As a young adult, I moved to New York City. I wanted to know what it was like to ride in a crowded subway right underneath another person’s armpit. I wanted to know what it was like to walk down a crowded Manhattan street and have to engage with some people who were well and some who were not so well, all co-existing together.
Dr. Jana Childers, dean and vice president of academic affairs and professor of homiletics and speech communication at San Francisco Theological Seminary, writes: “The idea that God is a boundary-crosser is not new. Nor is the thought that God’s grace flows through the world unhampered by human borders.
Women are in leadership roles throughout the church, serving as clergy, Christian educators, elders, deacons and as living testaments to our Brief Statement of Faith, which acknowledges that the Holy Spirit “calls women and men to all ministries of the Church.”
This past electoral campaign brought up issues that were disturbing to many women. The criteria for fitness for the office of president for the woman candidate, such as comments about the clothes she wore, were standards seemingly not imposed on male candidates in the race. The comments surrounding women’s bodies were also alarming. These conversations brought up a sort of PTSD for some women, as they themselves have experienced sexual harassment and discrimination.
