PREGNANT PREACHING, [Sun, 12-8-24]

BEYOND WINTER: The Irrelevant Stories of An Old Man—PREGNANT PREACHING, [Sun, 12-8-24]

 

On the second Sunday of Advent last year, Peace Sunday according to the Advent wreath, our daughter, Katie Kennedy, preached at her church in Iowa. Her son said that she had a particularly difficult time coming up with a sermon on peace because of her personal “bellicose nature.” I’m so proud of that boy.

We got to hear Katie’s sermon via live stream. It was great. That’s not surprising. She has taught college history for years, and made presentations at writer’s conferences and such. Also, for the first eighteen years of her life, she heard outstanding sermons every Sunday!

Katie was secretly thinking that Pastor Dani was “auditioning” various folks in the congregation, finding out who can adequately “fill the pulpit,” since she was pregnant. As the time came for her delivery, she’d need some folks she could count on to step in without much warning. [1]

The whole congregation--this bunch of plain farming folks in the middle of Trump-loving Iowa--was quite excited that their pastor was pregnant. Of course, an announcement at the beginning of Advent that a baby is coming has a lot of automatic joy in Christian circles.

But it was only forty years or so ago that attitudes about such things were quite different. I choose forty years ago, because that is when I was a doctoral student one summer at St. Andrews University in Scotland. My wife and young teen daughters were with me.

One of my professors was the famous Bible scholar, William Barclay. One day in chapel, he made the statement that the worst thing the Church of England ever did was let a pregnant woman preach in church.

That night we were at a nice reception for students and faculty in a large and very pleasant old-fashioned lounge. I noticed that Helen and Mary Beth, age 14, were chatting with Dr. Barclay. “Chatting” wasn’t exactly correct. They had him pinned against the wall. I decided to stay out of it, but I asked about it later.

“That was ridiculous, what he said about a pregnant woman being allowed to preach,” they informed me. “We were just setting him straight.”

I got a lot of respect for Barclay the next day when he gave the prayer in chapel and prayed fervently for those whose minds are closed to new possibilities. I knew he was praying for himself. I knew why he was.

I’m personally sort of sympathetic to Barclay on this issue. I certainly would not have wanted that pregnant Mary preaching in my church, considering what she was likely to say…

…He has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has put down the mighty from their seat and exalted the meek. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich and mighty away empty.

That kind of preaching would upset lots of people.

John Robert McFarland

1] Junie Joy, named for the title character in Barbara Parks’ Junie B. Jones books, is looking forward to her first Christmas.