Well, folks, I am slowly but surely on the mend from my cold, as evidenced by the fact that I’m blowing my nose all the time now. I should buy my own box of tissues and stop stealing Bridgett’s, but a) I’m too frugal (toilet paper works fine for me), and b) I haven’t made it to the store since I got back from Washington. Of course, I have to go very soon—two apples and a handful of green onions in the fridge aren’t going to sustain me much longer, and the one little light bulb in my bedroom just went out. For the past two nights I’ve about broken my leg stumbling over three huge suitcases and a bunch of pillows as I’ve climbed into bed. Yeah, I know, I’m a bum... but cut me some slack. I’ve been sick!!!

The new issue of Horizons: The Magazine for Presbyterian Women is out, with an article by yours truly. Perhaps that’s why I actually spent some time reading it this month (okay, this is not to imply that Horizons is not worth reading—in fact, I would say that it is one of the best magazines the denomination puts out. I’m just usually too busy to give it more than a passing look-see when it comes across my desk). This issue focuses on women in ministry. If you’re interested in getting a copy, click here. There are some great articles about the powerful work being done by women in our congregations, from Marian McClure’s description of traveling around the world as a “woman priest” to Cheri Harper’s article about why we need women’s organizations. Plus, that article features a photo from last summer’s leadership event.

What particularly caught my eye this morning, however, was Amy Starr Redwine’s “Finding Balance.” The first thing I noticed was that the feature interviewed one of my former World Tour hosts, Rev. Cynthia O’Brien of Portland, Oregon. But what I found most encouraging was how so many women in these articles described a new paradigm for work-life balance. These were successful ministers, even heads of staff in various churches, who had managed to do something that we, as young women, are being increasingly told is impossible—have significant family lives and still hold meaningful professional careers. How do they do it?

The one common trait that stuck out to me in reading these women’s stories was that they all had supportive faith communities behind them, communities committed to their call and willing to function as extended families for their children. One pastor talked about the older women in the congregation who offer to babysit her newly adopted daughter. Cynthia mentioned how her congregation gave her maternity leave at full salary, and had the church secretary visit her at home once a week to sign important papers.

Some might ask why a church should feel obligated to do this? Why should a church give special consideration to a mother? For the perspective that this life experience brings to their ministry, for one—the empathy, the concern for education and spiritual development, the way it draws ministers closer to the experiences of their parishioners. I found it interesting, for instance, that a couple of pastors said their example as single, full-time ministers and mothers tended to draw other single parents into their churches.

Moreover, making such compromises can make better ministers of us all. When a congregation grants maternity leave to fathers and mothers, offers to babysit, watches out for restless teens sitting in the back, it draws closer together as a community of faith. We begin to “bear one another’s burdens” and become active participants in all aspects of the life and ministry of the church. We stop looking to the pastor to shoulder all the responsibilities of ministry, and start joining together to meet one another’s needs.

Working parents are beginning to direct us to a paradigm that should be universal in the workplace for both women and men—the valuing of our private roles as spouses and parents alongside our public roles. And how can we get to that paradigm? When, as a church community and as a society, we begin to see our children as our collective responsibility.

“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” --Galatians 6:2

Kelsey