back to sermons
“Mothers & More: Why We Ordain Women” a sermon for Mother’s Day on Galatians 3:23—4:7
by David C. Mauldin

Mother’s Day is not an easy day for me. First of all, never having been a mother, I lack an insider’s knowledge. If I were to preach about how to be a good mother, all the mothers would be looking at me with a benign amusement. “Isn’t that cute. He doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about.” As a preacher, I try to avoid that. Plus, the rest of us, who are not mothers, might not find much to interest us. The second reason Mother’s Day is a challenge is this: I know that for many people today is a bittersweet occasion. Many children have lost mothers. Many mothers have lost children. I have known a couple of people who pretty much only come to church on Mother’s Day, as a way to honor their mother who is no longer with them, and perhaps feel close to her. Mother’s Day brings a wide range of emotions to any congregation. Third, I could just praise motherhood. Motherhood is a calling from God. Mother’s play a uniquely important role in God’s plan. A mother’s love can teach us something about God’s unconditional love. That’s a good traditional three-point sermon outline right there. But then again, I think, “Well, not all women are mothers.” Not every woman is called to that. And even those who are mothers are more than mothers. Motherhood is part of their calling from God, but not the whole of it. Some cultures and religious traditions do not see much for women beyond motherhood, but we are not anything like them. Our society and our church profess the equality of women and men. We are convinced this is God’s will; yet we realize that opportunity in society and church, especially in the workplace, creates challenges for women. Balancing career and family and ministry is hard. Perhaps I could say something about that?

Faced with the challenges of Mother’s Day, I have found this to be a good occasion to talk about the calling of women. I want to affirm motherhood, without implying it is the only way women are called by God or fulfilled. I thought this year I might share why we in the Presbyterian Church (USA) ordain women to all offices in the church: deacon, elder, and pastor. Not all churches do. Why do we? Most of us probably take this part of our church for granted and cannot imagine things any other way. We do not, however, ordain women in order to follow trends in the culture. One could argue that women are equal in society and therefore should be equal in the church. That might be convincing to some, but it is not the real story. It was no accident, I believe, that women achieved equality in those nations most influenced by Christianity, rather than in some other parts of the world. Something inherent within Christianity affirms women and invites them to hear a variety of callings from God. I want to look deeper at that something. My goal is to encourage all women in their work and family life and ministry. I also hope to encourage you men to support and help the women in your life as they answer God’s unique call to them.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) bases its practices and teaching in scripture. Rooted in scripture and the best within the Christian tradition, we believe in gender equality and the gifts and calling of women. You can see dramatic evidence of this in two ways. One is the wedding service. A traditional practice, still used in some places, had the father give the bride to the groom. “Who gives this woman?” the preacher queried; and the father would answer, “Her mother and I do.” The faulty assumption in this model was that the bride belonged to her father, who transferred title to her husband. That is probably not what most people meant who did that in their wedding, but it is at the root of the practice. We don’t do that anymore. Our standard wedding service allows for a blessing from the families. Once the bride and groom express their mutual desire to marry, I ask all the parents or both families, “Do you give your blessing to the bride and groom, and promise to do everything in your power to uphold them in their marriage?” That’s a big difference. It says, “Marriage is a calling, and a woman has to hear and answer that call herself as a child of God.” It also reminds us that we need the blessing and help of others as we answer God’s call. We all need a church. Men need their mothers, sisters, wives, aunts, grandmothers, and women who teach and pray. Women need the men in their lives in the same ways. We help one another.

The most visible testimony to our belief about women is our practice of ordaining them to all offices in the church. We have deacons who are women, elders who are women, and I happen to be a man, but I have many colleagues in the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament who are women. I have worked with many of them, and I have found them to be just like the men: Some are excellent, some average, and some not so good; but as I say, that’s the case with us men too. Women have the necessary gifts and calling.

“Wait a minute,” you might be thinking, “if that’s true, why don’t all the churches ordain women? Don’t some say the Bible is against it?” Indeed they do, so I want to explain our position from the Bible. And the best place to start is with Jesus.

Jesus was born into a male-dominated society. Jewish women in first century Palestine did not have much identity or opportunity outside the home. It is important to remember this, because Jesus was a bit different. For example, no self-respecting rabbi in that day would teach a woman. We find this attitude in the Mishnah, a collection of rabbinic writings later than the New Testament but reflecting earlier ideas: “Let thy house be a meeting-house for the Sages and sit amid the dust of their feet and drink in their words with thirst … [but] talk not much with womankind” [M. ’Abot 1.4-5]. Theology was for men, and yet we all know the story of Jesus teaching Mary the sister of Martha. Even Martha thought it was inappropriate, But Jesus said, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” [Lk 10.41, NIV].

Throughout the gospels, Jesus takes women seriously as children of God, disciples, and helpers. The Twelve Disciples are famous, but Jesus had other followers too, both men and women. Luke informs us “[Jesus] went … bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources” [8.2-3].

Mary Magdalene, in fact, was to be the first witness to the resurrection. Practically all of Jesus’ male followers failed him at the end, but the women gathered at the cross. Mary Magdalene was there, and she was one who returned Sunday morning to complete the burial arrangements. All four gospels agree that she was the first witness to the resurrection. This would have been surprising to the first gospel readers. The testimony of women was not valid in court, and yet God chose Mary Magdalene to be the first apostle. The word apostle means “one who is sent.” An apostle was someone who saw the risen Jesus personally and was sent to tell others. And a woman was the first.

We see then in Jesus’ attitude toward women a respect and affirmation absent from the world around him. Jesus is our ultimate authority, and we interpret scripture according to what he said and did. Those of you who know the Bible well are probably wondering, “OK, so how can we square Jesus’ affirmation of women with the rest of the New Testament? Doesn’t Paul say women shouldn’t teach and preach?”

Paul is the next stop on our tour, and here we meet with some difficulties. Those who do not ordain women are quick to bring up 1 Corinthians 14.34-35: “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.” That’s seems pretty straightforward. End of discussion, right? If anyone ever points this verse out to you, ask them to turn back just two pages and read 1 Corinthians 11.4-5: “Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head.” For some reason, probably social decorum, Paul wanted women who prayed and prophesied to cover their heads. These were public acts of worship. I have the same question Tom Cruise asked Jack Nicholson in the movie A Few Good Men: “Why two different orders?” Did Paul want the women in Corinth to cover their heads when leading worship? Or to remain silent and subordinate? Or were they mimes, who could prophesy with covered heads and closed mouths? No one who has tried to use chapter 14 to convince me women should not be ordained has answered this question to my satisfaction.

I do not want to give you the idea that the Bible is full of contradictory nonsense. It is not. Remember that Paul wrote his letters to specific congregations with specific needs. Some of what he wrote is directly applicable in every time and place. In other cases, we need to look for the principle behind the specific instruction. An obvious example of this kind of move comes from another part of the New Testament, what 1 Peter says about government. Good Christians are told to “honor the emperor” [2.17]. Well, you and I do not have or want an emperor. In the most direct sense then this instruction does not apply to us. We should, however, take it seriously and understand it in our context. Good Christians are good citizens. I read Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians concerning women this way. I think Paul was addressing a specific issue in Corinth. That church had a number of problems, including chaotic worship. Every member tried to outdo the others in exercising so-called spiritual gifts. They were using worship to glorify themselves, not God. Paul was trying to get them to do things “decently and in order.” I cannot believe Paul meant to prohibit women from ministry and leadership in the church. If this letter were the only evidence to hand, then maybe, but look at the rest of Paul’s life and writings. Acts shows him working in ministry alongside Lydia and Priscilla. He acknowledges Phoebe as a deacon in Rome. If Paul comes across to some as being less egalitarian than Jesus, he nonetheless knows and works with women in ministry. And … at long last … we come to today’s scripture reading, an important text on the subject.

Galatians also was written with a purpose in mind, and we understand what it is saying better when we know something about that purpose. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. He was a missionary especially to non-Jewish people. Some of the Jewish Christians were uncomfortable with his results. They wanted Jesus and the old ways. Paul offered Jesus without all the important markers of Jewish identity: circumcision, food laws, holidays, and the like. He was particularly concerned to build bridges between Jewish and Gentile Christians. Unity was important. Christians were of different races, various social levels, and of course both male and female. But what mattered more than all of that put together was their common love for Jesus Christ. Basically, Paul would say, “There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who are in Christ, and those who need Christ.” Those who are in Christ cannot afford any division.

Paul is not concerned primarily with the role of women in the church in this passage. The main point is about the role of the Old Testament Law in the Christian life. Christianity retained the moral code of the Law, but abandoned the food laws and all the other things that had traditionally given Jews their unique identity in the larger world. Paul is selling exactly this concept to the Christians in Galatia. They had Jesus; they didn’t need anything else. He compares the Law to a guardian, which watched over God’s people until Christ came. Now that Christ has come, God’s people have reached the age of majority. Everyone knows when you reach adulthood, you get exciting new freedom and responsibilities. What are those for God’s people? Paul describes several things: We are children of God through faith. We are clothed in Christ. And, there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female. This does not mean we are not men or women. It means, rather, that this distinction is not a grounds for status or exclusion. To put it simply, it just doesn’t matter. Women and men both find freedom and calling in Christ.

Behind all this, I believe, is Paul’s view of the church. The church is an alternative community. We are different. The church is a preview of heaven, or at least we are supposed to be. I have said before that God doesn’t want to reserve heaven for the future. God wants to give us a taste now. And that happens in the love we find in the caring fellowship of our church. This being the case, women should be equal with men in the church because in heaven that difference doesn’t matter. We are all one in Christ. Race does not matter. Social standing does not matter. Neither education nor good looks matter. Whether you are a man or a woman does not matter. We are all called by God. We are all united by faith. We are all expected to live holy lives. We all have ministry to do.

Thus, although Paul gets both praise and criticism for subordinating women, I am not convinced he is guilty. Some of what he writes is difficult to understand and apply, but the overall picture is similar to what we see in Jesus, an affirmation of women and a willingness to minister alongside them.

A final reason why we in the Presbyterian Church (USA) ordain women to all offices in the church has to do with the Holy Spirit. The prophet Joel promised a day when, God would “pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days” [2.28-29, NIV]. Peter declared this promise fulfilled at Pentecost. More than 100 years ago, in 1859, Phoebe Palmer wrote a defense of ordaining women called “Tongues of Fire on the Daughters of the Lord,” essentially asking: Does the Holy Spirit work in women as in men? And the answer is of course yes. Then what more could we ask?

This goes to the heart of how we understand ordination. All Christians are priests. All Christians are ministers. Some, however, by virtue of their gifts and calling have a special role in the life of the church. These are deacons, whose task is pastor care; elders, whose task is leadership; and Ministers of the Word and Sacrament, who preach and teach and administer the sacraments. We who are ordained are not qualitatively different from those who are not. We are not holier or closer to God by virtue of our ordination. Ordination simply means that we have been dedicated to specific tasks within the church. When someone asks why we ordain women to these positions, we could answer: The Holy Spirit works in them the same as in men. Like men they are priests and ministers by virtue of being Christians. If God gives some women the gifts and calling necessary for these offices, wouldn’t a rule against ordaining women stand in the way of the Spirit’s work?

The fact that we ordain women is one of many reasons I am Presbyterian. I see our practice as being more faithful to the gospel. I could add to our defense the wonderful ministry our ordained women do here at Westminster. We currently have 6 women active as elders on the Session and 4 women active as deacons. And where would we be without them? They are God’s gifts to us.

And this thought leads to my conclusion. When God calls you, you become God’s gift to someone. If you are a wife, you are God’s gift to your husband, just as he is God’s gift to you. If you are a mother, you are God’s gift to your child. If you are a teacher, you are God’s gift to your students. If you are a lawyer, hairdresser, businessperson, clerk, or whatever honest and decent living you make, you are God’s gift to someone. If you are an ordained officer of the church, you are God’s gift to the church. God calls every Christian, man or woman, to some kind of ministry and presents us as God’s gift to the world.

Any church that recognizes the marvelous variety of ways God calls women needs to support and encourage women as they answer those calls. Whatever your calling, I hope this sermon has affirmed you. I hope too that you will wrestle with your calling. Given the full range of opportunity open to you, what does God want you to do?

Thank God for mothers, and thank God for all the faithful women who answer God’s call. Amen. back to sermons