Posted by OrdainWomen on Sep 17, 2018 in Blog | 0 comments

Lorie Winder Stromberg serves on the Ordain Women executive board as chair of the Long-term Planning Committee.

Mary Magdalene by Luca Signorelli [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Former Ordain Women executive board member Nancy Ross was recently ordained to the office of elder in the Community of Christ. Those gathered for her ordination sang the potent hymn “A Prophet-Woman Broke a Jar,” written by religious composer Brian Wren and commissioned by the St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church of Thunder Bay, Ontario, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the ordination of women as elders in The Presbyterian Church of Canada.

Wren, long committed to social justice, chose two Biblical texts “that portray the ministry of women” as the inspiration for the hymn. One is from the four gospel accounts of the women who were the first witnesses of Jesus’s resurrection. The other, from which the hymn takes its title, is in Mark 14:3-9. It describes the woman who breaks open an alabaster jar of precious ointment to anoint Jesus. Not understanding that Jesus will soon be crucified, those around her condemn her. Jesus, however, does not:

“… there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on [Jesus’s] head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? … And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. She hath done what she could … “

The hymn’s verses not only recount these familiar stories but also lament the historical barriers to women’s ministry. We women have always “done what [we] could.” As we embrace the new focus in the Church “on ministering as the Savior taught,” the question embedded in these verses for us as Latter-day Saints is this: How much more could we bless the lives of others if all of the institutional barriers to women’s ordination and full ministry were removed?

A prophet-woman broke a jar,
by Love’s divine appointing.
With rare perfume she filled the room,
presiding and anointing.
A prophet-woman broke a jar,
the sneers of scorn defying.
With rare perfume she filled the room,
preparing Christ for dying.

 

A faithful woman left a tomb
by Love’s divine commission.
She saw, she heard, she preached the Word,
arising from submission.
A faithful woman left a tomb,
with resurrection gospel.
She saw, she heard, she preached the Word,
apostle to apostles.

 

Though woman-wisdom, woman-truth,
for centuries were hidden,
unsung, unwritten, and unheard,
derided and forbidden,
the Spirit’s breath, the Spirit’s fire,
on free and slave descending,
can tumble our dividing walls,
our shame and sadness mending.

 

The Spirit knows, the Spirit calls,
by Love’s divine ordaining,
the friends we need, to serve and lead,
their powers and gifts unchaining.
The Spirit knows, the Spirit calls,
from women, men and children,
the friends we need, to serve and lead.
Rejoice, and make them welcome!

 

Words Copyright © 1993 by Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, IL (www.hopepublishing.com)