Women on the Edge

As we hoped, prayed and planned, last Sunday's service at the Methodist church was utterly memorable for all the right reasons: full house (overflowing!), great singing, excellent sermon (Judge Mark Hedley from Liverpool), moving eucharistic fellowship. In the end, 3 denominations sharing communion together seemed utterly natural. What took us so long?!  People are still talking about it, and those who gave it a miss wish they'd been there. Joy!

And joy is around this week as we consider the theme of 'women on the edge' - in particular, Elizabeth and Mary.  Both of them are miraculously pregnant: Elizabeth in her old age, never having had children before; and Mary, young and a virgin. Both are filled with the Holy Spirit: Mary literally, as she conceives Jesus the Messiah; and both of them as they burst into songs of joy. (Though for some reason, Elizabeth's song has never been acknowledged as such by commentators.)  Our author comments that It is through what proud men call 'the weaker sex' that God's true power enters and changes the world!

It is true, isn't it, that women make things happen at the social and family level.  When a couple come to talk about the wedding, it is always the bride who is doing most of the arranging; and at a party, how many women are up on the dance floor compared with men? And for longer too, usually!  So we should not be surprised that our churches have more female than male members, though we long for more men to respond to Christ's call, as the first disciples did. Women's intuition, their emotional responses, their desire for social networking inevitably make them better at 'doing church' then men, very often - not that one can manage without the other. I guess this is just a plea for men to be more honouring of women - especially Christian women - than has sometimes been the case historically.

But there is more to this story, which has nothing to do with gender. To quote our author again, Let us dare to believe the impossible by surrendering ourselves to God, courageously cooperating with God's creative, pregnant power...If we do then we, like Mary, will become pregnant with holy aliveness.  What makes the incarnation possible is Mary's Let it be to me according to your will. What makes the growth of the Kingdom of God possible today, as always, is the exact same response to God of every man, woman and child.

I have made another video, which will appear on our website tomorrow. I am encouraging every church member to invite a non-churchgoing friend, neighbour or relative to come to church with them at Christmas. After all, it's the time of year when people are most likely to go to church - and most likely to accept an invitation to do so. As a well-known atheist said on the radio recently, the Christmas story is the most beautiful story ever told.