Reflections on "Generations of Women"

A big thanks to Stephanie, Noelle, Sue, Merle and Teri for their assistance in Sunday's sermon, particularly since they did not receive their parts until late Friday.

It was a fascinating week of reading about the church's history. I was struck by how the character of this congregation seems to have been present for many generations. When I read through the church's Session minutes in 1959 to see how the process of electing women elders moved forward, I was surprised to discover that there were no official debates or discussions. IN 1959, the Nominating Committee presented a slate with two women nominated for Elder with no comments before or after by the Session.

More time in preparation would have allowed for more dialogue between the characters. It would have been fun to have more of a panel discussion with give and take, but...

My reflection that there is a preponderance of birth narratives in the biblical texts still needs refinement. The idea expressed is unique to my own thinking (I don't have a source for that thought), but as I preached it yesterday, I thought about how it needed to be expanded or adjusted slightly. I think there is merit to the notion that the birth narratives are so common because they reflect one of the few contexts where women could make decisions. But, to describe the birthing process as simply a context where a woman chooses to bear a child or not is too simplistic and not completely true. I do think it is a context that allows women to have an important voice, but I would nuance it a bit more than I did in yesterday's sermon.

Much of the information found in the yesterday's sermon comes from the two histories written about First Presbyterian Church. The first history was written by Susan Polly in 1963 for the church's 150th celebration; the second history was written by Fred and Dot West on behalf of the committee organizing the 175th celebration. The information about Rev. Towner (including the final words taken from a sermon she preached at General Assembly) came from an article written by Presbyterian historian James Smylie, Feb. 6, 2006 for the PRESBYTERIAN OUTLOOK.

"Generations of Women" 1 Samuel; Women series, 2011; Feb. 27, 2011

Introduction: Hannah

Palindrome

One of several stories in the biblical texts that deal with women having trouble getting pregnant or stories about women giving birth – from Sarah to Hannah to Mary, the mother of Jesus, to name a few, the birthing process gets plenty of play in the biblical stories.
I do not think that the preponderance of these types of stories means that God was overly concerned about women giving birth. Rather, I think the birthing process offered perhaps the only context in which women had power and control over their lives, so it was in this context that women could discover and claim their faith.

In other words, when Abraham or Moses or the disciples were asked to go where God sent them or to follow Jesus, they could unilaterally make that decision to do so. Women could not because they were tied to the decisions of their husbands and bound by the structures of society.

But, in the area if giving birth, a women had some control. Mary, for instance, could assent to the angel's request to bear God's son or not.

Consequently, we read numerous stories of how a woman's faith is intertwined in the birthing process.

Hannah is one of those stories. She desperately wants a child, and promises to give her child to God if she can bear a child.

She does have a child, the one we come to know as Samuel, the great prophet and priest for God's people. But before he becomes this great leader, his mother makes the decision to share this gift of her child with God by giving him to Eli, the priest, to raise in the temple.

With Hannah's giving the gift of her son to God as a backdrop, I want to introduce you to several women who have played important roles in the history of this congregation by sharing their gifts.

Move 1: The first woman we meet this morning is Mrs. Pauly.
a. In addition to being a long-time member of First Presbyterian Church and writing the history of the first 150 of this church's life, she was the first Miami County Health Nurse; she served on numerous boards in Troy, including 20 years on the Troy Foundation Board, and she was one fo the founding members of the Endowment Fund of our church.
b. We know her first name was Susan, but as was the case for many years, she was known as Mrs. Pauly.
1.In fact, until the most recent history written, women who were married were referred to as “Mrs. Husband's name.” It would have been "Mrs. Richard Culp" in the instance of my wife.
2.The history written in 1988 included the woman's name parenthetically, so it would have been "Mrs. Richard Culp (Leslie)" Quite an improvement!
3.Enough about names.

I want to welcome to our conversation Mrs. Harold Pauly:

Richard: Mrs. Pauly, you have studied and written the history of FPC here in Troy. When we think about women in this church's history what comes to mind?

Mrs. Pauly: Dr. Culp – you don't mind if I use your formal name, since you used my formal name, do you?

Having been a member here for 61 years and having researched much of its history, I can say that I saw two different eras in how women interacted in the life of this congregation.

Before women could hold office and have official power, they still greatly influenced the congregation by their actions that were outside of the official power structure.

Then after this congregation began ordaining women to be Elders, women were able to influence the church through the official power structure.

I'm glad women could be ordained. I cannot imagine a world where people talk about gifts for ministry, but do not allow women to exercise those gifts in ordained leadership.
Women's groups have been extremely important to the life of this congregation, and gave women the opportunity to serve.

Did you know that the women decided the church needed a gas line brought into the church to cook meals. They raised the money and made it happen. Now, they had to have the Session's permission, but can you imagine anyone man on the Session turning down the women's request to improve the church's facility and make it easier to make meals at the church?

Or you may have heard about the time the Trustees came up a little bit short in the church's finances in 1910 and had to borrow $500 from the Ladies Aid Society to make a payment on a bank note.

The women initiated a 3 yr. Fund raising campaign to raise $2400 for organ repair. What was remarkable was that the women divided all the women in the congregation up into groups of 8 and set a goal for each group to raise $100 a year for three years. There was no woman elder at the time, but look at how organized and efficient the women were as they solved the organ repair problem.

Richard: It also sounds to me like being ordained to serve as an Elder might have been a step down for women in this church!

Mrs. Pauly: I would not go that far. I well remember when I was ordained as a Deacon in 1938. I was not the first woman Deacon – Mrs. Jessie West Baker was first ordained as a Deacon in 1934 – I was glad to have the opportunity to be a Deacon. To look out at the congregation and know the God had called me to be a Deacon to serve this congregation and the needy in our community – that meant a lot to me.

But, the women of this church have always worked together
How are the Presbyterian Women doing today?

Richard: Well, the official Presbyterian Women's organization no longer operates here at FPC, Troy, but we have lots of women doing important work here and in leadership.

Mrs. Pauly: I wondered if there would be a decline in women's groups once women became really involved in the official leadership structure of the church.

I had seen that shift in the church late in my life. When women were elders, they did not need the women's group to take on a mission project or a raise money for organ repair – they just had the Session take on that project.

I suppose it has also been hard for Presbyterian Women organizations to adapt to many women working full-time. In the old days, women could meet during the day. Now, many women work during the day and cannot go to meetings, unless they are at night. That's a challenge for women who want to be involved and the organization.

But, I bet some of the women now miss out on the fellowship and Bible studies we used to have. There was something powerful about gathering with the other women of the church

Not being ordained would not have stopped me from serving God, but being ordained was something special. Well, enough about me.

Dr. Culp, I think you should also talk with Miss Sarah Kyle and ask her about what can happen when you teach Sunday School.

Richard: Well hello Miss Kyle. We are spending today remembering some of the important women in the life of the First Presbyterian Church here in Troy and your name came up as one of those important women.

Miss Kyle: I'm not sure that I did anything that would make me be on that list!

Richard: Mrs. Pauly must think you are important. She wrote the history of the church's first 150 years, and she is the one who suggested I speak with you. She wanted me to ask you about the power of Sunday school.

Miss Kyle: Oh, yes, we had a really nice Sunday School with lots of faithful members who attended every week.

I taught the women's class and Mr. Johnston taught the men's class.

We often had very interesting discussions on Sunday mornings. I greatly appreciated how the women in my class tried to take seriously how Scripture should guide us in our lives.

Over the course of our classes, a couple of thoughts kept being discussed. What could the church do to help people when they get old and what to do with orphaned children. Seemed like almost every week those topics came up in our conversations.

Finally, we decided that we ought to do something about it. Mrs. Dale, one of the members of my Sunday school class, spoke with Dr. Brown – he was part of the men's Sunday school class – and expressed our concerns and our desire to do something.

Wouldn't you know it, the men's Sunday school class wanted to help as well. So a group of us from the women's class and the men's class started thinking about ways to deal with this problem.

Now some people make fun of how structured we Presbyterians are, but I tell you that structure really helped us.

Our Sunday school groups met with the Deacons, Trustees and the Session, and they liked the idea, too. Next up, the Dayton Presbytery, where they also endorsed the idea. Then, it was taken to the Synod and the Synod endorsed the idea.

Before too long, that poor little girl in Sidney, you know, Dorothy Love, was killed in an accident and the Synod's plan for a home for old folks and the idea to honor her came together and Dorothy Love came into existence.

Mr. Johnston and Mr. Dungan went all over the state raising money for Dorothy Love and getting people interested in it. Mr. Johnston even became the first president of the Board at Dorothy Love.

And that idea began in the women's Sunday School class I taught right here at First Presbyterian Church.

Richard: Thanks for sharing that story with us Miss Kyle. Mrs. Pauly, is there anyone else I should talk to this morning?

Mrs. Pauly: I believe you should also talk to Mrs. Richard LeFevre. She was one of the first two women elected to get Elders in 1959.

Richard: Hello, Mrs. Lefevre. Mrs. Pauly has suggested I ask you about being elected an Elder in this congregation.

Mrs. LeFevre: Donna Dixon and I were quite honored to be elected as Elders in 1959. Although we did not really dwell on it, the General Assembly had voted to allow local congregations to ordain women as Deacons and Elders in 1930. In fact, we had elected our first woman Deacon in 1934.

But it took another 25 years for a woman to be ordained as Elder.
Historically, not even very many men served as Elders in the church. For the first 120 years, until 1932, if you were elected as an Elder, you were an elder for life, or until you resigned.

After 1932, however, the church started to make its Elders rotate off the Session every three years. That allowed more men to serve through the years. Of course, it still took awhile until Donna and I were elected elders.

I think when the first woman in the Presbyterian Church was ordained as a minister in 1955, that the leaders here in our church thought it was about time to ordain women as Elders. I know Reverend Coyle supported the idea of women being ordained as elders.

I don't know about Donna, but I had to think and pray long and hard before accepting the call to be an Elder. Even some women did not think it was a woman's role to be an elder.

Frankly, the women did so much for the church anyway, I knew we did not have to have women elders to have an impact on the church.

Of course, being on Session meant lots of meeting.

But I thought about what it would mean to the congregation to recognize that women had a place in the official leadership structure. I thought about what it would be like for the congregation to see women serving communion and know that God had called women to this important role in the church.

I have never regretted my decision to serve as an Elder and am proud that the congregation chose me.

Mrs. Pauly: Before we finish, I want you to meet another woman. She is not in the history books; she is not famous; but she represents an important part of this church's mission – the youth. For almost 200 years, we have been nurturing young women (and young men) in our congregation. Mary Frances was not a member, but she came to this church as a youth in the 1960s.

Richard: Welcome Mary Frances. Mrs. Pauly thought I should talk to you.
Mary Frances: Wow. It's really groovy that you want to talk to me, and I'm not even a member of the Presbyterian Church.

Richard: But Mrs. Pauly tells me you come to church here some.

Mary Frances: Yeah, man. I come down there sometimes. But not on Sunday mornings. No way, man, I'm not into that church thing.

Richard: So what brings you to church?

Mary Frances: I go downstairs to the basement to the coffee house. It's set up really cool, and kids come down and hang out. No parents permitted, man. Just groovin' with other kids.
Richard: No parents.

Mary Frances: Don't worry man, there are some adults that come down there. The women are pretty cool. I even met the preacher man down there once.

Richard: Why do you go down there?

Mary Frances: Sometimes I just want to escape the pressures of the world and hang out with people like me. I don't feel like I fit in a lot of places, but down in the basement hanging out with other kids – there I feel like I fit in.
So I come here.
Sort of strange that I come to church to get away since I'm not really what I would consider a church goer.

Mrs. Pauly: I don't know what happened to Mary Frances. But every generation has its Mary Frances'. Young women and men looking for something more. Some of them even look to the church.

Richard: Mrs. Pauly, I have a surprise guest for you this morning. I've invited Rev. Margaret Towner to join us. Rev. Towner is the first woman ordained in the Presbyterian Church.
Good morning, Rev. Towner. We are visiting with important women in the life of this congregation this morning, and I thought it might be interesting for you to share about being the first woman ordained in the Presbyterian Church.

Rev. Towner: My story is not so different than other people's stories because it is a story about God calling me and about growing up in a Presbyterian Church.
I was raised in the church and then began working as a medical photographer at the Mayo Clinic. I felt a call to Christian education, however, so I went back to school to study education. I then began before serving as the Christian Educator at the East Genesee (N.Y.) Church. 
While I served as Christian Educator, I wanted to expand my own knowledge, so I began taking classes at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Not only did I enjoy the studies, but I could see how they helped me in my work as a Christian educator.
After I finished my seminary degree, I served for several years as the Christian Educator in Tacoma Park, MD.

I still had not considered entering the ordination process, but some friends of mine in my presbytery back in NY encouraged me to take the ordination exams and seek to be ordained, since I had done everything else needed to become an ordained minster.
So, I did. Lo and behold, I passed my exams and was approved for ordination as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament in 1956 by the Cayuga-Syracuse Presbytery in New York.

Richard: Wow! The first ordained woman in the Presbyterian Church.

Rev. Towner: Initially, I did not realize the implications. In fact, I thought that maybe ordained women could help out by serving smaller churches or doing Christian education.

But as I lived out my calling as an ordained minister, I realized that if God did not choose to put limits on what woman could do, why should I impose them on me or other women.

I had to deal with some pretty negative comments and assumptions about women in ministry. I remember one minister arguing that female ministers did not need to be paid as much the male ministers because the women had husbands who were the breadwinners.

But, it's been a great adventure for me. A reminder that God created human beings, male and female with distinction, to be equal in partnership with God in creating a world of peace and love. We are called to free the oppressed, feed the hungry, bring water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, heal the sick and proclaim the day has come when God has saved the people. But until we all see ourselves as those imperfect human beings who are weak and in need of forgiveness, we still will set ourselves up as the programmers of God's agenda and we will experience discrimination against women, minorities, and age.

Richard: That sounds like a pretty good sermon, Rev. Towner. Thanks for being here this morning.
Thank you also Mrs. Pauly. Anything you would like to add before we finish?

Mrs. Pauly: I wish we had time to visit with some more women did important things.

Women like Mrs. William Edwards, whose after her husband died in 1867 went to South Africa to do missionary work. I have heard that at age 96 she was blind and still working with the young South African woman, hugging them close because she could not see them.

Or Mrs. McCullough, we assisted in music leadership for 50 years here at First Presbyterian, including being choir director for 35 years.

The list goes on and on, but I suppose we need to close.

Richard: Thank you for sharing with us today Mrs. , that is Susan, Mary Frances, Miss Kyle and Rev. Towner and Mrs. Lefevre.

Hannah, Mary, Elizabeth, Susan, Sarah – the list of women who have faithfully served God is long and varied – a reminder of what has been done in the past; an invitation to discover what God has for you in the future.