“Missing Portraits” - Sermon by Rev. Kristi Philip (5/25/25)      

 “I’m loving the readings this Easter season from the Acts of the Apostles, which is sometimes an adventure story, sometimes a history lesson, sometimes a story we’ve rarely heard.   Today we heard a bit about Lydia and her encounter with Paul.  

            Lydia , who lived in Philippi, was merchant in purple-dyed goods – in other words, a woman who dealt in a very expensive product that was sold to  wealthy people.  She was likely also someone who was fairly well-off and a prominent person in that community.   But that’s not why we remember her.

            Lydia is said to be the first European woman to be converted to Jesus.  She and her household were baptized and she invited Paul, with Luke and his other companions to make her house their headquarters in Philippi.   Lydia, along with Dorcas—(who we know as Tabitha)  and Phoebe – all offered leadership of some sort in the early church.  The three of them  are commemorated on January 29 in Holy Women, Holy Men, our  newer collection of saints days.

            There are no  women in the New Testament who are named as leaders in the same way that men were thought of as leaders.   But they were leaders nevertheless.

            A few weeks ago we heard the story of Thomas that took place as the disciples were behind closed doors after Jesus’ death and resurrection. This as the core group – the inner circle – leaders at this complicated time.  They were still grieving, of not  knowing what would come next --  when Jesus appeared in the room with them, showing them his wounds and commissioning them to go forth with authority and hope. 

            But where were the women?  Clearly they are not in this gathering of the early church leaders.  But that doesn’t mean they were not an important part of the core group of early believers and leaders during that crucial time when the Church was literally emerging,

            Women were there all along.  During Jesus’ earthly ministry they were there in key places and at key times offering their gifts in unique ways.  Mary, Jesus’ mother, gave birth to him and raised him,  and later  went on to be a leader in the early Church.  Mary of Bethany and her sister Martha welcomed Jesus into their home as a friend.  Martha’s confession of faith after the death of her brother, Lazarus, has been compared by many with Peter’s confession and we have a day on our calendar of feasts now that celebrates it. Her sister, Mary, anointed Jesus’ feet with costly oil.

            Women in the gospels engaged Jesus in challenging conversations.  They were the recipients of his care, healing and respect. When Jesus was arrested and crucified it was the women who were present at the cross in compassion and support.   They tended his body in death, lovingly preparing him for burial.  They were at the tomb as the first to discover that he had risen from the dead.  

             On Easter day we heard  Luke’s account of the resurrection when women received that good news  and ran to share it with the disciples who did not believe them.  In John’s gospel,  Mary Magdalene meets the risen Jesus in the garden and runs to share the good news: “I have seen the Lord.”

            We need to remember that the definition of an apostle in the early days of the church was one who was a ‘witness to the resurrection of Jesus.’  In these beautiful,  classic texts, we see that these women were  the very first witnesses of the resurrection.   

            The women around Jesus, some of whom became leaders in the emerging church, offered significant gifts: Compassion, hope, faith, the gift of speaking up; the gifts of courage, leadership and sharing the good news.

            Through the centuries, women have continued to offer these and countless other gifts to the community of faith but we have to admit that the recognition of those gifts and opportunities for leadership haven’t really equaled those of men.

            About 20 years ago a friend and I  researched and wrote essays  on some of the remarkable and largely unrecognized ministries of  several women in the Anglican and Episcopal Churches.  At the time  we were doing the research there were only two or three women bishops.  Certainly that has changed dramatically and we have since welcomed a woman as presiding bishop and as our own diocesan bishop.  

            Interestingly, though, it was not until the 1960s when women could be ordained deacons, serve as General Convention deputies and in some places serve in parish and diocesan leadership roles. The first women were ordained to the priesthood in 1977.

            My friend and I noticed that in cathedrals, seminaries, libraries and church-sponsored colleges there were often portraits of people who had filled significant leadership roles – the portraits were almost always men.  So we called the essays from our research ‘Missing Portraits’ – stories of the women whose pictures were not on those walls.  

            The stories my friend and I researched  are incredible:  Florence Li Tim Oi, who during World War II was ordained as an Anglican priest in China because there was such a need for priests and she was so well suited.  After the war the bishops of the Anglican Communion decided her ordination was out of order and invalidated it.  She continued to minister in other ways and later suffered through the years of communist rule and suppression of the Church, living her faith quietly.  Finally she was made a priest again in 1970 in Hong Kong, free again to exercise her vocation.

            Agnes Sanford  founded an incredible ministry that took her all over the country on healing missions.  Dorothy Sayers, probably best known as an English mystery novelist, was a superb theologian as well.  Rachel Hosmer was the first Episcopal nun to be ordained a priest and was a worker for Justice.  Maude Royden, one of the first English women to study theology at Oxford, was a gifted preacher but not authorized to preach in Church of England parishes.  So she preached in London at the non-denominational City  Temple where huge crowds of worshipers gathered to hear her preaching.  She also had a radio program on the BBC.  She traveled the world on preaching tours and even visited Spokane in the 1930s and even stayed at the Davenport Hotel. .  Evelyn Underhill was a 20th century English mystic, spiritual director and writer on the life of prayer whose books are still celebrated for their wisdom.  She and Li Tim Oi are on our calendar of saints.

            All of these women were leaders and, in their own unique ways. And they are also a tiny group of women from one little corner of  the Christian world.  They suggest to me the myriad of gifts that  women have offered in every age.  Gifts that sometimes operate under the radar but operate nevertheless.

            They are largely the same gifts that those first women brought to the early Church as it emerged in the first century.  Gospel gifts.  Compassion, hope, leadership, faith, courage, generosity, and a passion for the good news – just to name a few.  Those are the same gifts that have been offered to the Church throughout the ages in good times and bad.

            These are the gifts that women bring to the life of this parish and congregations all around the diocese and around the world.  Strong, sturdy gifts that lead us into the challenges of a changing church.  If we could hang the portraits of all the women who had shared these gifts with the Church, we would need wallpaper instead of portraits..

            Today our small part of the story was Lydia. May the joy of this Easter season continue to unleash the faith, the service, the giftedness of all Christians – men and women alike – to share the good news of hope and joy with all we meet.”