Celebration reigns at the humble offices of NNPCW—"Sisters Together" is coming to a mailbox near you! That’s right, after slaying several dragons in her quest, Brianne got the newsletter to the mailroom yesterday. We’re hoping that you’ll get your copy during finals week, giving you something else to think about besides your looming biology exam. And for those of you who aren’t on our mailing list (tsk, tsk), the newsletter should be at www.pcusa.org/nnpcw for your downloading pleasure soon. We hope you like the new ‘zine format that Brianne designed for this issue.

I got off fairly easy on this one. I only wrote one article, about the Coordinating Committee. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t writing at all. I’ve managed to land in three Presbyterian publications coming out next month—"Horizons: The Magazine for Presbyterian Women", "Presbyterians Today", and "Church and Society". I talk about a smorgasbord of topics, from NNPCW to the evil empire of Martha Stewart. But if you’ve been following the blog for a while, the articles will sound kind of familiar… two of the three were inspired by posts that appeared previously here.

As for the third, I wrote for the upcoming issue of "Church and Society" highlighting the 100th anniversary of the ordination of women as deacons and the 50th anniversary to our ordination as ministers of Word and Sacrament. A timely topic around the office, too, as my counterpart associate over in Racial Ethnic Young Women Together, Bridgett Green, on Sunday became only the second African American woman ordained as a minister in Charlotte Presbytery. My article focused on the needs, hopes, and dreams of young ordained women in the PC(USA). I interviewed six female deacons, elders, and ministers or candidates for ministry, all in their late teens or twentysomethings.

In talking to them, and in meeting with young women around the country on the World Tour, I find fascinating the variety of experiences young women have within our Presbyterian family. I remember being almost frustrated when visiting the Northeast—when I asked students about the struggles women still face in church settings, they gave me blank stares. Many of them had grown up with women in the pulpits, and had no concept of women’s experiences in other parts of the country.

Yet when I visited PC(USA)-related Rhodes College in Tennessee recently, fifteen women showed up (without any major bribery from the chaplain, I might add) to talk about how difficult it was to be affirmed in a call to ministry. My visit even got a front-page article in the campus weekly newspaper. There, reporter Catherine Bloom said, “There are at least three women at Rhodes who are seriously considering seminary and ordination, and not everyone supports these women.”

I guess I don’t really have a point to this, except to ask you out there to share your stories. What’s it like where you’re from? If you feel called to any kind of service to the church, how has that been received? With joy and pride? With denial and rejection? One of my hopes for the blog has been to give you an opportunity to share your own stories with others, to have a place to speak. If you don’t feel comfortable posting your name, that’s okay. But I’d love it if a few of you were willing to share.

And if you feel like continuing the discussion, feel free to start a topic at our message forum: nnpcw.forumsplace.com. That’s what it is there for!

“Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would should out.’” --Luke 19:39-40

Kelsey