Leftover pizza for breakfast is not a bad thing... I scavenged a whole cheese pizza from the SMU event a couple of nights ago, and have been eating it ever since, kind of like a squirrel with a nut. Alas, I'm going to have to leave it here when I leave Dallas today, as I have no refrigeration in my car. The sacrifices of a road warrior....

I went to the Sixth Floor Museum at Denley Plaza yesterday, where Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shots that killed JFK (unless you believe it was a conspiracy, a topic covered in a section of the museum). Very well done, exemplary historical presentation. Especially moving were the particular exhibits about the events themselves and the pandemonium and grief that ensued. I also took in the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, which was a great American art museum featuring works by Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, and Georgia O'Keefe, among others. Best of all, though? Three words-- no admission charge. 'Nuf said.

Lest you think I did no work at all, I also visited Texas Christian University's campus group to lead a discussion about women and faith. This group was run through the Disciples of Christ Church, which is a Reformed denomination that established TCU. So they're our cousins in the big Reformed family, but are congregationalists and have allowed women to be ordained for years. As a result, when I asked them about how women's issues and faith came together, they told me that for them, it really was a non-issue. This is a sentiment that I hear regularly from people who've grown up in mainline denominations (maybe a signal that I should stop asking them the question-- I didn't grow up Presbyterian, so it was an issue in my faith journey). So I asked them, "So if we've 'made it,' what is a woman's issue in the church?" Where do we still have to go?

I was impressed with their answers, which showed a much more acute awareness of contemporary gender issues in the church than I had expected. They mentioned the limits for women who are ordained-- the rural churches that won't actually call a woman for their own parish and the tall steeple churches where women can be associate pastors, but few are actually called to be heads of staff. They also said that women's issues in the church were a microcosm of larger gender issues in the society. In other words, we should be tending to the women in our congregations who are suffering domestic violence (and statistically, someone in your congregation probably is), giving young women in our churches opportunities for leadership, and advocating for justice in the larger society. As a church, they said, we should be speaking out about pay inequities and the need for affordable day care. The larger society's issues are the church's issues.

Here's a talk-back point for any women reading this: what would you say are the issues of women in the church today? Is it the same stuff as above? Do you have anything in particular to add to the list?

So that's Kelsey's report. Signing off from the Lone Star State....

"And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?" --Luke 18:7

Kelsey

Hi Kelsey,
I love cold pizza for breakfast. I am the grandmother who wrote several weeks ago. I am also an Elder in my church. The early Christian feminests sought for the right to be ordained so they could preach the good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our salvation. Aside from the social issues which we should be pushing for I think the most impotant one should be sharing Jesus Christ and his forgiveness with everyone.
In Christ,
Viola

Hi Kelsey,
I love cold pizza for breakfast. I am the grandmother who wrote several weeks ago. I am also an Elder in my church. The early Christian feminists sought for the right to be ordained so they could preach the good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our salvation. Aside from the social issues which we should be pushing for I think the most important one should be sharing Jesus Christ and his forgiveness with everyone.
In Christ,
Viola