Commonplace Book

No. Generally one of the first words we use as children – mostly because parents say it so often to us.    Makes you wonder how often God had to say it to us when the world was new.  People tend to generally understand that when God says no, or not right now, it’s because He has a greater plan for us, or it’s not something that would be good for us in the long run, or perhaps it’s as simple as – God’s time is not our time. So the question then becomes, how do you know when it’s God saying no, or the “Church” saying no – and is there a difference for the average parishioner?  Today’s commemorations at morning prayer were about  Anna Julia Haywood Cooper  and  Elizabeth Evelyn Wright , two educators (eventually) associated with the Episcopal Church.  Interestingly, Cooper was the fourth black woman to ever achieve the degree of doctorate in the United States, although she had to get it at the Sorbonne in France.  She believed that you s...

The commemoration today was about Li Tim-Oi, the first woman to be ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion in 1944.  There are many fascinating things about this woman, born in Hong Kong in 1907 and dying in Canada in 1992.  She was a woman who worked tirelessly with refugees from China, and having attended a four-year college, had worked for years as a Deacon.  Only after three years had passed when there was no priest available to bless the eucharist did the Bishop of Victoria, Ronald Hall, call her to become ordained.  Interestingly, ordaining a woman was compared with Peter’s conversion of Cornelius, the Roman centurion considered to be the first convert among the Gentiles. Within the Episcopal Church, it appears that there’s an average of 20 to 25% women priests, and incoming priests are approximately 50/50 male and female.  Interestingly, it is the liturgical Protestant churches and “liberal” Jewish (Reform and Conservative) which ordain w...