Still thankful after all these years...

I learned this morning about the death of Rev. Horwood P. Myers and I remember the way that he brought life to me.
My family moved to North Carolina in September of 1984. I left my beloved first appointment in a cross-racial setting and, since the move for my husband was a September 1 opportunity, spent the year waiting and wondering if I would get a chance to serve a church. In May of 1985, my daughter's 3rd grade teacher asked the class to write the answer to this question: "If you could get your mommy anything in the world this year for Mother's Day, what would you get her?" Mary Allen wrote: "I would give my mommy a church. My mommy needs a church. My mommy wants to be a church lady." Her elementary-lined paper with her careful printing still hangs in my office.
And, oh, how I did want to serve a church! After working through 10 years of vehement opposition in Mississippi and meeting requirements of 3 different Disciplines, I was a newly ordained elder with no church in a new and very big Annual Conference where I didn't know anyone.
At appointment-making time, I had conversation with the Waynesville District Superintendent, Bob Ralls, who was very encouraging to me. He said he had a church that was being served by a retired supply but they had been asking for a younger preacher, said they wanted to grow and he would see if that might be an opening.
Bob went to meet with the PPR Committee of the Bethel-Piney Grove Charge and he described me to them. Well, maybe not comprehensively...because at the conclusion of his presentation, they said, "That's great. He sounds like just what we have been praying for!"
Then Bob had to break the rest of the story. "Well," he said, "it's not a 'he'. It's a female pastor." Dead silence. Bob pushed them gently: "You said this is just what you have been praying for." They agreed to think about it.
In the meantime, Bob went off to cabinet meetings where the first round of appointments were made. And the members of the Bethel-Piney Grove PPRC held the best kept secret (and maybe the only secret) in the cove just outside of Waynesville. They apparently did not tell a soul. After a couple of weeks--most notably, after all the other appointments were made, the PPRC called Bob and said they were just not ready for a woman. They would like for their current retired supply pastor, Horwood Myers, to come back for another year.
Things like that still happen occasionally in the church, I am sorry to say. But, oh how the atmosphere has changed! In 1985, that kind of negativity from the church was the end of opportunity for women. Women in ministry was, at best, a new idea. For most churches and cabinets, it was not a welcome idea. (Which is the most positive way to say it). Cabinets had reputations, especially at that time of WNC's history, for discouraging and disregarding women. And my conference membership was in North Mississippi. Any appointment I received in this conference would have been sheer grace. So for that opportunity to shut down was devastating.
I was crushed. Discouraged. Frustrated beyond words. And then Horwood Myers told the people at Bethel/Piney Grove that if they were refusing me because I was a woman, he wouldn't return either. Horwood didn't know me personally. The stand he took was on principle and it was a stand that he could easily have side-stepped. He liked serving Bethel-Piney Grove and they liked him. And, had he been willing to overlook their gender prejudice, I don't know if or when I would have had a church to serve in Western North Carolina.
Armed with Horwood's position, Bob Ralls went back to meet with the Bethel-Piney Grove PPRC. This time, he took reinforcements: "the old gray fox", Glenn Lackey--a neighbor of mine at Lake Junaluska who had a special love for these churches. They agreed to give me a chance. One Sunday and they would see.
That wasn't exactly a stirring affirmation or a wide open door, but that was the beginning of 5 amazing years of ministry at Bethel-Piney Grove...years that they and I still remember as exciting days of growth and joy. Things had changed dramatically when the next move came up. When moving time came, 5 years later at my request, they loaded up a caravan of pick-up trucks to move me and my daughters to Spruce Pine and, as they said, to tell those people at my new appointment that they had better take care of me or they would come back and get me in a heartbeat. God did a wonderful work in their hearts and in mine during those years. And the principles of Horwood Myers made it possible.
I'm sure there are hundreds of other stories to honor Horwood Myers for his ministry because people who live by their principles leave a lasting and extensive legacy. I often thanked Horwood in life but I could never thank him enough. He opened a door for me that made all the difference. His stand made my ministry in this conference possible. I thank God for him.

Oh my! What joy!

My robe is ready. My new stole (custom-made by my sister-in-law) is ready. My Daddy (who will be 90 in November) has his red stole and robe ready. My heart hardly knows how to take in the joy of standing with my daughter as she is ordained an elder in the United Methodist Church.

The idea of "women preachers" is pretty clear in the birth of the church (thus the design of my stole for Saturday morning): "When the Holy Spirit comes....your daughters shall prophesy..."(Acts 2:18). But for centuries, people in the church have steadfastly refused women the prophesying role. Some churches still adamantly refuse to welcome women into ordained ministry. And, although Susanna Wesley, the mother of John Wesley, was quite a preacher herself, it has only been in my lifetime that women in the United Methodist tradition have been fully recognized as elders.

So the chance for a mother to share in her daughter's ordination is a new and rare gift, indeed...much less for us to be third and fourth generation United Methodist pastors. I thank God for the changes that I have had a chance to witness in my lifetime. And, as I stand with my daughter at her ordination, I pray for a truly Holy Spirit church -- where gifts are freed and celebrated, where understanding crosses differences of all kinds and where disciples are known for their holy boldness.