Gender Inclusivity- St Thomas. Luke 1:39-56, Amos 6: 1a, 4-7 and 1 Timothy 6:6-19
It’s lovely to join you here at St Thomas, for those of you that don’t know me, my name is Judi Hammill and I am the Vicar of St James, Tunbridge Wells. I am also the Bishop’s Advisor for women in ordained ministry, which is the reason Simon invited me to come and preach on gender inclusivity as part of your journey towards becoming an inclusive church. Of course you don’t need me to tell you that women are just as capable as men at leading a church community, at preaching and at presiding at communion; because you live that experience Sunday by Sunday with your amazing Vicar Rachel. However as you reflect and pray about what being an inclusive church will look like for you, it is good to be able to focus on some of the different people that in the past have felt excluded from the church, and focus on their voices and stories, as you seek to work towards including everyone.
I would like to begin this sermon by setting the story of gender inclusivity in the context of God’s great story for humanity, set within the pages of the bible and quote three short passages that for me summarise something of God’s vision and plan in this regard. Firstly, from Genesis 1: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them: male and female he created them…God saw all that he had made and it was very good.” Whatever gender we are, we are made in God’s image and equally valued and loved by him.
Secondly, from Paul’s letter to the Galatians chapter three: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” In the church all are part of the church and all are one in Christ whatever our gender.
Thirdly, right at the end of the bible in Revelation 7, we are told of that great multitude from every tribe, nation and language standing together before the throne of Jesus crying in loud voices: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the lamb.” The end of our story as Christians, whatever our gender, is to worship him in freedom and joy for ever, accompanied by people from all times, places and genders.
So the great story of God’s love for us, does not distinguish between genders, or anything else. He loves everyone and longs for each of us to choose to receive that love and live in fulness of life with him. It doesn’t matter what our gender is God loves us so much that he died for us. The church that enacts that love and is a foretaste of what the kingdom of heaven will look like, should extend that joyful, inclusive welcome to everyone. But sadly, that has not always been the case. As an ordained woman in the church of England, I know there are some churches even in Tunbridge Wells where I would not be welcome, places I will never be asked to preach, people who would not be willing to receive communion from me simply because of my gender. That joyful, inclusive welcome which enables me to serve God’s church in the way he has called me, all to is denied, and all the women in those churches are blinded to the possibility God’s calling to priestly ministry.
Of course the church exists in the historical context and society of the time and place it resides and so has looked very different across the last 2,000 years of its existence. Many of those societies, including our own, have been very hierarchical, with some people being perceived as more valuable or important than others. So it’s helpful to note that in the kingdom of God there is no hierarchy, it is simply Jesus on the throne and everyone else bowing down before him. We are all equal before God, whatever our gender and we all owe him our love, adoration and service.
However it is easy to fall into the hierarchical patterns and behaviours of the society in which we live. Of believing that some jobs and occupations are more important than others and should only be done by particular types of people, maybe those who have had the right education, have grown up in the right neighbourhood, or are unsuitable for a particular gender. And so it has been with women in the Church of England for many generations.
In preparation for this sermon, I reread this wonderful book by Victoria Johnson. Until recently she was the Precentor of York Cathedral, the first woman precentor in nearly 1,000 years. A job, that until recently, was thought of as a job only a man could do, because a cathedral precentor needed to be both tuneful and command respect and carry authority, and surely a woman’s voice was too high pitched to do that! Society’s norms and prejudices have often become part of the church’s behaviour and regulations, detracting from the reality of what God’s kingdom should look like. A place where all voices join together in beautiful harmonies to worship God and all are treated as his beloved creatures, each called to serve him in a particular way.
I love that idea of many different voices in their particularity and beauty praising God together in harmony. Every time we share the eucharist together we say the Sanctus or the prayer that starts: “holy, holy, holy God.” At St James, each week, our different voices and different accents, old and young, male and female, join together in unity to say those words of worship to God. And it is a lovely sound, but for me a sung sanctus, full of different voices singing different notes, but all in beautiful harmony and lovely balance, is even more wonderful. And it is the difference in the sound that the voices are making that makes it so great. And so it is with the church. In limiting ourselves to only her certain voices speaking in certain ways, we limit the beauty and delight we can enjoy as we worship God together. Including and welcoming everyone, making time and space to hear all the voices in our midst, will allow us to be a church of much richer and more beautiful harmonies. A church where everyone’s song is valued and included. A church which truly reflects the harmonies and sounds of the kingdom of God.
But a beautiful, inclusive song like this takes time and effort to achieve. Saying the sanctus together is quite straightforward, we don’t need to practice it, people just read or say it from memory. However if we were to sing it in harmony, it would require us to practice, to learn how the different notes of the harmonies work together, to listen to each other generously and carefully, and to make sure that our voice blended in with the other voices. And so working towards a truly inclusive time takes time and practice, it takes generosity and careful listening, especially of those voices that are often ignored or dismissed.
And so for the last part of this sermon I am going to look in a bit more detail at our gospel passage. That wonderful description of what happens when two women, pregnant with special babies meet each other. And the beautiful song which we call the Magnificat that Mary sings as a consequence of that meeting.
Two women, who would have been regarded by their society as unimportant and sinful. Elizabeth, the daughter of a priest and the wife of a priest, would usually have had a high standing in society. And yet until recently she is childless and because of that would be regarded with suspicion and pity. People would have gossiped about her childless state, wondering what sin she might have committed to cause God to punish her in this way.
And yet now she is pregnant with a son who the angel has told her husband: “will be filled with the Holy Spirit and bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.” This is such an amazing miracle that her husband has been unable to believe it and so God has silenced his voice until the baby is born. Instead, it is Elizabeth who speaks God’s words of blessing when she sees Mary and the baby in her womb leaps with joy. “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear… Blessed is she who believed that the Lord would fulfil his promises to her.” Elizabeth’s voice, the voice of a woman is the voice that we hear speaking God’s blessing. Hers is the unexpected voice that speaks in the 400 years of silent waiting after the return from the exile. Hers is the unexpected voice that brings the hope that God fulfils his promises.
And then Mary, the young, unmarried, pregnant girl raises her voice and sings that wonderful song. A song that rejoices that God has chosen her, to carry Jesus, a song that recognises both the surprise and the wonder of being selected by God for this awesome task. A prophetic song that calls her “blessed.” A song that has been sung for thousands of years. A song that in the Church of England is said or sung every evening by all those who pray evening prayer.
But this isn’t just a song of praise and thanksgiving, it is a call to arms; it is the beginning of the project of liberation that Jesus’ life will set in motion. It is the inauguration of the new kingdom of God which he will proclaim. Mary’s song is both a rallying cry and a promise that a new world order is coming. The promise of a kingdom where the humble are lifted up, the hungry filled with good things and the promise of God’s help has arrived.
An unmarried, teenage girl speaks in response to her calling, to bear the word of God to the world. And so this song also cations the church against assuming it knows how Christ will speak in the world today and whose voice God will choose to speak through. Emmanuel, our God with us, will often choose to speak through the humble, the lowly, the poor, the forgotten and the excluded, and as the church we must have ears to hear him, and create spaces in which to hear those voices. Public spaces where those voices can be heard. Public spaces where the diverse harmonies of God’s kingdom can learn to blend together and his love and beauty and life can be proclaimed and enacted into our confused, fragmented and dark world. This is the calling and work of the church to allow everyone to hear the beautiful harmonies of God’s inclusive and welcoming loving kindness.
Bring us, o Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of Heaven, to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears or hopes, but one equal possession; no ends or beginnings, but one equal eternity, in the habitations of thy glory and dominion, world without end. John Donne (1572 - 1631)