It appears that God used their human gifts to spread the Good News, and their work took them all over the near East. They’re likely the kind of Church Mothers and Fathers whose work lives on in ways that are now indistinguishable from Christian practice—the kind of ancestors who have formed who we are.
In several of the places where they are mentioned, Priscilla/Prisca’s name comes first. We know with the careful canonization of these texts that every word is chosen carefully, and that it denotes a truly shared leadership that her name is routinely mentioned first.
Not only were Priscilla and Aquila partners in ministry, they were also tent-makers, a trade they shared with Paul. It’s mostly not surprising to us in the modern era that people of any gender might cultivate gifts of leadership, teaching, practicing medicine, caring for others, etc. and Priscilla and Aquila are certainly not the only or even most prominent historical example of this.
I feel fortunate not to have had to champion for my gender being welcomed to discern and live out the calling to the Priesthood. I hope that Priscilla experienced the same kind of reception of her gifts and challenges that I have. Being different than expected while shepherding a community might have led Priscilla to be warmly received as part of the “new way,” but I suspect it was also challenging.
When in college, I met a mutual friend and, in the course of getting to know each other, I casually shared my hope to eventually attend seminary and become a priest. She said, “Oh wow, like a Women’s Pastor?” She and I were suddenly speaking different languages, and we hurried the conversation along.
I didn’t feel the need to defend my potential calling but the episode stayed with me. I still recall that moment clearly as one of those discernment moments: What is possible? What does it mean to be called to be myself in this era?
There have been many times when my work as a priest has been informed by my gender. And perhaps very often there have been unconscious ways when I acted akin to a “Women’s Pastor.” I am grateful for those opportunities for they reflect a meeting of minds and hearts that is somehow distinct because of shared experiences.
At the same time, however, I also very much appreciate that I am not restricted in who I am allowed to teach—as was the norm for my friend in her church. (It held a complementarian theological view—a newer doctrine with official roots as recent as 1988.)
Over the years, I’ve heard positive feedback about women in ordained ministry: “I want my growing boys to know that women can and should be at any table;” and “The way you celebrate the Eucharist is different, and it allows me to see things in new ways;” and “I’m glad you told me that you don’t have to lead like a man to be a leader.”
There are examples in the Biblical narrative that help shape our emphatic embrace of women leadership, lay and ordained—both in the Episcopal Church as well as some other Protestant denominations. They include Mary, the God-Bearer; Mary Magdalene, who bore the news of Jesus’ Resurrection; Paula and Tabitha who made the early Church possible through their industriousness and faith; and, Hannah, Ruth, and Naomi, matriarchs in the faith who are key to the lineage of Jesus’ new way.
There are also close-text readings of the prohibitive writings of Paul about women preaching and teaching. However, there is much evidence that Paul was talking about a particular place with particular challenges.
All this adds up to make sense within the arc of the history of Jesus and his people. They were called from many different backgrounds to be the people God created: to exist and to love and to serve God in their time and place—to offer all that they were back to the Creator and Redeemer of the world.
In every generation we’re called in different ways into that already-not-yet redemption of the world. It takes all of our gifts in different seasons to share the knowledge and love of God with our neighbors.
In Christ,
—Mtr Taylor
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