Thursday, March 8, 2007

NEWS FROM A NEIGHBORING DIOCESE

A dear friend received troubling news from her diocese today. They had commissioned a career study to discern her gifts and talents for ministry. The results that arrived today delivered a series of encouragements and a litany of questions regarding her suitability for ordained ministry in the church we love.

We read the words together, searching out the positive comments and teasing a positive perspective on the more negative comments. At the end of the report there is not a clear yes or no answer to the call to ordained ministry, only more questions.

I cannot help but wonder what lies behind these words. I do not know the persons who administered these tests and if they harbor racist or discriminatory views. I also do not know the people who will interpret these results for the diocese, and there is no way I can know their commitment to developing a clergy that more closely resembles the world in which they live.

What I do know is that all of us face battles for acceptance, for validation, for encouragement and for a sense that God is smiling on our endeavours. To face these battles as a person of color must be an additional burden to carry in times of duress.

God is in this struggle, just as God is with us in all things -- renewing us and giving us strength and love.

For this knowledge and truth I give thanks.