I sat in the pew preparing for the service: marking my hymns and making sure my phone was turned off. As the organ started, I stood with the rest of the congregation glancing ahead still nervous about the liturgical-style worship. The minister lead us in the Call to Worship, we sang another hymn, and sat …
I could feel the stare before I saw the eyes in the car next door leering at me. He gave a wide-mouthed grin and then a wink. Really? I thought to myself. He can’t even see me. If it wasn’t about looks, then what was the leering look about? And then it dawned on me. He …
As I got out of my car in the Walgreens, I heard the low whistle. I had already noticed the two men sitting in the van, but honestly I hadn’t thought twice about their attention. After being pregnant for nine months, I had forgotten what it was like to be whistled at and catcalled. I’m …
Gender Relations: Unsolicited Catcalls and Whistling Read More »
As I watch the countdown for the Iowa caucus and wonder whether this political season will bring us a female presidential candidate, I realize yet again that we are dealing with a systematic sexism in our country that continues to put up an undo number of white males as leaders while the women of country …
There were many sermons as I grew up on absolute truths, including that women were not called to be preachers and divorce was wrong. I remember when that comfortable, certain theology started to break down for me. It was when I heard stories of abuse. Stories of women whose husbands forced them to have sex …
As I watched the Democratic Town Hall Meeting, I was struck by the relative calmness the candidates maintained. Now, I know enough about politics to know that these candidates are coached by handlers and dressed by stylists and heard because of sound engineers, but there was something about their sitting down to a table that …
Ministers are not rock stars. Ministers are not celebrities. It has to be said. It just does. It has to be said because there is a minister asking for a plane. It has to be said because there is a minister who buys a house and property valued at close to 5 million dollars. It has to …
When I was in my second year of seminary expressing the desire to purse a call to the pastorate, I was told by more than one person that if I wanted to be a senior pastor I needed to start either as a youth minister or an associate pastor and then “work my way up.” …
Being a minister is really hard. Being a minister during this transformational time in church history, is even harder. There is a temptation while looking at declining budgets, declining memberships, and uncertain futures to begin to compete with each other over potential members or to try to outdo each other with better buildings and programs. We …
The problem with answer this question is that the answer is decidedly different if your woman is a pastor and your woman is a man. A study reveals the shameful reality that women clergy are making 76 cents to every dollar their male counterparts make, which is worse than the national average. This is an especially disturbing reality …
