First Presbyterian Church of Owensboro celebrates the gifts of women to kick off Lenten season
By Beth Newberry
Owensboro, KY—At First Presbyterian Church here last Sunday (February 22), the congregation held its annual celebration of the gifts of women in the PC(USA) service. During the service an all-female Chancel Choir composed of members ages teens to their 60s sang, a group of women elders collected offering and served communion, and youth read scripture. The church’s Presbyterian Women planned the service and many other female members served in leadership roles. Rhashell D. Hunter, Director of Racial Ethnic and Women’s Ministries/PW, preached in honor of the occasion. While First Presbyterian Church strives for diversity in age, gender and race during each service, the celebration of the gifts of women service exclusively highlights and encourages women’s leadership and contributions to the church, according to Pastor Dr. Jonathan E. Carroll.
While PC(USA) has designated Sunday, March 8 — which coincides with International Women’s Day — as Celebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday for 2009, congregations are encouraged to honor the role of women in the church on any Sunday of their choosing. First Presbyterian, says Carroll, decided to celebrate the gifts of women on Transfiguration Sunday as a way to set the tone for the Lenten season. “What a beautiful way to start Lent [where we will explore] intentional Christian practices such as hospitality, authentic relationships, fellowship and service,” he said.
This was the eighth year that Presbyterian Women have planned and led the worship. This year’s celebration focused on Calvin’s Jubilee. The two services on Sunday featured liturgy, prayers, hymns and a dramatic interpretation centered on the theme. Many of the texts used at the services were published as part of the liturgical resource produced by Racial Ethnic and Women’s Ministries ministry area. The liturgical resource was written for the occasion by Dale Lindsey Morgan, a retired pastor and Bible study author.
While elements of the liturgical resources were woven into the service, a standout moment charmed the worshipers when Dr. Carroll joined Marsha Nash and Elder Susan Hicks in a skit where the John Calvin, played by Carroll, appeared and had a conversation with Nash and Hicks about women’s leadership in the church. Carroll clutched his copies of Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin’s two-volume work, and represented Calvin in his own words from the Institutes, while the women probed Calvin on his writings on scripture, leadership and call.
During the short drama, Calvin pointed out, “When Scripture sets out a list of human beings, it names only the males. …Why, even children know that women are included under the term ‘men’!”
In response, the women said, “I hope my children know I’m not a man!”
The humor did not undercut the reverence of the observation of the day, however, as different groups of women were recognized for their talents of leading as elders and also teaching. Elder Helen Sears remarked on the significance of the service. “It’s important because it gives women an opportunity to better themselves and recognize the contributions they make when they see other women [participating] in the service,” she said. Sears, who encouraged the celebration of the gifts of women as an annual event at the church, is a past member of the Churchwide Coordinating Team of Presbyterian Women and a past moderator of Presbyterian Women of the Western Kentucky Presbytery.
Debbie McKoy, past moderator of Presbyterian Women of the Western Kentucky Presbytery, added that the celebration was the time the church honors “all that [women] do as elders, as circle members, and in caring for the sick.”
Perhaps the presence of women in every role in the service was further underscored by the theme of Dr. Hunter’s sermon, titled “The Little Girl with Jesus.” Hunter preached a parable based on Matthew 18, where Jesus calls a small child forward from a crowd to illustrate to the disciples how to achieve greatness in the kingdom of heaven. Hunter’s sermon reveals a conversation between a mother and her young daughter, Joanna, who tells of her encounter with Jesus where she is used to model humility and wonder to the adults around her.
As the service ended and members greeted one another with hugs and questions of how are you, Loré North had to answer her daughter’s questions as to why she was participating in worship. North sang a solo in the service as well as gave a welcome inviting other members to join her in “celebrating women here and everywhere.” To her daughter she explained, “In our Presbyterian Church, today’s the day we celebrate women. Some Sundays we celebrate men, some we celebrate kids, and today it was the day for women to participate.”