Online Archives

NEWS

BY LINDA WORTHINGTON
UMCONNECTION STAFF

CHRISTINE KUMAR/UMCONNECTION

Nearly 80 women attended the COSROW women's day event March 12, on the theme, 'The Many Hats Women Wear.'

Peg Arnold, a member of Memorial UMC in Poolesville, led about 80 women as they gathered for the fifth women's day event sponsored by the Commission on the Status and Role of Women March 12.

Following the theme, 'The Many Hats Women of Faith Wear,' Arnold dramatized five different women, from 'Penelope Pressure Pot' to 'Sylvia Supporter.' She quickly changed shirts and hats as she caricatured different types of women, found in most churches, by the roles they assume.

Each person represented a particular trait or type ? the harried, over-scheduled, do-everything-herself-mother; the arthritic, aging senior; the organizing whiz; the tract carrying, in-your-face evangelist; and the willing supporter. Each one was flawed, but each woman in the audience was able to see herself in the portrayals, and see where she might make changes.

'No matter what your age or where you are in the church, we all have responsibility,' Arnold said. 'God wants us to bear fruits.'

Arnold focused on the fruits, or the gifts, that each character represented. The organizational whiz 'reminds us we need order in everything,' Arnold said. 'Sylvia Supporter,' the woman of low self-esteem that never wanted to lead, would always offer her gift of love to everyone; the senior citizen had the fruit of wisdom, a resource to share if she were asked. For those who identified with the over-doer, Penelope, Arnold said that 'when you reach the stage of overwhelming, God asks you to take off hats. You may see a hole in your activity, but God sees an opportunity for another's gifts.'

Participants in the daylong event also took two of three workshops.

In 'Care of the Temple,' Marge Taylor from Faith UMC in Rockville and Susan Davis of Cowenton UMC, both nurses, gave a wide variety of advice and distributed printed material on health issues, from exercise and diet to osteoporosis, heart disease and metabolic syndrome. As she spoke about osteoporosis, a major health issue among the elderly, Davis emphasized that exercise is an important measure to prevent bone loss.

'Jesus is our model,' Taylor said. 'He had close friends, ate healthy foods, took vacations, prayed a lot and exercised (walked).'

A panel of three women of different ethnicity led the workshop, 'The Church Lady Ain't What She Used to Be': Christine Kumar, who came from India and attends Liberty Grove UMC; Hamako Treff from Japan, a member of Magothy UMC in Pasadena; and Emily Mudede from Zimbabwe, the pastor's wife at Wesley Chapel in Lothian. Each shed light on the role of church women in their cultures.

Mudede spoke of her joy at being in ministry with her husband, the Rev. Cecil Mudede. Treff spent her life as a homemaker, never working outside her home until after her husband, an American, died. Kumar spoke of how God has helped her in the transition to being a single mother.

The three panelists shared what their experiences could mean to others. The audience was particularly interested in how women's roles had changed from the cultures the three panelists grew up in to the one they now live in.

Arnold also led a hands-on workshop on spiritual growth that raised the question: How do the hats I wear affect others? Using the metaphor of pruning a vine to produce better fruit, Arnold asked, 'Are you at a point where you need to cut back the vines of your life, (the hats you wear) in order to grow back better to produce fruits?'