Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1518483
April/May 2024 | maconmagazine.com 61 Rev. Amanda Schuber, pastor of High Street Unitarian Universalist Church, has faced detractors. "I've been told that as a woman, I have no religious authority and that I'm a fraud." Women also meet difficulties that o en miss their male colleagues, like comments about modesty and expectations for balancing family. Schuber says, "We still see women carrying a huge amount of the child- rearing burden while balancing the very demanding work of professional clergy." Limitations can lead to loss. Rev. Tonya Parker, Director of Inclusive Excellence at Georgia Tech, says, "A female friend once told me that she just can't follow a woman preacher; it's not right. That was a hard pill to swallow, and not enough water in the world could help me do it, so I didn't." Rev. Parker decided to grieve and let go. "Our purpose is greater than our losses." "The effort — the journey of struggling — towards justice is what matters to God in Islam," says Dr. Shehnaz Haqqani, assistant professor of religion at Mercer University, "which is why it's a form of jihad, which translates to 'a struggle' in an internal or spiritual sense, for goodness, justice, peace, or liberation." Though there is not an ordination track in the Sunni tradition, she points to the women who are ulama, religious and spiritual teachers. Despite the religious interpretations that deny female authority, these women are shaping spiritual communities. She urges us to name them; scholars like amina wadud offer something vital for today. Dr. Haqqani says, "We live in a time when we need spirituality; we need rituals to ground us." SOARING FROM THE CLIFF The ground where women tend to holy spaces can o en feel precarious. Some clergywomen have named the space of impossible expectations in religious tradition as a "stained glass cliff." Analysts have even described a "nothing to lose" phenomenon in which organizations or congregations, when experiencing crisis or decline, will finally call a woman to lead. While that idea diminishes the talent, energy, and wisdom women truly bring, we might find some allure at the cliff. Though it can be a risky spot, the beauty of being near the edge of a cliff is that you are only steps away from the chance to soar. H e said he did not believe in women being ordained. But there he was, tears in his eyes, on the fourth pew. As a Southern Baptist, this man – my husband's childhood pastor and mentor – believed an interpretation of Christian scripture that said ministry is limited to men only. Yet, on the day I became a reverend, he was present, anyway. He drove hours to show up for the service and stand alongside my family and congregation in that stained-glass sanctuary. Sometimes you show up for a calling, anyway. LOCAL WOMEN CHOOSING TO LEAD The "stained glass ceiling," a metaphor to describe the limitations and barriers facing female religious leaders, remains. Clergywomen and other spiritual mentors in Macon are preaching, teaching, and leading, anyway. Many women embrace a calling that summons them to bring their whole selves into spaces traditionally restricted to men. In the United States, 27% of non- orthodox Jewish congregations have a female rabbi. Researcher Eileen Campbell- Reed reports that 32% of Christian mainline congregations have a female pastor, while about 3% of evangelical churches have female pastors. Yet, last summer, the Southern Baptist Convention proposed that the denomination expel any church that gives a woman the title of "pastor" and then made a list of the offending churches. History was made in January as the Rev. Dr. Gina Stewart was the first woman to preach for the National Baptist Joint Board Session, a gathering of four denominations. Her electrifying sermon inspired attendees, yet, according to Religious News Service, several male colleagues le the room in response to her presence. Rev. Angela Blizzard, Minister of Music at Vineville Baptist Church, knows about stained glass spaces. In 2014, she became the first woman ordained to ministry there since the church began in 1891. Blizzard has faced disapproval before, saying, "a young couple visiting our church got up and le when they learned I was on staff. These negative interactions for me are few and far between, but they do happen." CLOCKWISE: Rev. Amanda Schuber, Rev. Tonya Parker, and Dr. Shehnaz Haqqani. Schuber's photo by HP Rivers; the others courtesy of those pictured. "What happens when you bring persistent hope to a place of risk?"