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Though I am confident I was not the young clergywoman cited in the March 1 editorial (I would never have claimed women are yet fully equal to men), I have made comments at clergywomen?s gatherings expressing my own excitement about the opportunities now available to women.

In addition to being a fourth generation pastor, I have had a deluge of supportive male clergy in my life and ministry. I have also been privileged to know clergywomen who were not only supportive of me, but expectant of the future. At Duke, I became firmly convinced that women?s equal participation in church leadership is a reality being more fully realized each day, even as struggles continue.

The challenges that I will face will be much diminished because of the two generations of clergywomen in The Methodist Church (and even more in the EUB church). I hope these women, in turn, are encouraged by the optimism and energy of those of us now entering ministry.

We need to continue to be realistic about the challenges women face. Yet I hope we are not so concerned with bemoaning all that still needs to be done that we discourage those clergywomen who would seek to offer their optimism.

Optimism amongst clergywomen of any age is not an effort to display some shallow naivete. Every once in a while, though, it seems, a battle needs not only sheer determination, but also energy born of fervent hope and confidence in God?s continually unfolding plan. If we are to become discouraged, may it not come as a result of the very women whose own fights have allowed us this privilege of hope.

Rev. Sarah Marie Andrews
Jefferson UMC