1. In _______ the first woman graduated from a seminary.

2. _______ was the first woman elected moderator of the General Assembly of the PCUS.

3. _______ was the first woman of color elected moderator of the General Assembly of the UPCUSA.

4. The first woman ordained as an elder in the PCUSA was _______ (1930).

5. The first woman ordained as an elder of the PCUS was _______.

6. ______ was the first Hispanic woman ordained as clergy by the UPCUSA (1959).

7. The first woman ordained as clergy in the PCUSA was ______ (1956).

8. _______ was the first woman elected moderator of the General Assembly of the UPCUSA (1971).

9. _______ was the first African-American woman ordained as clergy (1974).

10. _______ was the first clergywoman elected moderator of the General Assembly of the PC(USA) (1989).

11. The first Native American woman ordained as clergy was _______ (1987).

12. _______, a Presbyterian laywoman, was the first woman to hold the position of General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (from 1974-1984).

13. The first Asian woman ordained as clergy was _______ in 1944 outside the USA; later transferred.

14. _______ was the first woman ordained as clergy in the PCUS (1965).

Answer Key: 1. 1850; 2. Sara Bernice Moseley; 3. Thelma Adair; 4. Sarah E. Dickson; 5. Clara D. Williams; 6. Miriam Ophelia Ortega; 7. Margaret Towner; 8. Lois Stair; 9. Katie Cannon; 10. Joan Salmon-Campbell; 11. Holly Haile Smith; 12. Claire Randal; 13. Elizabeth Kwon; 14. Rachel Henderlite

About half of all religious denominations in the USA ordain women and give them the same opportunities as male ministers, says sociologist Mark Chaves. But the formal rules and actual practice are often quite different, says Chaves, author of Ordaining Women: Culture and Conflict in Religious Organization.

The USA's 10 largest denominations, the memberships they reported to the Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, and their policies on women (as of Jan. 1999):

Roman Catholic Church: 60.3 million. In 1995, the Vatican declared the ban on ordaining women to be "infallible."

Southern Baptist Convention: 15.7 million. A 1984 resolution declares "the Scriptures teach that women are not in public worship to assume a role of authority over men." However, each church is autonomous. Some churches with female pastors have been kicked out of local associations.

United Methodist Church: 8.5 million. Women received full rights as ordained elders in 1956.

National Baptist Convention: USA, Inc. 8.2 million. There are no rules against ordaining women; however it has not been the custom. A few pastors have ordained women.

Church of God in Christ: 5.5 million. The Pentecostal denomination officially does not ordain women. Several bishops have ordained women without being disciplined.

Evangelical Lutheran Church of America: 5.2 million. The two major groups which later merged to form the ELCA both began ordaining women, with full equality with men, in 1970.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: 4.7 million. Only men may be ordained to the priesthood.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): 3.7 million. The northern and southern groups that merged to form the national denomination gave female clergy full equality in 1956 and 1964 respectively.

National Baptist Convention of America: 3.5 million. There are no rules against ordaining women, however it has not been the custom. A few pastors have ordained women.

African Methodist Episcopal Church: 3.5 million. Women were allowed to become fully ordained clergy in 1960.

And in other faiths...

Judaism: The Reform and Conservative branches ordain female rabbis. The Orthodox branch does not.

Islam: Women may not lead men in prayers.

"How good it is when women of faith are bonded together in unity, when sisters reach out to sisters, when women of the present learn from women of the past.

All women in the church, our sisters, how good it is to claim you: For you are our tradition of prophets, disciples, ministers, the first of a cloud of witnesses to the work of the Holy Spirit through women of Christianity. We thank you for your faithfulness. You are role models for us all."

"Dear God, creator of women in your own image, born of a woman in he midst of a world half women, carried by women to mission fields around the globe, made known by women to all the children of the earth, give to the women of our time the strength to persevere, the courage to speak out, the faith to believe in You beyond, all systems and institutions so that Your face on earth may be seen in all its beauty, so that men and women become whole, so that the church may be converted to your will in everything and in all ways.

We call on the holy women who went before us, channels of Your Word in testaments old and new, to intercede for us so that we might be given the grace to become what they have been for the honor and glory of God.

Saint Esther, who pleaded against power for he liberation of the people,
Saint Judith, who routed the plans of men and saved the community,
Saint Deborah, laywomen and judge, who led the people of God,
Saint Elizabeth of Judea, who recognized the value of another woman,
Saint Mary Magdalene, minister of Jesus, first evangelist of the Christ,
Saint Scholastica, who taught her brother Benedict to honor the spirit above the system,
Saint Hildegarde, who suffered interdict for the doing of right,
Saint Joan of Arc, who put no law above the law of God,
Saint Clare of Assisi, who confronted the people with the image of woman as equal,
Saint Julian of Norwich, who proclaimed for all of us the motherhood of God,
Saint Therese of Lisieux, who knew the call to priesthood herself,
Saint Catherine of Siena, to whom the pope listened
Saint Teresa of Avila, who brought women's gifts to the reform of the church,
Saint Edith Stein, who brought fearlessness to faith,
Saint Elizabeth Seton, who broke down boundaries between lay women and religious by wedding motherhood and religious life,
Saint Dorothy Day, who led the Church to a new sense of justice,
Mary, Mother of Jesus, who heard the call of God and answered, who drew strength from the woman Elizabeth, who underwent hardship bearing Christ, who ministered at Cana, inspirited at Pentecost, who turned the Spirit of God into the body and blood of Christ, pray for us, Amen."

God made
Adam bit
Noah arked
Abraham split
Joseph ruled
Jacob fooled
Bush talked
Moses balked
Pharaoh plagued
People walked
Sea divided
Tablets guided
Promise landed
Saul freaked
Dvid peeked
Prophets warn
Jesus born
God walked
Love talked
Anger crucified
Hope died
Love rose
Spirit flamed
Word spread
God remained.

1853: First women ordained, Congregational Church, Antoinette Brown (Blackwell)

1863: First women ordained, Universalist Church

1871: First women ordained, Unitarian Church

1889: First women ordained, Cumberland PC, Louisa M. Woosely.

1912: From the General Assembly of the PCUSA: "We deem in inexpedient to have a presbytery receive under its care women as candidates for the ordained ministry."

1915: PCUS amended form of government allowed election of women as deaconesses but not as ordained clergy.

1818: First women licensed to preach, PCUSA, Lillian Herrick Chapman.

1920: Responding to overtures, General Assembly of the PCUSA asked presbyters to vote on the ordination of women as elders and as deacons. In August, the 19th Amendment was passed, giving women the right to vote.

1921: PCUSA overture to ordain women failed narrowly in Presbyteries; General Assembly sent new overtures to Presbyteries for ordination of women as deacons.

1922: PCUSA presbyteries approved ordination of women as deacons.

1929: PCUSA again submitted alternative overtures a) as ministers and elders, b) as elders only, c) as licensed evangelists.

1930: In the PCUSA, ordination of women as both ministers and elders defeated by presbyteries; ordination as elders approved (158-118-7); licensing failed by three votes (of presbyteries). Also, Sarah E. Dickson became the first women elder ordained, PCUSA.

1946: On the recommendation of General Council, PCUSA, General Assembly sent an overture stating, "the office of minister may be neither men or women."

1947: Presbyteries defeat the overture 100-128-8.

1948: First woman minister ordained, African Methodist Episcopal Church.

1955: PCUSA acting on an overture from Presbytery of Rochester, again asked presbyteries to vote on ordaining women as ministers.

1956: PCUS presbytery vote was 205-35 to add to form of government - office of minister "both men and women may be called to this office." First woman minister ordained, PCUSA, Margaret Towner. PCUSA committee recommended, and G.A. sen to presbyteries a proposal that women be ordained as elders and deacons (G.A. vote 234-226). First woman minster ordained, Methodist Episcopal Church.

1957: PCUS presbyteries defeated proposal 39-44.

1958: The PCUS position became policy of the merged UPCUSA.

1963: PCUS Assembly, on urging of two special committees, recommended Book of Church Order changes to make women eligible for all church offices.

1964: PCUS presbyteries approved the ordination of women as deacons, elders, and ministers.

1965: First women minister ordained, PCUS, Rachel Henderlite.

1970: First women minster ordained, Lutheran Church in America and American Lutheran Church.

1971: First woman elected moderator, UPCUSA, Luois Harkrider Stair.

1974: First African American woman ordained, UPCUSA, Katie G. Cannon.

1978: First woman elected moderator, PCUS, Sara B. Moseley.

1979: First Hispanic woman ordained, PCUS, Rebecca Reyes. PCUS took position that ordination as ministers was to be denied anyone who refused to ordain women; also adopted to change in the form of government mandating that women be represented on church sessions and boards of deacons.

1983: The UPCUSA position became policy of the reunited PC(USA).

1987: First American Indian woman ordained, PC(USA), Holly Haile Smith.

1989: First woman bishop with the Anglican communion appointed, Barbara Harris.

1992: First Lutheran woman bishop appointed, Maria Jepsen. First woman bishop of Evangelical Lutheran Church in American appointed, April Ulring Larson.

1993: First woman to be consecrated diocesan bishop in he Episcopal Church, Mary Adelia MacLeod.

The God of blessing claims us, bringing health to our bodies and sweetness to our souls.

May we bring joy to the One who calls us by name and leads us in the dance.

May we boldly speak our stories and sing our resurrection psalms.

We celebrate the gifts of the women
with whom you have grace our lives,
the ones who love and mentor us,
who bear with strength and tenderness,
who take us home with their smiles,
who enlarge he circles of our dreams,
Quintessential seamstress of the fabric of our faith, we give you thanks!

Today... what we see, hear feel, experience...

...is being alone in a crowd, without community

...is being fed up, confused, numb, harried, all at once.

...is consuming religious goods. Spiritual tourists procuring forgiveness and hope from the merchants of salvation is to be excluded. To live on the periphery of humanity is to experience the violence born of exclusion. And if you are a woman, if you are black, if you are indigenous, your exclusion is multiplied.

Today we declare the end of this millennium is not the end of history.

We declare: to be is not to have.

We declare: from solitude we can build solidarity.

We declare: to have the right to dream. No one, nothing, can take this from us.

I. Thou shalt throw thy trash out.

II. Thou shalt discard all that did not sell at your "Tag Sale."

III. Thou shalt deliver unto us only clean, ironed clothing.

IV. Thou shalt use clothes hangers for items wherever possible.

V. Thou shalt give only appliances that work properly and are not broken.

VI. Thou shalt wash linens, pots, pans, kitchen items, and children's boys before donating.

VII. Thou shalt donate only wearable jewelry -- paired earrings (we do not sell to Van Gogh!)

VIII. Thou shalt give only complete items (52 cards in a deck, all pieces of a jigsaw puzzle)

IX. Thou shalt donate only new shoes and boots.

X. Thou shalt follow the last line of a famous poem written by Edith Borneman: "When in doubt, throw it out!"

PS. Thou shalt bring nothing to the shop which shall cause the workers to take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain!

In a spirit of rust and love, we promise each other that we will:

1. Treat each other respectfully, so as to build trust, believing that we all desire to be faithful to Jesus the Christ; we will keep our conversations and communications open for candid and forthright exchange, we will not ask questions or make statements in a way which will intimidate or judge others.

2. Share our concerns directly with individuals or groups with whom we have disagreements in a spirit of love and respect in keeping with Jesus' teaching.

3. Critique ideas and suggestions instead of people's motives, intelligence or integrity.

4. Learn about various positions on the topic or disagreement.

5. State what we think we heard and ask for clarification before responding, in an effort to be sure we understand each other.

6. Indicate where we agree with those of other viewpoints as well as where we disagree.

7. Share our personal experiences about the subject of disagreement so that others may more fully understand our concerns.

8. Seek to stay in community with each other though the discussion may be vigorous and full of tension; we will be ready to give and be forgiven.

9. Follow this additional guidelines: urge persons of various points of view to speak and promise to listen to these positions seriously; seek conclusions informed by our points of agreement; be sensitive to the feelings and concerns of those who do not agree with the majority and respect their rights of conscience; abide by the decision of the majority, and if we disagree with it and wish to change it, work for that change in which are consistent with these guidelines.

10. Include our disagreements on our prayers, not praying for the triumph of our viewpoints, but seeking God's grace to listen attentively, to speak clearly, and to remain open to the vision God holds for us all.

Leader: Sisters, go forth to all corners of the earth to bless and to heal, to celebrate and to be a new hope,

ALL: Rooted in God who is ancient and new, comes in great-grandmothers and sisters, is present in all things.

Leader: Go forth to those who are wise and to those in need of wisdom.

ALL: May God of the Power and Patience, of our foremothers, go before us, to show us the Way towards new creation.

Leader: Go forth to women and to men, to the young and to the old, to those who will welcome you and those who will reject you.

ALL: May all the good seen and unseen spirits of Creation join us---as we struggle and laugh, dance and stumble towards the new heaven and the new earth.

Leader: Go forth in the name of the Creator God, who was there in the beginning--the ancient world, who renews our hope each day of our lives.

ALL: Go forth and bless the world!

Creator God, you made the earth,
A gift beyond comparing.
You called it good, you gave it worth,
You placed it in your caring.

You gave your gift of Sabbath rest,
Your pattern for creation.
You give us times to heal, to bless,
To join in celebration.

You give us Christ, who reconciled
The things of earth and heaven.
In Him, you call each one your child!
What wondrous love you've given!

Because we've turned away from you,
Your world still needs your healing.
Creation longs to be made new
Through Christ, your love revealing.

God, by Your Spirit, may we be
Communities of caring,
That as we're healed, Your world may see
The hope that we are sharing.

God borrows from many creatures to make a Presbyterian Woman. God takes the voice of a meadowlark, the stubbornness of a mule, the curiosity of a cat, the spryness of a grasshopper, and the strength of a pack horse to create a Presbyterian Woman.

A Presbyterian Woman can be found anywhere. She can be found n the church choir. She might be found in the church kitchen. She's often found in the church office and on Sundays, we will be found in the Sunday School program. She is also found in board rooms, behind a cash register, or at a school PTO function. She quilts, bakes, knits, and volunteers at the hospital. She even bowls!

A Presbyterian Woman is comfort with a casserole in her hand. She is service cleaning up after a luncheon. She is compassion with a pledge card in her purse. She is friendship with a cheerful smile on her face and she is hungry for knowledge armed with a Bible and a study book.

Church sessions include Presbyterian Women, Church Secretaries slave for them. Husbands despair for them and heaven protects them.

A Presbyterian Woman is a dreamer and a worker, dreaming great dreams for her children, her church and her country and she's working to make those dreams come true. She's a link with the past, a powerful force in the present and an investment in the future.

God is like a loving grandmother... shelling peas, apron-covered knees spread wide to catch each pea, each pod.

I, shaky, wandered near. Her ancient swollen hands pushed back the hair that hid my face. She set down the pan and patting her knee, said, "Oh child, come on up here and let me have a look at you."

Her face was safe and so was I sitting, accepted, in the lap of God.

Hear the Good News! Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. he old life has gone; a new life has begun.

Know that you are forgiven and be at peace. Amen.

1. We women of Color,
Together and separately
With our white sisters have formed a body
Shaped by the large bones of our intelligence.
Some of us are junkies
Some of us are drunks,
Some of us are prostitutes,
Walk miles to farm the light.
Dreams pouring from our souls,
News that never makes the front page in any town.
We speak loud and fast
On Saturday mornings
We speak of terror and rape and violence
Laughing and crying in the same breath.
So good to be able to speak the truth
And not be shouted down or battered
For speaking on what pains us
For speaking, not mumbling,
or whispering, or implying,
But speaking, with the full force of our voices
Korean tongues, black and white,
North and south, liberal and conservative,
Tongues drawing from eh well of our lives,
The leavings, the choices, the crossroads,
Between hell and hope.
Tongues cutting circles in the concrete
Diving into the opening.

2. When we really get going,
flowers sprout out from our heads
And fruit hands from our lips
We bring our mistakes, our wrongs
Our everyday knowledge
To a table decorated in the spiritual
blessings of mountain women,
Moving in the sun, homeless women,
Sleeping on the street,
Rituals woven at midnight
From the warm sound of love
The deep brown earth, the sons sung
In the midst of gunfire and killing.
The songs sung by women kneading bread
With very little flour. The songs sung
During riots and wars, the songs that would
rather be poems, the songs we sing to lovers.
We are birthing liberation,
Sheltering the voices of Freedom.

3. This is not like any Church I've ever been to
Nobody here worries about whether
You're wearing socks or stockings.
We are so proud of our Radcliff sisters
And our black oral historians.
Nurses, artists, secretaries, educators, poor women.
We believe in each other and praying in our
individual tongues, we redeem one another.

4. Some call us angels on the front line.
Hot blooded razor-wired prisoners.
Naming such afflictions as the forced
removal of our children. The force-fed
fear of women loving women.
Seasoned by sadness, transformed by discovery,
We map a new universe.

5. Freed women is what we call ourselves.
Freed women, freed by our questions.
Freed women, creating miracles of our stupidity.
Freed women, freed by our senses.
Freed women, who bear the marks of crucifixion.

6. Freed women, shifting history and moving on.
Calluses on the bottom of our souls
We have bitched and moaned our way
Through the back doors and opened new doors.
We glory in resistance, defying the cancer
of anti-semitism. Crisp Sunday morning sisters
resisting the logical of racism.
Freed women, tongues like axes,
Chopping lies, splitting wood.

7. Maids and Madams are all in the same room
Our words, a tender jumble, glorious and ruby red.
Ebony naked, geography busting
Blackness, Japanese love and Jewish remembrances
Of the holocaustic chaos
Eyes, hands, mouths, and tongues
Busting the violent silence.
Filling the room with cherished dreams and burnt offerings.

8. Our rituals are magnificent
Drawing strength from the bottom of the well
We hold hands against the sting of terror
Fractured, fragile and loving life,
We mend severed connections
Conjuring up blessings.

9. We who have been children of the KKK
And Civil Rights Activists
We who have witnessed
Bombed churches and murdered children.
We are the warriors resurrecting love
Through the combined strength of our imaginations.

10. In this sacred space we work
With the symbols of belonging
Crows, hawks, seagulls, sea stars,
Candles, rocks, flowers,
Silence, singing, drumming, wailing, screaming,
Holding our hands up to the forces of life
We enter the healing plunge into the vision
Love inspired, risk-takers, truth-seekers
The fro, the afro, the halo women
Straight from Alabama,
Magna Cum Laude from Brandeis
Black and White women moving with each other
Through our divine and dramatic journeys
Traveling through a snow storm
To find the clearing.
Some of us in wheelchairs,
Some of us pushing walkers,
Some of us hopping on crutches,
All of us rising through the Spirit
Moving to the music.
All of us warriors.

Clergywomen are usually willing to take on the toughest churches; those with the least resources and part-time positions.

Clergywomen are aware of the power and authority overlooking us and our racial ethnic sisters and brothers.

We are aware we are not at the table, not invited, very often.

At the same time we are more attentive to balancing our lives, and taking care of ourselves.

Clergywomen are seen as spiritual leaders, as are women in general. We are models for women's spirituality.

We don't want to undercut men, we need to reframe our relationship to them. We feel "in" but know we are still "out".

We are women who don't want to be seen as too radically feminist; are we in NAPC too far left? What is our agenda?

NAPC members are concerned with health and financial health benefits.

We have issues of childcare.

We want support groups.

There are not many racial ethnic clergywomen involved in NAPC; are the white women abusing their power? Are we are of our power in relation to our sisters and brothers who are not anglo?

It is harder for racial ethnic clergy to be part of issues and discussions - they are boxed into certain kinds of ministries, minimal resources, poor in other things, then no time to deal with "more sophisticated" issues, language, cultural traditions.

Various racial ethnic groups have their own national coalition/affiliation groups: Hispanic/Latin Presbyterian Women, Asian, African American.

We might consider changing our language from racial ethnic "representative" to "bridge".

Other issues clergywomen face: maternity leave, childcare, adoption.

How do we watch policy changes and advocate for women?

Will the development of Lay Pastor affect positions for women? How about the ordination of educators?

Clergywomen have issues around competition and backbiting among themselves.

We are mentors.

There are still issues of the "north" versus the "south" in our denomination.

Where are we in the world? Where might our country be by 2005? By that time, where will each of us be?

NAPC members are concerned with the world; the Un, Washington DC, and New York staff.

How has pastoral care changed since 9/11?

How are our sisters doing in other countries?

Specialized minister advocacies are needed for women.

On the edge of war, one foot already in,
I no longer pray for peace:
I pray for miracles

I pray that stone hearts will turn
To tenderheartedness,
And evil intentions will turn
To mercifulness
And all the soldiers already deployed
Will be snatched out of harm's way
And the whole world will be astounded to its knees.

I pray that all the "God talk"
Will take bones, and stand up and shed
Its cloak of faithlessness,
And walk again in its powerful truth.
I pray that the whole world might
Sit down together and share
Its bread and its wine.

Some say there is no hope,
But then I've always applauded
The holy fools who never seem
To give up on the scandalousness of our faith:
That we are loved by God...
That we can truly love one another.

I no longer pray for peace:
I pray for miracles.

Dance and sing, all the earth,
Gracious is the hand that tends you;
Love and care everywhere;
God on purpose sends you.

Shooting star and sunset
Shape the drama of creation.
Lightning flash and moonbeam
Share a common derivation.
Deserts stretch and torrents roar
In contrast and confusion,
Tree tops shake and mountains soar
And nothing in illusion.
All that lies and swims and crawls
Displays animation,
None can emulate or change,
For each has its own station.
Brother man and sister woman,
Born of dust and passion,
Praise the one who calls us friends
And makes us in like fashion.
Kiss of life and touch of death
Suggest our imperfection;
Crib and womb and cross and tomb
Cry out for resurrection.

Lord, thank You for loyal, loving friends
Who are there in winer or springtime fair.
New acquaintances are easy to come by,
But true friendship is extremely rare.

A friend always sees the best in you,
Although they've known you at your worst.
They laugh with you in the good times,
When storms threaten, they'll be there first.

They'll offer a shoulder to rest your head
When tears are welling in your eyes,
Take a walk down friendship's path with you
And help chase away those stormy skies.

Lord, thank You for all the gifts you give,
Each one makes our life seem more worthwhile.
But one of the finest gifts you've given us
Is the warmth of friendship's loving smile.

Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit,
Go back into my memory as I sleep.

Every hurt that has ever been done to me,
Heal that hurt.
Every hurt that I have ever caused
To another person - heal that hurt.

All of the relationships that have
Been damaged in my whole life that
I am not aware of -- heal those relationships.

But Lord, if there is anything that I need to do,
If I need to go to a person because
He is still suffering from my hand,
Bring to my awareness that person.

I choose to forgive and I ask to be forgiven.

Remove whatever bitterness that may be
In my heart, Lord, and fill the empty
Spaces with your love. Thank you Jesus. Amen.

Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she is a woman.

A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories.

Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.

Imagine a woman who trusts and respects herself.

A woman who listens to her needs and desires.

Who meets them with tenderness and grace.

Imagine a woman who has acknowledged the past's influence on the present.

Imagine a woman who authors her own life.

A woman who exerts, initiates, and moves on her own behalf.

Who refuses to surrender except to her truest self and wisest voice.

Imagine a woman who names her own gods.

A woman who imagines the divine in her image and likeness. Who designs a personal spirituality to inform her daily life.

Imagine a woman in love with her own body. A woman who believes her body is enough, just as it is. Who celebrates her body's rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.

Imagine a woman who honors the body of the goddess in her changing body.

A woman who celebrates the accumulation of her years and her wisdom. Who refuses to use her precious life energy disguising the changes in her body and life.

Imagine a woman who values the women in her life. A woman who sits in circles of women. Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.

Imagine yourself as this woman.

May you desire to be healed. May what is wounded in your life be restored to good health.

May you be receptive to the ways in which healing needs to happen.

May you take good care of yourself. May you extend compassion to all that hurts within your body, mind, and spirit.

May you be patient with the time it takes to heal.

May you be aware of the wonders of your body, ind, and spirit and their amazing capacity to heal.

May the skills of all those who are caring for you be used to the best of their ability in returning you to good health.

May you rest peacefully under the sheltering winds of divine love, trusting in this gracious presence. May you find little moments of beauty and joy to sustain you.

May you keep hope in your heart.

On a red clay dusty road track tires thump. Rusty trailers keep watch.

Ragtag porches hang on tooth and nail. In a red clay dusty yard dirt becomes playground. Grass believed as wilderness.

Brown-skinned children giggle in their child-world. Above their heads, a line of prayer flags fly in the wind. Colors bright and faded wave for God's attention, or is it ours?

Prayers for justice, for food for hungry children, for rest for the weary ones, for clothes for the naked, for a home that won't blow away.

Above the children a line of prayer flags in the wind; edges frayed from unceasing prayer.

It is laundry day. Tiny shorts, shirts and pajamas fly, wave, flop, and pray in the wind.

Prayer flags cry out for justice for all God's children.

We, who are homeless or suffering from multiple difficulties, believe in God who created and blessed women equally in God's own images.

We affirm God as a loving and forgiving god, not a condemning God. Therefore, we refuse to be treated as inferior and less worthy human beings. We loudly affirm that we deserve to dream a vision, a hope, and future.

We re-image Jesus Christ as a forgiving and healing mother, father, sister, brother, friend and Savior who, himself, was homeless, abused and killed on a cross.

We affirm Jesus' resurrection as a mirror of our own healing from our poverty, homelessness, brokenness, bondage, and destructive thoughts and actions.

We affirm the Holy Spirit as our source of strength and inspiration who empowers us to get up after every fall. the Spirit constantly leads us back home to God.

We affirm our gathering as a worshipping community that must practice love, joy, peace, forgiveness, security, and support for one another. Amen.

5 Years
Jean Martin
Sook Hee Bae
Yvonne Collie-Pendleton

10 Years
Carey M. Vanderkar
Martha M. Ebel

15 Years
Georgia Ann Snell
Ina Hamilton Houck
Laurie McNeill
Barbara Swartzel
Lillian McCulloch Taylor
Barbara G. Whillock

20 Years
Sally J. Dixon
Jacqueline Brovold
Annie McClure

25 Years
Daisy Jones Holt
Margaret G. Richardson-Zedan

30 Years
Janie Adams Spahr
Cinda Warner Gorman
Faye Fedlam
Lynda S. Clements

"We celebrate all women, ordained and installed, Who serve our Lord and Savior, and love us, one and all. 'Twas women first who entered, ad saw the empty grave. Now worshipping as leaders, we walk this path they've paved.

They longed for more than missions,
To satisfy their need,
To serve the Christ completely,
Bt told not to proceed.
Undaunted by rejection,
They boldly marched on,
With light from Christ to guide them,
Gave strength to carry on.

From pulpits, kitchens, missions,
When women serve our Lord,
They preach and live the Gospel,
Agape love outpoured.
Let's celebrate the victory.
This precedent has set,
As deacons, elders, pastors,
These challenges they've met.

"As refugees, we are victims of violence and war.

We left our motherland because we were being mistreated in many ways.

We ran to get protection in other countries, but as a refugee, you are always simple in front of anybody.

You are subject to prejudice and mistake always.

You can pass through any disaster and nobody will care about you.

Oh! What is lovely like our homeland? IN your own country, you are free, free like a butterfly when it flies from flower to flower, free like a fish moving in the water.

Homeland is second heaven."