Over the course of the years, 2005 & 2006, Presbyterians will be celebrating three great awakenings: Women were given the right to be ordained as Deacons in 1906; to be elders in 1930; and Ministers of the Word and Sacrament in 1955-56.

Until those watershed years, women walked around the church bent over. Because when you walk around bent over, your limitations are many. You look almost entirely at the floor. If you want to see anything else, you have to look from side to side. But when bent over, there is no looking up to see the stars. The heavens are not yours to behold. You can be told ABOUT such lofty and unimaginable things, but you, yourself, will not behold them.

Yet, there were those women in our church history into whose lives Jesus walked. Walked right up to them and saw that they were bent over. And Jesus, God's own, never did let an injustice go. Seeing the woman of whom I read in Luke bent over, he walked over to her, took hold of her shoulders, and stood her up straight. Now she and Jesus were seeing each other eye to eye. Face to face. There was no greater than/less than dichotomy, no powerful/powerless, healthy/sickly distinctions anymore. She was sister to all other sisters and brothers. Equal.

Oh, I know that the standing up straight in Luke was a cure for something like osteoporosis. But there are so many ways to be bent over, aren't there? Luke isn't THAT explicit about HOW she was bent over.

Here is a timeline of events to show us other ways of being bent over---though this standing up straight by Jesus of women took 65 years! In 1891, there was a proclamation issues by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church which stated, "That the General Assembly pronounce in express and Scriptural terms the conviction of our church that women are not permitted to speak in a public way in any meetings of the church, congregation or devotional, where men are present. It is the settled doctrine of our church that women are excluded from licensure and ordination by the plain teaching of the Scriptures…and also they are prohibited from speaking by way of exhortation, or leading in prayer, or discussing any question publicly in the meetings of the church or congregation as a mixed assembly."

In 1896, the General Assembly ruled the Synod of Indiana out of order for sending a female commissioner (which is one who has voice and voting rights in the assembly for that year).

In 1906, a straightening began to happen when women were allowed to be ordained to the office of Deacon.

In 1912, women were allowed to speak to the General Assembly, but only to address issues regarding the Women's Board of Home Missions.

1926-Katharine Bennett, president of that same Board, presented a paper to the General Council---something like the session for the whole Presbyterian Church. The paper was titled, "Causes of Unrest Among Women of the Church". She was not arguing for ordination of women, but to have women's voices be considered equally with men's.

1930---women were permitted to be ordained as Elders.

In 1955-56-women were permitted to be ordained as Ministers of the Word and Sacrament.

65 years. The church slowly stopped resisting Jesus' healing.

I think all those women, most of whom were mothers, are seeing the delicious fruits of those long, hard , sometimes humiliating struggles. Mothers have passed along the love of Jesus in this healing, so that now girls and boys, young men and women, find this all very archaic, ancient history. And I'm very glad of that. Because equality of men and women isn't even an issue for them. And yet, I'm very glad that all those women who were bent over in silence, bent over with no vote, bent over with no ability to accept God's call to lead and to minister, I'm glad they struggled. Because they saw the wonder of Jesus' healing take place.

And I'm glad I've been a part of that same struggle.

I was bent over without realizing it! If that's all you know, the view of the floor, you don't expect more than that.

I never saw a woman pastor until 1965. When she stood at the table of the Lord's Supper, and pronounced the words of the institution and offered us the body and blood of Christ, it all became so much deeper and full of meaning for me. I stood up just a little more because of her.

When, as a young mother, I knew I was called to this ministry, there were many voices of "yes," but there were also many "no's." Yet, Jesus kept on straightening my shoulders up. As a student in practice of ministry, and many, many times since then, I've heard the words, "You're a minister? I didn't know there were any 'lady' ministers. Can you do that?" Worse yet, was "girl ministers." Some still believe that we should continue walking bent over. Faceless, voiceless, person-less. But once we know this Jesus who refuses to allow this to continue, once we know Jesus' hands on our shoulders, standing us upright, eye to eye, face to face, we cannot go on looking at the floor. We stand to equally TAKE the floor. I'm glad of these struggles because I know the difference between looking at the floor, and looking at the stars!

Have we arrived? The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Campbell, president of our Presbyterian Church's McCormick Seminary in Chicago, said that recently, a member of a Pastor Nominating Committee of a large church near a major university called her, asking if she would suggest potential candidates for them to contact. She gave them three names, all of which were women. After a pause at the other end of the telephone, the person said, "Well, I guess we are ready to consider the idea of calling a woman pastor."

So not only have women been stood upright, we are still being stood upright. No, we have not arrived. I am grateful to Bethany's long legacy of having no bent over women here! This is one of the congregations where the powerful love and justice of Jesus' hands of healing is well known.

Since we celebrate and honor our mothers today, as well as the tremendous gifts for ministry that all women of the church bring to the building up of the body of Christ, there is one more way I knew of Jesus' hands on my shoulders. Probably the most profoundly meaningful way.

My own mother was an active leader in our home church. As long as I could remember, she had Adult Class leaders' guide in her hands; sat the dining room table working on creative posters and presentations for her Presbyterian Women's group about missions, lest any forget that Jesus sends us near and far to show his love in word and deed-feeding, clothing, housing, giving health care, educating; other times she sat in her favorite chair reading theology and Bible studies. She was also asked more than once to become an elder. Yet, she never accepted this request. She clearly had leadership skills, had the heart of a churchwoman, was an ecumenist, was fearless in speaking the truth. To this day, I'm not sure just why she did not accept being an elder. Maybe she just didn't think that was her calling. But maybe, just maybe, she was still bent over by the oppression of some old, leftover social expectation. But, she refused this bent over status for the next generation. Mom put her hands with Jesus' hands on the shoulders of me and my sister, and stood US upright. Thank you, Mom!