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| Poet Ann Weems with artist Becky Bane painting in the background | Dancers led by Dianne Wright, far left |
Outlook photos by Erin Dunigan
BIRMINGHAM -“Our intent in putting together this service was not to neglect words, but to add color to them and involve all of the senses in order to represent the creativity that women bring,” said Mary Elva Smith, Women’s Ministries Associate Director for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). That intent became reality on June 19 in a service celebrating the ordination of women, a service which wove together poetry, painting, and song.
“I would never have imagined myself engaged in specifically women’s ministry,” continued Smith. “I began in Christian Education and enjoyed working with every age, with men and women. It was not until I attended a worship service that was planned and lead by women that I realized women offered things differently. For me, that opened the door. It’s the balance that the church needs. We don’t want to discount order and words, but to add to them and make them more real. In planning this service we didn’t neglect words, but added color and involved all of the senses. We wanted to express the creativity that women bring, and use various pieces together to make a whole.”
That creativity included the reading of a liturgy written by Freda Gardner, a poem written for the event by Ann Weems, painting by artist Becky Bane and dancing choreographed by elder Dianne Wright.
“We wanted to tell our story and use symbolism,” added Barbara Campbell Davis, who along with Angella Son, Susan Andrews, and Jean Marie Peacock, planned the service. “We also asked ourselves how we could include the audience, make it participatory. That is when we had the idea to ask Becky to paint and Dianne to dance and to end the evening with an act of remembering our baptism.”
Becky Bane, an artist and a candidate for ministry from the Riverside Presbytery, sees her work in painting as a visual proclamation of the Word. Her painting is an unfolding story just like you would hope to find in a traditional sermon, but this proclaiming of the word is fully visual.
Dianne Wright, an ordained elder who choreographed the dancing for the event, said that participating in planning this service reminded her of her own ordination as an elder. For her, dance is an expression of who God is and a way for her to respond.
The final piece in this tapestry was sealed in an act of baptismal remembrance. Members of the congregation were asked to offer a water blessing to their neighbor saying, “You are God’s Beloved, remember your baptism.” To hold the water 75 small pottery bowls were donated, borrowed, and bought from various artists representing a diversity of style, color, and coming from an expression of many ethnic groups.
